Definition
Meditation describes a process in which the mind is supposed to calm down and collect itself through the application of certain techniques, including breathing and posture. This spiritual practice, practiced in many cultures and religions, is intended to lead to a state of consciousness in which concentration, deep relaxation, inner balance and mindfulness are achieved. Keywords that try to describe the aspired state in more detail are “Silence”, “emptiness”, “oneness of body and mind”, “being in the here and now” and “being free from thoughts”. The term “meditation” is derived from the Latin “meditatio”, which means “to reflect, to ponder”.
Medical indications for a meditation
Derived from the meditation practice there is the so-called “Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction” (MBSR). This is a program that is used, for example, in the context of various behavioral and psychodynamic psychotherapy methods. It includes exercises for mindful body awareness, yoga postures, sitting and walking meditation. The MBSR training is intended to show positive effects in the treatment of numerous different clinical pictures: For example, it can have a healing effect on chronic pain, anxiety or panic attacks, sleep disorders, depression, headaches and migraines, skin diseases, stomach problems and burnout syndrome. It is also said to help patients reduce stress, anxiety and depression, thus enabling them to cope better with their illness.
What happens during a meditation?
Many different meditation techniques can be distinguished. Roughly, they can be divided into two groups: The passive and the active meditation. The passive meditation is meditating in a quiet sitting position, whereas the active meditation also involves movement and speech.
The meditation forms known in the West are Vipassana and Zazen. The basic exercise here is to concentrate completely on mental, emotional and physical phenomena in the present. The focus is therefore on a mindful approach to body and mind.
In Samatha meditation, the daily flow of thoughts is to be interrupted by concentrating on a single object. This object can be your own breath, but also a picture in front of your inner eye (called chakra) or a mantra, i.e. a syllable (e.g. “Om”) that is constantly repeated in your mind.
With the help of this technique, a deep calming of the mind can be achieved. One form of active meditation is Yoga. Yoga includes various movement and posture exercises, breathing techniques, fasting and other forms of asceticism.
Meditative aspects also play an important role in various forms of martial arts, dance and music. Physiological changes during a meditation show themselves through a slowed heartbeat, a decrease in blood pressure, deeper breathing, muscle relaxation and a decrease in sweat gland activity. Deep relaxation can even be represented in the so-called electroencephalogram (EEG) by slower, more synchronized brain activity.
People who meditate regularly are said to have a greater density of nerve cells in the orbitofrontal cortex and in areas of the cerebral cortex that are important for cognitive and emotional processes and well-being. A higher cell density is also found in the hippocampus and in the insular cortex, which are important for body perception, self-perception, but also compassion. However, the density of the gray matter at the amygdala, an important region for the processing of stress and anxiety, should be lower.
The question whether meditation slows down the aging of the brain is the subject of current research. Research on meditation shows that compassion can be trained through meditation. For example, it has been shown that in the brains of Buddhist monks, the reactions to stimuli that trigger compassion (such as the sound of someone crying) were stronger than in other people.