These are just notes from a Compassion Cultivation Training (CCT) class about meditation that seem interesting.
I was taught transcendental meditation at the age of 4, and have continued exploring meditation throughout my life. I have experienced a vast spectrum of experiences during meditation, as well as a plethora of different techniques and theories as to what meditation means, it's purpose, reasons, and potential results.
These notes remind me that meditation can mean so many things...
From: Meditation; It's not What You Think
...meditation is actually a process—one of investigating your own mind and changing the way you relate to your thoughts.
... What’s easily confused is that the instructions for meditation are in fact not the goal of meditation. In other words, while we aim to maintain focus on the breath, the goal is really to learn about our minds.... With practice, we begin to realize that thoughts and emotions that naturally arise will also naturally pass away. We realize they don’t always need to be acted upon, and that they aren’t as “real” as they seem.
... Cognitive models are also beginning to be put forth about how meditation works psychologically, an important step for framing future research that will give us a clearer map of the mind. And moving beyond the psychological, researchers are seeking to clarify how cognitive and neural changes brought about through meditation can extend to our physical bodies...
... What science is proving time and again is that with intention and diligent practice, you can literally change your brain.
This understanding has been a revolution for neuroscientists and psychologists who thought for decades that the brain was fairly “fixed” after late adolescence....
This understanding has been a revolution for neuroscientists and psychologists who thought for decades that the brain was fairly “fixed” after late adolescence....
Studies examining brain structure have found that meditation is associated with increased gray matter density, increased cortical thickness, and increased integrity of connections between brain regions important for cognitive control. Recent work shows that the more hours someone has meditated, the more cortical folding of the insula—an area important for autonomic, emotional, and cognitive integration.
“If you want to conquer the anxiety of life, live in the moment, live in the breath.” —Amit Ray
Meditation teaches us not to get hijacked by worry, or to try to impose tyrannical control over our thoughts and feelings.
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