By relaxing the body and calming the mind, meditation seeks to alleviate the harmful effects of tension and stress--factors that are known to aggravate several medical conditions. Although meditation has its roots in Eastern religious practices, its health benefits are independent of its spiritual aspects. Each practitioner can bring his or her own beliefs and world view to the meditative experience.
Meditation has measurable effects on the pattern of electrical impulses flowing through the brain. Studies with an electroencephalograph (EEG) show that it boosts the intensity of the alpha waves associated with quiet, receptive states to levels not even seen during sleep. Other studies show increased synchronization of brain waves between the brain's two hemispheres during meditation, lower levels of stress hormones, and improved circulation. Levels of lactic acid, a potential by-product of tension and anxiety, drop after meditation. When practised for an extended period of time, meditation has also been found to reduce oxygen consumption, slow the heart rate, and bring down blood pressure.
Devotees of meditation often claim that it improves their memory and other mental abilities, protects them from disease and reduces their use of alcohol and drugs. Some studies have found that long-standing practitioners (those who've been meditating for several years or more) tend to make fewer doctor's visits than non-meditators. Other studies have found that meditation can reduce or reverse cardiovascular disease; improve the ability to cope with chronic illness; reduce anxiety, panic, and fear of open spaces; and relieve mild depression, insomnia, tension headache, irritable bowel syndrome, and premenstrual syndrome. One study of mindful meditation found that it reduced the rate of relapse in those with emotional disorders. Meditation has even been found to increase the longevity of healthy older adults.
Pain relief is another of meditation's more successful applications. While it can't eliminate discomfort, it does help people cope by reducing their tension and anxiety. For instance, the deep breathing exercises taught in childbirth classes are a form of meditation that helps women cope with the pain of labour and delivery.
Source:http://health.yahoo.com/health/alternative_medicine/alternative_therapies/Meditation/
Sunday Times, November 03, 2002, Contributed by Liam Clarke
Belfast, Ireland -- VETERANS of the Troubles in Northern Ireland seek the help of Zen Buddhists in facing their traumas.
Loyalist and republican former prisoners are among those who have signed up to join the Black Mountain meditation centre, which is due to open in Belfast later this month. The Buddhist retreat is Paul Haller's brainchild, the Zen Abbott of San Francisco and a native of Belfast's Falls Road. Frank Liddy, a north Belfast community health worker who has been a practising Buddhist for the past seven years, is also behind the scheme.
Haller, who left Belfast 30 years ago to become a Buddhist monk in Thailand, but later moved to San Francisco, said: "I feel a great commitment to helping Belfast. I have been coming back every year for the last five years, and I've found that many community programmes are trying to build peace in Northern Ireland. We feel that the Buddhist training offers a unique contribution to facilitate that, not to replace what is already there, but as a complement to it."
The Black Mountain centre will be the second Buddhist centre to open in Belfast. At the end of the summer, the Potala Buddhist centre opened its doors in Belfast Donegall Pass, a working-class community offering meditation classes under Kelsang Drolkar, an Irish-born nun.
The new Zen centre's steering committee includes Liddy, a former Sinn Fein activist, and Dougald McCullough, an executive committee member of the Progressive Unionist Party, the political wing of the UVF. David Ervine, the PUP leader, is not a Zen enthusiast but supports the project. "If they can contribute anything to help us through our pain, they are welcome," he said.
Source:http://www.buddhistnews.tv/current/eire-zen-N.php[/url]