Meditation — Should I? Which type? How long? Risk?
Sifting through the information overload and taking full advantage of the practice of meditation
There has been a deluge of information, teachers, and apps about meditation in recent years. The mind boggles! Based on my research, I have compiled an at-a-glance table for beginners. It answers questions to enable you to decide.
To set the record straight — I have been practicing meditation since 2014. When I started, I had similar questions and not enough time in the day to add one more item to my to-do list.
There has been enough research done to prove that meditation is beneficial and enhances brain function.
Define your goal for meditation and choose. Mindful meditation is the single most studied method. However, there is no one good way to do meditation. Decide on the one that makes you feel comfortable, get instructions, and begin.
Just like exercising requires a coach to correct and optimize form, technique, and efficiency, so does meditation. It can have a powerful effect on the mind, such as reducing stress and anxiety, so you may as well do it correctly. There is also the possibility of painful and disruptive experiences during or after meditation, and sometimes, there are no visible benefits at all. These experiences may require intervention or guidance in order to determine your next steps. Why? When we get injured during physical exercise, we require treatment. It is also reasonable to assume that certain thoughts or experiences due to meditation may require help in order for us to grow and gain valuable insights.
So, find a teacher and get started! Continue to read if you are curious about meditation in general and my experience with the practice. Otherwise, feel free to stop! You won’t hurt my feelings.
Originally, due to a lack of published research, meditation as a subject became confusing since it had connotations associated with spiritualism and religion. Over the years, however, there has been tremendous research done on meditation. According to Daniel Goleman, in the 1970s there were just two studies of meditation that could be cited. Today, there are more than 7000. This makes it easy to focus on the health benefits of the practice while disassociating from religion.
Everyone starts meditation for their own reasons. When I began, I was extremely motivated to learn — the final impetus was to reduce the “bitterness” welling up inside me due to a circumstance not in my control. My friend Carol Lesh, a gifted healer and meditator, reminded me “yet again” that this may be a good time to pick up the habit.
When beginning with meditation, it helps to know your goal for meditation: curiosity, reduction of stress, or improved focus. Based on the goal, frequency, and time you wish to devote to the practice choose one. As Daniel Goleman explains in his article, each practice affects different parts of the brain.
My goal was to incorporate the practice into my everyday life. I already knew I wanted to practice Transcendental Meditation (TM). I had the pleasure of listening to a lecture by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi when I was a child and was greatly impressed by him. In his interpretation of the Gita, the Maharishi expressed several times that as man gains greater awareness through the practice of TM, he gradually establishes a level of contentment that remains increasingly grounded within him and in which the mind does not waver and is not affected by either attachment or fear.
I learned meditation from Michael Yankaus, a certified TM teacher. Initially, I had trouble sitting still, felt itchy, and sometimes would fall asleep during the session. Apparently, these are normal experiences when you start the practice. But then, I started getting bad headaches. I needed Michael’s guidance about the concept of “let the thoughts come and go”. Once I understood and modified my practice, the headaches went away. If I had not received his help, I would most likely have given up on meditation due to the severity of my headaches. My advice is to find an experienced teacher who can help you navigate through your experiences.
TM practice recommends practicing meditation 20 minutes twice a day. I can consistently manage 20 minutes 5 days a week. I find the duration sufficient for me, and it fits in with my routine. For scientific guidance, cognitive scientist Dr. Amishi Jha’s research found that in a sample of U.S. Marines, 12 minutes meditation sessions produced cognitive improvements. Another study by researchers at the University of California, Santa Barbara, found that 10 minutes of daily meditation improved GRE scores for undergraduate students. Research suggests that ten minutes seems to be the minimum threshold for some of meditation’s benefits to occur. It also does not seem to be a daunting length of time for many people.
A 2018 study conducted by researchers at Mass General and Yale University, shows that even short 10 minute bursts of meditation can deliver powerful benefits such as faster response times, greater accuracy, less distraction, and an enhanced ability to sustain attention. You can see my heart rate chart and skin temperature during one session from the Oura ring data. My heart rate drops at least 10 points in every session. It hits its lowest point between 10–20 minutes. My skin temperature generally rises in each session as expected.
Within six months of meditation, my “bitter reaction” was replaced with calm acceptance of the situation. Since then, meditation has made me gain insights about myself that have helped me analyze situations with more equanimity.
On the cautionary side, the same 2018 study found that “neuroticism may reduce the efficacy of short, guided meditation”. The authors suggest that “clinicians would benefit from an understanding of the difficulties individuals high in neuroticism face in both learning and persisting in the practice of mindfulness meditation.” According to this NIH article, meditation, in rare circumstances, can cause or worsen symptoms in people with psychiatric problems like anxiety and depression. The recommendation is to have people with existing mental health conditions make their health care providers and meditation instructors aware of their condition before starting a meditative practice.
As with any valuable endeavor, it is important to weigh the benefits and side effects of meditation. There may be disruptive episodes or slow gain, but with guidance, the long-term benefits are worth considering!
