Quiet the Mind, Heal the Body With Meditation
Hilary E. Macgregor / Los Angeles Times / December 29, 2003

Many people are taking up this practice, which the counterculture generation embraced in the '60s, for improving their health, not spiritual enlightenment

LOS ANGELES, California (USA) -- Inside a church community room, beginning meditators close their eyes, straighten their spines in their folding metal chairs and try to rein in, for just 10 minutes, the thoughts that race like wild horses through their minds. A woman in the back row yawns. The woman next to her fidgets. Another student sneaks a peek.

"My mind still wanders," Jeremy Morelock, 33, says of the Buddhist meditation class he has attended for three months in search of stress relief and spiritual growth. "I have these imaginary conversations with people, and then I think, 'Whoa, whoa, whoa concentrate!' "

Regular meditation practice is supposed to quiet the mind and allow the body to tap into its own innate healing mechanisms. Yogis and monks have preached the powers of meditation for thousands of years, and the counterculture generation of the '60s embraced transcendental meditation -- a still-thriving form of internal mantra-chanting -- as a method to alter consciousness.

But many people today are taking up meditation for reasons that have little or nothing to do with spiritual enlightenment and a lot to do with improving their health.

Positive health benefits Scientists are using MRI and other advanced technologies to study the physiological changes that occur in meditating Buddhist monks. These researchers are starting to demonstrate, with the type of laboratory science that can influence even skeptical physicians, what those who engage in this ancient practice have believed for many centuries: Meditation works.

A growing body of research has shown that meditation has clear benefits. Now, doctors and other health-care professionals are recommending meditation as a way to treat a variety of ills, from depression to high blood pressure and hyperactivity. In some cases, meditation -- or as it's sometimes called, "relaxation techniques" -- is prescribed when other treatments, such as prescription drugs, haven't worked, or as a complement to drug therapy. Recent research has shown that meditation can help reduce the risk of heart disease and stroke, as well as reduce pain and enhance the body's immune system.

Meditation is free, accessible and portable. It has no negative side effects -- a fact that makes doctors feel comfortable recommending it. Meditation requires only that you be able to sit quietly for 10 minutes or more, while focusing on your breath or a word or phrase. Anyone can do it. And while millions of Americans already are meditating in some fashion, many more would likely benefit.

"I believe that meditation is the most important thing a person can do for their health," said Dr. David Simon, medical director and chief executive of the Chopra Center at La Costa Resort and Spa in Carlsbad, Calif., the wellness clinic founded by New Age author and physician, Dr. Deepak Chopra.

Not for everyone No one knows for sure how many of those who begin meditating continue the practice. Gen Kelsang Lekma, a Buddhist nun who has taught meditation for a decade in Los Angeles, said the dropout rate is fairly high: Only about half the students who begin a typical 13-class series will complete it, she estimates, and perhaps two out of 10 students who begin meditating will still be doing so after a couple of years.

Students abandon the practice for a variety of reasons, Lekma said. Some don't like it or can't get the hang of it, and others lack the discipline to practice it regularly, usually daily. Some students are attracted to meditation out of a desire to learn something about Buddhist philosophy, but eventually lose interest.

How a person comes to meditation may also have an impact on his or her willingness to stick with it. For example, an increasing number of physicians are recommending meditation as a form of therapy to patients with heart disease, high blood pressure and even infertility. Dr. Herbert Benson, a Harvard University professor and president of the Mind/Body Medical Institute in Chestnut Hill, Mass., said that in his clinical experience, about 60 percent to 70 percent of those who begin a meditation-type practice primarily for medical reasons (sometimes at the recommendation of their doctor) adopt the teachings.

Published more than 25 years ago, Benson's pioneering book, "The Relaxation Response," showed how 10 minutes of meditative technique a day could increase concentration and counteract the harmful effects of stress, such as high blood pressure and strokes.

Stick with it Newcomers need to stick with meditation long enough to make it a habit. Taking a meditation class or attending a meditation retreat can be a shortcut to feeling the positive effects of meditation faster and establishing a routine, experts said.

"Most people find it very difficult to begin a meditation practice on their own," said Lekma, 37, resident teacher at Khandakapala Buddhist Center in Los Angeles. "When you meditate with others, you get some kind of group dynamic going. When you get some people who are experienced, you kind of feed off it."

Experts caution, however, that meditation won't produce the immediate "hit," such as reduced stress or increased energy, that a workout in the gym or other brisk exercise will do. Meditation takes time to learn, and even people who have been doing it for years still have times when their minds wander.

It is important to be patient and start slowly. Lekma, the Buddhist nun, suggests starting with tiny steps, such as a single weekly session with others, followed by a small personal commitment that you could stick to -- for example, five to 10 minutes a day.

"People come in with a lot of enthusiasm, but have unrealistic expectations," Lekma said. "Instead of taking very small steps they say, 'I want to run a marathon.' First you have to run half a block."