Meditation research has come a long way since the first scientific study on meditation was published in a peer-reviewed journal in 1971 [1]. That study declared the discovery of a major fourth state of consciousness— the state of restful alertness — experienced during the Transcendental Meditation (TM) technique.

Now there are over 1,000 published studies on various meditation practices, with over 600 studies on the TM technique alone. Many universities, medical schools and hospitals offer classes in mind-body medicine and provide training in meditation.

Nevertheless, recent press reports about a scientific review [2] published in JAMA Internal Medicine (January 2014) raised questions about the extent of health benefits that can be claimed for meditation. While the review has been criticized as too narrowly focused to represent the current state of meditation research — it excluded many major studies and randomized clinical trials — there is an upside: The JAMA review may prompt health professionals to look closer at meditation and discover how far the research has actually come at verifying the health benefits and specific effects of different practices.

Read the full article by Jeanine Ball

It is hard to believe some still question whether meditation can have a positive effect on mind and body. A very selective research review recently raised the question, leading to headlines such as the one in The Wall Street Journal that said the benefits are limited.

I have been researching effects of meditation on health for 30 years and have found it has compelling benefits.

Over the past year, I have been invited by doctors in medical schools and major health centers on four continents to instruct them on the scientific basis of mind-body medicine and meditation in prevention and treatment of disease, especially cardiovascular disease.

Research on Transcendental Meditation (TM), for example, has found reduced blood pressure and insulin resistance (useful for preventing diabetes), slowing of biological aging, and even a 48% reduction in the rates of heart attack, stroke and death.

Read the full article by Robert Schneider > Medical News Today

Needless to say, I was surprised to see the recent headline in The Wall Street Journal: “Meditation Has Limited Benefits, Study Finds.” I’ve been researching the effects of meditation on health for 30 years and have found that it has compelling benefits. Over the past year, I have been invited by doctors in medical schools and major health centers on four continents to instruct them on the scientific basis of mind-body medicine and meditation in prevention and treatment of disease (especially cardiovascular disease).

Research on Transcendental Meditation, for example, has found reduced blood pressure, increased insulin resistance (useful for preventing diabetes), slowing of biological aging and even a 48 percent reduction in the rates of heart attack, stroke and death. I would consider those to be benefits. And so does the American Heart Association, which last year released a statement saying that decades of research indicate TM lowers blood pressure and may be considered by clinicians as a treatment for high blood pressure.

Read the full article by Robert H. Schneider > huffingtonpost.com

In 1990, country star Naomi Judd was diagnosed with Hepatitis C and told that she had only three years to live. Now, 24 years later, Judd says she feels better than ever — and she has meditation, in part, to thank for it.

Yesterday on Katie, Judd told host Katie Couric that changing her mindset through practices like meditation and affirmations improved her health.

Medical experts are increasingly recognizing mind-body practices like meditation, yoga and deep breathing as a key lifestyle factor in maintaining health and well-being. Or at Katie Couric puts it, mind-body medicine is “not a bunch of hooey.”

“What we’re recognizing more and more is that all of the stuff our brain takes in, every minute of every day — all the stuff that makes us feel stressed out — that we can combat that,” Dr. John Denninger of the Benson-Henry Institute for Mind Body Medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital. “What happens is, you’re able to use your mind to do things in your body, like elicit your relaxation response… which lowers heart rate and breathing rate.”

Read the full article on line > TheHuffingtonPost.com

Scientists are getting close to proving what yogis have held to be true for centuries — yoga and meditation can ward off stress and disease.

John Denninger, a psychiatrist at Harvard Medical School, is leading a five-year study on how the ancient practices affect genes and brain activity in the chronically stressed. His latest work follows a study he and others published earlier this year showing how so-called mind-body techniques can switch on and off some genes linked to stress and immune function.

Read the full article by Makiko Kitamura > Bloomberg

Emotional expertise for happiness and success
by Emma M. Seppala, Ph.D.
Published: Psychology Today | September 11, 2013

I started meditating soon after 9/11. I was living in Manhattan, an already chaotic place, at an extremely chaotic time. I realized I had no control over my external environment. But the one place I did have a say over was my mind, through meditation. When I started meditating, I did not realize it would also make me healthier, happier, and more successful. Having witnessed the benefits, I devoted my PhD research at Stanford to studying the impact of meditation. I saw people from diverse backgrounds from college students to combat veterans benefit. In the last 10 years, hundreds of studies have been released. Here are 20 scientifically-validated reasons you might want to get on the bandwagon today:

Read the full article by Emma M. Seppala, Ph.D. > Psychology Today

Ever since my dad tried to convince me to meditate when I was about 12, I’ve been fairly skeptical of this practice. It always seemed so vague and hard to understand that I just decided it wasn’t for me. More recently, I’ve actually found how simple (not easy, but simple) meditation can be and what huge benefit it can have for my day to day happiness.

Develop a Two-Minute Meditation Habit and Make It Stick
Zen Habits blogger Leo Babuta hits on perhaps the most important aspect of making meditation a centering tool for your hectic life: forming the… Read…
As an adult, I first started my meditation practice with just two minutes per day. Two minutes! I got that idea from Leo Babauta’s Zen Habits blog, where he points out how starting with a tiny habit is the first step to consistently achieving it. So even thought two minutes won’t make much difference, that’s where I started. Whether you’re as skeptical as I used to be, or you’re well ahead of me with a meditation habit of several hours, I think it’s always interesting to find out how new habits affect our brains. I had a look into meditation to see what’s going on inside our brains when we do this, and what I found is pretty interesting.

Read the full article by Belle Beth Cooper > Lifehacker.com

Emotional pain can be more excruciating than physical pain. Having been going through a very difficult time, I have realized that the pain in my body is a welcome change to the one in my heart and mind. But what kind of toll can the stress of emotional upset take on the body?

When you are stressed out or very upset, the body goes into “fight or flight” mode, pumping adrenaline, cortisol and increased blood to the muscles in expectation of what the mind perceives as danger. This is a temporary response, but if the stress is ongoing, the process continues to repeat itself over and over. The result of this constant “fight or flight” is an imbalance in the nervous system.

Read the full article by Tracy Rydzy > Psych Central News

Mindfulness meditation has been unequaled in helping me navigate the stressors that can rob me of the beauty of each moment. It has helped me manage a serious mental illness, and it has helped me confront major and minor roadblocks that threaten to derail all of my plans.

In fact, I believe that anyone can benefit from this practice. And therein lies the problem.

Mindfulness should be about fully experiencing the present moment — taking in all that is around us non-judgmentally, and sharing empathy for the plight of others we encounter. But it threatens to become an individual pursuit.

Read the full article by George Hofmann Psych Central News

Meditation affects a person’s brain function long after the act of meditation is over, according to new research.

“This is the first time meditation training has been shown to affect emotional processing in the brain outside of a meditative state,” said Gaelle Desbordes, Ph.D., a research fellow at the Athinoula A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging at Massachusetts General Hospital and at the Boston University Center for Computational Neuroscience and Neural Technology.

“Overall, these results are consistent with the overarching hypothesis that meditation may result in enduring, beneficial changes in brain function, especially in the area of emotional processing.”

Read the full article by Traci Pedersen Psych Central News