Thrive Thursday: What's The Deal With Meditation?

Samantha
Feb 25, 2016
2 min read

Anyone who has ever had a health issue has been told to meditate. But telling someone to meditate doesn't really work unless you have reason to back it up - whether it be personal experience, clinical experience, or research to back it up.

So I'm going to be honest here... Meditation is my flavour of jam. It is juicy and tasty and has seriously shifted my whole life. And I have all three of those reasons above to back up my claims of 'meditation is the bees' knees AND the cat's pyjamas all at once!'

So, my personal experience includes:

Correcting my scoliosis (as confirmed by my osteopath) with just 4 months of daily meditation
Significantly less pain overall and during flare-ups
Deeper, better quality sleep
Better mood overall, and improvement of mood when I'm in the grumps
Increased ability to see the bigger picture and bring more positive opportunities into my life

Clinically, I have seen my clients experience many of these improvements as well, and the ONLY reported less than desirable side-effect is the emotional issues that meditation can bring up. Now, these issues were always there, meditation just forces you to face them and work through them and move on, instead of suppressing them - I think that's a good effect overall!

As to the research? Studies show effects ranging from:

Boosting brain function and the immune system
Management of anxiety disorders and sustained reduction in symptoms
Reduction of stress and mood disturbances in cancer patients
Improved effectiveness of psoriasis treatment
Reduction in severity and frequency of episodes in binge eating disorders
Improvement in measures including sleep, pain, fatigue, ability to cope and symptoms in patients with fibromyalgia
Improved physical function, engagement in activity and acceptance of pain in chronic back pain clients
Significant improvement in blood pressure and heart rate in students

So you want to give it a try, but where on earth do you begin? Here's a few ideas to get you started:

Try just stopping and taking 5 deep breaths. Inhale until your belly is filled up, hold the breath there for a moment or two, and then exhale slowly. Even just this short exercise can calm and centre you by activating your parasympathetic, or 'rest and digest', nervous system.
Find an activity that can be meditative for you - you can focus on your breath when out on a run, or go for a walk down the beach and focus on what sounds you can hear, or even go through and ask each of your muscles to relax as you wind down for sleep.
Try some guided meditations - I love Meditation Oasis podcasts for free meditations on a variety of subjects, and Smiling Mind is a great app for when you're needing some chill time on the go.

References

http://gruberpeplab.com/teaching/psych231_fall2013/documents/231_Davidson2003.pdf

http://www.psicoterapiabilbao.es/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/three-year_follow-up_and_clinical_implications_of_a_mindfulness_meditation-based_.pdf

http://mahashakti.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/Med_The_Effect_of_a_Mindfulness_Meditation-Based_Stress_Reduction_Program_on_Mood_and_Symptoms_of_Stress_in_Cancer_Outpatients.pdf

https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Jeffrey_Bernhard/publication/13511970_Influence_of_a_Mindfulness_Meditation-Based_Stress_Reduction_Intervention_on_Rates_of_Skin_Clearing_in_Patients_With_Moderate_to_Severe_Psoriasis_Undergoing_Photo_Therapy_(UVB)_and_Photochemotherapy_(PUVA)/links/53ff71f10cf29dd7c

https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Jean_Kristeller/publication/51736965_An_Exploratory_Study_of_a_Meditation-based_Intervention_for_Binge_Eating_Disorder/links/5498ec110cf2519f5a1deae5.pdf

http://www.fammed.wisc.edu/files/webfm-uploads/documents/outreach/mindfulness/res-mindfulness-fibromyalgia.pdf

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2254507/

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3216041/