The traditional yogic and other spiritual teachings distinguish the purpose of prayer from meditation: when we pray we ask for something and hope for help from the Divine, but when we sit in silent meditation — we have access to our intuitive guidance and we receive answers to our questions.
Meditation — sitting in silence and focusing or opening to the Universe is the way to receive guidance, solutions, peace.
Yoga is also an ancient practice with roots in India that is over 5000 years old and includes meditative movement that combines elements of postures (asanas and mudras), attention to breath practices (Pranayama), and meditation.
There are many types of meditation from all religious and spiritual practices intending to train attention and awareness and achieve a mentally clear, calm and centered state of comfort and knowledge and control. Meditation is practiced in numerous religious traditions.
The earliest records of meditation (dhyana) are found in the Unpanishads, shared by the contemplative repertoire of Hindu religions like Hinduism, Sikhism, Jainism, and Buddhism, with similar practices in Christianity, Sufism, and many others. Elements of meditation are shared by other mind-body practices like yoga and Qi Gong. Over the past two centuries, Eastern meditative techniques have found application in non-spiritual contexts, such as business and health.
In the Western science, meditation may significantly reduce stress, anxiety, depression, and pain, and enhance peace, perception, wellbeing, and the evolution of Soul. Research is ongoing to better understand the effects of meditation on health (psychological neurological, and cardiovascular), and most recently, as a tool for brain health that can lead to the prevention of neurodegenerative and cerebrovascular disorders of aging.
Meditation to Combat Alzheimer’s Disease
In our own research studies, we have administered mind-body techniques to a variety of participants who are at risk for Alzheimer’s disease and dementia, those with depression, stress, subjective cognitive decline, and mild cognitive impairment. We compared yoga and meditation, Tai Chi, and Qi Gong to active controls like memory training and health education, and we found a multitude of beneficial effects like improved mental health, stress resilience, reduced inflammation, improved antiviral immunity, restructuring of gene expression to activate neuroplasticity, increase brain connectivity, and finally improved cognition.
In our recent study, we studied women who are at risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease because of increased cardio and cerebrovascular risk factors and subjective memory complaints. Women are twice more likely to develop Alzheimer’s disease and dementia and more likely to experience caregiver stress compared to men. They were assigned to a yoga class and brief home meditation compared to memory training with memory exercises at home. Both interventions can boost their brainpower, enhance brain neuroplasticity, and improve their memory function. However, only the yoga group preserved their gray-matter volume in multiple areas of the brain relevant for cognitive function, and the memory group declined — with a decrement in gray-matter volumes.
The yoga group also improved in subjective perception of memory function, while the memory-training group improved in objective memory measures. In other words, the yoga group felt like their memory was working better, and the memory-training group improved their memory function.
Yoga and Meditation for Memory Support and Brain Function
This is the second study in older adults, we have conducted comparing the cognitive benefits of yoga to memory training. Like this new study, it found that both groups improved on memory measures, but the yoga group also experienced greater improvement in executive function or the ability to multi-task, improved mood, and greater resilience to stress.
The study also found important changes in inflammatory markers shown by the yoga group, along with change in the gene expression within the inflammatory pathways and with the improved brain structure and functional connectivity.
Our first study with an 11 minute Kirtan Kriya meditation that involves mantra chanting, while tapping the thumb to the fingertips (like acupressure) and visualizing white light coming into the crown of the head. In this study, stressed but otherwise healthy caregivers either practiced Kirtan Kriya or listened to relaxing music for 12 minutes a day over eight weeks. We found that those in the meditation group reduced depressive symptoms and improved mental health and cognitive function compared to those in the music group. The meditators also showed improvements in signs of stress-induced cellular aging and inflammation.
Mind-Body Practices at Home
Any mind-body practice, including tai chi, meditation, yoga, or qi gong, can be beneficial. Mind-body practices have been shown to reduce the number of drugs people need, improve athletic and school or work performances, improve sleep and perceived stress, and improve the quality of the relationships. Breathing-based interventions, such as yoga, also tends to reduce vascular risk factors by lowering blood pressure and heart rate.
Breath is universal and non-controversial- you do not need to believe in anything to breathe. It is readily available to you as a tool for self-regulation and stress reduction, reduction in anxiety, improvement in sleep and other functions. Simply breathe consciously by paying attention to the flow of air through your body or count your breaths and your breathing rate will slow down to 4-6 breath per minute.
And if breathing, meditation, yoga, or tai chi don’t float your boat, just go for what brings you joy. Do things that are joyous and that will enhance your quality of life and your level of happiness and contentment, she says. You can dance. You can walk on the beach and do breathing exercises. Being in nature is known to reduce stress levels. So, it’s not a strict prescription, and does not require a doctor’s visit. You can vary it according to your preference and achieve the same relaxation that can benefit your body and mind.
We found in a pilot project with 10 participants who were watching nature videos compared to watching a cosmic galactic nebula while contemplating their connection to their cosmic Soul, the brain regional activation was very similar showing activation in the visual and orbital and medial frontal cortex. compared to that while watching Digital Art by Rafik Anadol that activated brain areas responsible for visual processing.
To summarize, Meditation, Yoga, ART, NATURE are good for your Brain, your Mind and your Soul!
