Running head; MEDITATIVE POWER
Meditative PowerNoah Short
Florida State University
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Meditative Power
Meditation, how is this ancient art with heavy association to religion beneficial for our
modern lives? This is the question I begin with in the search to understand and apply the
usefulness of meditation in our current society that is consumed with the constant struggle of
attention demanding distractions. What can meditation do for members of such a busy society
that can hardly find time to spare and how time consuming is meditation? What are the real
benefits of meditation on the neurology of the human brain? And what kind of fields are
implementing this ancient art along with modern technologies and what results are they
finding? All of these questions will illuminate just how important meditation is and what its
actual health benefits are. Beginning with the first traces of history of this practice researchers
have found that meditation is a practice with ancient roots, such depth and history immediately
shows that this art has been valued by various cultures, generations and religions for hundreds
of years, with some translations being dated back to the 5th or 6th centuries BCE and even with
such a lengthy history scientists are only just now beginning to uncover the truths behind
meditation, with the invention of modern brain analysis technologies such as the
computerized tomography or CT scans which use advanced imaging technology comprised
of putting many different angled x-rays together to form a model that shows in detail organs
and structures inside the body and also the magnetic imaging resonance or (MRI) tests
which shine powerful x-ray beams through a patient’s body in order to show structures
in the body with incredible detail, these technologies have revolutionized the study of
the brain and have allowed scientists to observe the brain while induced in a meditative
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state leading to understandings that scientists have never been able to document.
Although the research is still in its early states there is increasing amounts of data with
interesting benefits from the meditative induced state. A key aspect of meditation that
almost all experts on meditation agree on is that it develops a better sense of
mindfulness often described by becoming observant of one’s own thoughts instead of
being affected by regular emotions one feels at any given moment. Those who practice
and master meditation can become less affected by those emotions and more
observant of them creating a sense of calm even when stressful events come into our
lives and being able to handle stress is a key determinant of success in this world.
Performance Enhancing Meditation
Along with numerous other benefits of meditative practices one that is particularly
interesting and is becoming increasingly popular is the use of meditation to increase
performance in a variety of fields such as athletic and cognitive performances.
According to Ivanovski and Mahli (2007) “ various techniques enhance an individual’s
ability to concentrate and inhibit distracting stimuli…” this evidence supports the idea
that meditative practices can in fact improve performance by improving concentration
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and inhibiting distractions and to further this idea Noel L Ford, Sarah N Wyckoff and
Leslie H Sherlin(2016) go on to concur that with further testing using neurophysiological
measuring systems such as an electroencephalograph or EEG scanning systems a new
understanding of how our mind works will be unveiled. With these new studies and
available technologies scientists have been able to measure brain waves and notice
that there is a slight change and increase in brain wave amplitude in participants of their
studies under the experimental group practicing mindful calming practices such as
meditation in comparison with the control group of naive participants not practicing
mediation. These studies have led to conclusions such as found on page 153 in an
article where the authors Noel L Ford, Sarah N Wyckoff and Leslie H Sherlin (2016)
state that the findings In their experiments and those like them “practicing mindfulness
allows the individual to build attention control skills, both in directing attention and in
avoiding distractors.”(153) this supports the idea that meditating increases mental
mindfulness which is a crucial skill among athletes especially who rely on quick
reactions to perform at their peak. The article goes on to talk about the relative scarce
amount of literature found on the subject of the meditative states ability to demonstrate
the combined efficacy of biofeedback and mindfulness even with the well-known
positive effects of biofeedback for enhancing sport performance. With further studies I
predict that many more correlations of meditative mindfulness will accumulate and
project itself as a clear key to further athletic performance. Along with athletic
performance another performance based field that
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meditation is being applied to is studies in motor memory consolidation which are
processes that aid in memory stabilization or learning in the period that follows training.
Scientists studying the effects of training on the brain find that the motor memory
consolidation is fragile and is often times lost due to disruption or competition between
thoughts or interference in the forms of distraction and as Shadmehr and Brashers-Krug
(1997) say that motor memory undergoes its first consolidation period within ten hours
of the exercise where the memory is reinforced and shielded from competing thoughts
For these studies meditation is becoming a novel approach in order to understand the
brain in a more full manner for it involves a valued set of cognitive processes to better
understand relaxed states of mind that are controlled and alert, studying these different
states and comparing them to other awake states of mind can allow scientists to
uncover the small differences In brain wave amplitude and allow for in depth
understanding of how the brain works and even uncover the mysteries of
consciousness. Immink, Maarten A. (2016) suggests that “experiencing meditation and
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its associated cognitive processes and states following training can lend benefits for
motor memory consolidation.” This information provides that for trained sequences have
an increased ability to consolidate memories than that of novel sequences. Research
for meditation reaches wide and enters almost all fields, another which includes one of
true academic rigor that is medical school, who else to test the effects of meditation a
practice which calms the mind more than anything else than those attending medical
school which can be considered one of the most academic rigorous and stressful
environments for students that attend Medical school where the purpose of Saoij, Apar
is to understand the benefits of meditation to people functioning in a high stress
environment such as those attending medical school in a randomized, two-way
crossover study. The idea of this study is to see how meditation effects students in an
extremely stressful environment where mental and physical fatigue are the norm which
can have a detrimental effect on the capability of these doctors in training. The study
was put in place and a control group of forty two students were given a yogic
meditation session and the results according to Saoji Apar(2017) conclude that there
is a positive correlation in the students tested that the meditation showed real health
benefits not just mentally but physically as well and through the results of all of these
studies and articles a common result tends to appear which is that these variations of
meditative practices seem to have resounded effects for the groups who participated
in the meditation groups with not only greater performance but less stress, anxiety and
physiological ailments.
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Neurologic Benefits of Meditation
In researching meditation finding the positive effects of such practices on athletic,
memory consolidation and medical student performance leads to the question of how
does meditation effect the neurology of the human brain? In an article that looks how
meditation affect the amount of grey matter in the brain in which the brain is closely
examined and in particular the effects of meditation on grey matter in the brain is
studied and the results found the grey matter region in the brains of those who practiced
mediation was larger than those who did not practice it and grey matter has a key role in
the brain according to authors Sergio Elías Hernández, José Suero , Alfonso Barros ,
José Luis González-Mora , Katya Rubia (2016) begin the article by stating the important
role in which grey matter plays in our mental health; Grey matter can be associated with
more focused attention, emotion control, and a better feeling of compassion.
Furthermore the state of mental calmness associated with meditation have been found
through
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electroencephalography have found that those more experienced in the art of
meditation have denser grey matter regions of the brain and have a positive correlation
to the feelings of joy. Along with these experiments include a study which measures the
blockage of alpha waves from meditative states, alpha blocking correlates to healthier
physiological and mental health this state that changes the way our brain waves
function can be related to what Zen-Buddhists call finding the inner light and the study
conducted by researchers Pei-Chen Lo, Ming-Liang Huang and Kang-Ming Chang
reveal even blessings given to a control group who’s brain waves were measured using
electroencephalograms showed increased blockage of alpha waves from purely
Buddhist blessings that the subjects were unaware of receiving with these findings it
seems as if the meditative power effects real energy and can even span through one’s
body to another’s to promote a sense of well-being. This research conducted by Pei-
Chen Lo, Ming-Liang Huang and Kang-Ming Chang (2013) even states that those who
have implemented meditation into their regular routine can even have an improved
physical appearance and look significantly younger, this shows that those with
experienced meditative disciplines exhume a healthier and more active lifestyle in part
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due to the mental benefits of mediation. With various known benefits perhaps one of the
greatest that meditation can bring us is the ability to relieve stress. Stress can play a
part in various diseases and are a start to the accumulation of even more in time
according to a Harvard health publication written by Julie Corliss(2016) who’s study’s
suggests mindful meditation can help ease physiological stressors. Further study of the
EEG measurements from those who practiced meditation on a frequent basis also
shows a change in the amplitude of beta waves in the brain, beta brainwaves dominate
our normal waking state of consciousness when attention is directed towards cognitive
tasks and the outside world and harnessing these practices can give beneficial results
to mindfulness of its practice. The results of these studies are so real that even the
United States military has incorporated it into a special training program designed to
teach soldiers the benefits of meditation on the battle field, this training is called mind
fitness training or M-fit and according to Hinduism today (2013) . M-Fit is proving to be a
useful tool for a variety of soldiers deployed in various responsibilities from battlefield
operators to intelligence officers in providing increased mental calmness and clarity in
stressful. This training was developed by a former United States Army captain named
Elizabeth Stanley who after being diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder found
that mediation not only could help her but also her fellow military men and women
soldiers although many times skeptical at first reported real benefits due to meditation.
Mindfulness meditation has even been used to treat detrimental diseases such as adult
aphasia which is a disorder caused by stroke that impairs many functions of the brain
including language skills. Studies are shown that adults suffering from aphasia when
treated with common occurrences of meditation increase in word productivity, phrase
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length, word generation, decreased impulsivity, and increased attention. These findings
prove that the practice of mindfulness meditation can help
even severe diseases which will in turn lead to the further research of benefits of
meditation on mental health. In addition to all of these incredible health benefits another
disease that many health professionals are turning to meditation to combat depression
in the study State and Training Effects of Mindfulness Meditation on Brain Networks
Reflect Neuronal Mechanisms of Its Antidepressant Effect mediation is studied in efforts
to alleviate the detrimental effects of depression on the mental health of patients. To
investigate the impact of meditation practices on “the neuronal level and its
antidepressant effects, alteration in the activation pattern of the Default Mode Network
(DMN) is of particular interest and the DMN is thus selected as the target brain network“
as stated by Chuan-Chih Yang et al(2016) his findings indicate that not only does
meditation help ameliorate depression but it also aids in the reconstruction of better
neural networks than were in place before the practices were conducted. As we have
discussed up unto this point the articles so far have mostly been concerned about how
meditation affects cognition and performance while these are the most practical study
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for the beautiful health reasons provided by this ancient art the most interesting effect
on the mind meditation causes to me is that of transpersonal and transcendent
experiences that some say come with mastery of the art. In the article transcendental
experiences during meditation practice the author begins by describing different focus
categories that cause different reactions with brain waves such as compassion
meditation which leads to higher electroencephalography and activation of limbic brain
circuits including insula and amygdala during its practice and in contrast mindfulness
meditation which leads to an increase in bilateral frontal theta waves(pg.1),
Conclusion
In conclusion these studies reveal a variety of different benefits for those who practice
meditation and even offer a peer into the future of how neurology will be studied. Meditating is a
practice that dates back centuries but its use has never before been needed so much with our busy
lives taking a moment to meditate can alleviate stress encourage better brain performance and
even boost the feeling of joy and with findings such as different meditation focuses leads to
different brain region and brain wave reactions this unlocks the minds ability to influence its own
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biology, these breakthroughs I believe will lead us further into the study of what we are by
allowing us to explore the consciousness with a combination of old ancient practices and new
modern medical technologies.
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References
Ford, N. L., Wyckoff, S. N., & Sherlin, L. H. (2016). Neurofeedback and mindfulness in peak
performance training among athletes. Biofeedback, 44(3), 152-159. doi:10.5298/1081-5937-
44.3.11
Hernandez, S. E., Suero, J., Barros, A., Gonzlez-Mora, J. L., & Rubia, K. (2016). Increased grey
matter associated with long-term sahaja yoga meditation: A voxel-based morphometry
study. PLoS ONE, 11(3), 1-16. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0150757
Immink, M. A. (2016). Post-training meditation promotes motor memory consolidation. Frontiers in
Psychology, 7, 1-10. doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2016.01698
Ivanovski, B., & Malhi, G. S. (2007). The psychological and neurophysiological concomitants of
mindfulness forms of meditation. Acta Neuropsychiatrica, 19(2), 76-91. doi:10.1111/j.1601-
5215.2007.00175.x
Laures-Gore, J., & Marshall, R. S. (2016). Mindfulness meditation in aphasia: A case
report doi:10.3233/NRE-161323
Lo, P., Huang, M., & Chang, K. (2003). EEG alpha blocking correlated with perception of inner light
during zen meditation. American Journal of Chinese Medicine, 31(4), 629-642.
Mindfulness meditation may ease anxiety, mental stress harvard health blog harvard health
publications
Saoji, A., Mohanty, S., & Vinchurkar, S. (2017). Effect of a single session of a yogic meditation
technique on cognitive performance in medical students: A randomized crossover trial. Journal
of Religion & Health, 56(1), 141-148. doi:10.1007/s10943-016-0195-x
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