How Does Meditation Work? Change Your Brain, Find Your Happy Place
Have you ever questioned, “How does meditation work?” Maybe you wonder if it really can bring you peace and balance into your life. Or, maybe, you’re looking for something to help you keep grounded in this crazy, crazy world.
Meditation is an amazing tool that can bring you all those things and more. Spiritual growth? Yes! More fulfillment and better relationships? Yes, yes!
I don’t know where I’d be without my daily meditation. It’s my guiding light and guard rail.
It’s about time that you figured out what all the fuss is about. Let’s find out how meditation works and how it can help you improve your life.
What is Meditation?
Definition and History
While there are many definitions of meditation, my favorite comes from the American Psychological Association. It defines meditation as,
profound and extended contemplation or reflection in order to achieve focused attention or an otherwise altered state of consciousness and to gain insight into oneself and the world. Traditionally associated with spiritual and religious exercises, meditation is now also used to provide relaxation and relief from stress; treat such symptoms as high blood pressure, pain, and insomnia; and promote overall health and well-being.
Meditation or the act of contemplative exercise is as old as human history. Historians say that humans have engaged in such practices as early as between 200,000 and 150,000 years ago, having contributed to the birth of symbols and language. First written records of meditation date back to the Hindu Vedas around 1500 BCE, they note. As such, meditation has existed in virtually all cultures, the East and the West, throughout history.
The point is that meditation speaks to the human mind, and development, at the fundamental level. It seems to be something that is inherent in the human programming, such as dreaming and emoting. See? Not so scary, right?
Types of Meditations
These days, there are many types of meditations available at our disposal. Try searching on the internet, or on YouTube, and the options are plenty. And maybe confusing. While this post cannot cover the entire universe of meditations out there, here are the major types that may be worth reviewing.
Broadly, meditations can be practiced either in complete silence or following instructions from another.
Silent Meditation Techniques
In silent meditations, a person focuses attention on their breath or something else, like sounds in the environment or a mantra. As they notice their thoughts wander, they let them go without judgment and bring their attention back to that something. The focus is on the present moment.
Under this category, Zen meditationandVipassana meditationcome from Buddhist traditions and are usually practiced sitting down. Zen has its roots in East Asia (Japan, Korea and China), while Vipassana’s origins go back to India.
Similar to this style is Mindfulness meditation. It covers a broader category and not linked to a religious tradition. One can practice mindfulness, or the act of constantly bringing your attention back to the present moment without judgment, with their eyes open during everyday life.
Transcendental Meditation’s technique focuses on the silent repetition of a mantra or a sound, for 20 minutes at twice a day. The term, “transcendental meditation,” is trademarked by www.tm.org. According to that website, transcendental meditation came from a yogi named Maharishi Mahesh, who spread this method in the United States in the 1950s.
One can also practice silent meditation during a walk or movement. During such practice, which preferably takes place in nature, one moves very slowly with their focus on the movement and the sensations it brings.
Guided Meditations
There are many, many types of guided meditations. Here are some examples:
- Body scan meditation
- Chakra meditation
- Loving kindness meditation
- Yoga Nidra meditation
- Visualization meditation
During guided meditations, someone guides you through a practice of contemplation, breath work, mantra, visualization and so on. People who find silent meditations challenging find this style helpful, as it gives the busy mind something to do.
For guided meditations, one can find a teacher or a style that they like and go deeper with the practice. As you may have read from my other posts, I am a huge fan of Dr. Joe Dispenza. Also check out my post, 5 Best Meditations on YouTube for Healing & Spiritual Growth, for recommendations.
How Does Meditation Work?
Meditation Changes Physiology
Engaging in a meditative practice allows your brain to loosen your focus away from where it wants you to go. Maybe it’s the promotion you’ve wanted for years. Maybe a troublesome relationship or constant self-criticism. More often than not, the brain just wants to go where it has been trained to go, based on past experiences.
Our mind is always trying to figure it out, analyze, fight or flight. After all, it’s a matter of survival for the ego.
During meditation, you notice these thoughts and gently let them go. You place your attention on something as natural as your breath. In the present moment.
Your neurons, which are communicator cells in the brain and used to firing in certain ways, suddenly have to find a different route. A detour.
Your brain lights up differently. It starts to slow down. YOU start to slow down. Your nervous systems find their balance. YOU find balance.
Scientists are increasingly measuring how meditation affects us physically. They find that meditation changes brain’s electrical activities to reduce stress and anxiety. They also find that meditation changes blood chemistry to improve our immune responses and modulation of biological processes. Such benefits last even after meditation ends.
The more you meditate, the more you train your brain and body to a more balanced state of being.
Meditation Changes Brainwaves
In addition to mental, emotional and physical balance, meditation helps us access different states of brainwave frequencies. Beta frequencies, associated with stress and problem-solving, is where we spend most of our day as adults. Babies, on the other hand, remain largely in the delta brainwave states as they go back and forth between sleep and awakened states.
As you can see from the graphic above, brainwave frequencies are associated with different states of consciousness.
According to the Silva Method, for example, alpha brainwave states allow you to program your mind to learn anything you want, not feel pain and achieve success.
Shamanic journeying takes places in theta brainwave states. The drum or the rattle literally sets the beat and helps you get there.
Many believe that, the slower your brainwave gets, the closer you get to Source. Where we all come from before birth and where we go when we pass. The quantum field from which we connect to everything and create from nothing.
Meditation is an Active Practice
I often recommend meditation to people struggling with a challenge. I tell them that it is an excellent tool to find balance and clarity. Sometimes, they retort, “I don’t have time to sit around.”
Such a response tells me that they have no idea what meditation is. And that they’re probably the ones who’d benefit from it the most.
These people assume that meditation is a very passive process. The meditator is just sitting there being very still, right? There’s no physical action that we can see, so they must not be doing anything at all.
On the contrary, my friends!
Meditation can be a fierce battle against yourself. Okay, maybe not always fierce. Some days are easier than others.
I have also learned that it really is best to gently redirect the ego as opposed to trying to wage war against it. War takes SO MUCH effort and actually feeds the ego. What you resist, persists.
But the challenge begins the moment you make the intention to meditate. Will you actually make time to do it? Will you actually sit down and constantly settle your body and mind? Are you willing to let everything—the blame, the analysis, the planning, the reasoning, whatever that your mind comes up with—go, so you, the observer, can finally be free?
Meditation Brings You Joy
Hours of meditation can feel like a few moments. Because you are doing SO MUCH! You’re identifying the programming that’s been running your life and making the choice to release them.
But rest assured that it gets easier the more you do it. It becomes like brushing your teeth. You notice the difference when you don’t do it. You are naturally inclined to make it into a routine.
Also importantly, there will be moments of amazing connection, peace and joy that only comes when you truly let go. Meditation is your door to this state. Once you realize that this state is possible, you’ll want to get there more and more.
Meditation Releases Old Energy
Dr. Joe Dispenza has said that, every time you release an old thought or programming during meditation, stuck energy is released from the body.
The more you release, the more energy you have to use for healing and creating.
When I heard this for the first time, it was a lightbulb in my head. You see, I’d always wondered why I felt so tired at the end of the day at silent meditation retreats. I’d only sit still most of the day, walk very slowly in nature covering very short distance, and not even make eye contact with anyone. But I’d feel exhausted and ready for bed by sundown. Sleep like a rock until morning.
And that morning would be simply exquisite. All my senses clear, and amplified. My mind, naturally quieter. A stream of quiet joy pulsing through my body.
You do not have to go to silent retreats to see this for yourself. Start somewhere, in small doses. Right where you are. That’s how my practice started almost two decades ago.
[Also see my previous post, 5 Super Easy Ways to Meditate to Help You Start Your Practice, for tips on getting started.]
No Bad Meditations!
“There are no such thing as a bad meditation.” A Dr. Joe quote, and I agree.
There will be days when you get up from a meditation in frustration. Your mind was SO busy the entire time. You felt nothing extraordinary, and not even peaceful. You feel disappointed in yourself and doubts about the process.
But trust that it did SOMETHING.
Even if your mind did not quiet for even a moment.
I know this, because I often feel energy moving/releasing during meditations even as I’m painfully aware of my busy, distracted mind.
Do I know exactly what’s happening? No.
But I know that we are all multi-dimensional beings. Even if my physical self can’t see it, something is happening through those other layers of being.
So. Don’t be discouraged if, sometimes, you feel like you failed at this. Because there is no such thing as a bad meditation.
You are giving yourself a gift EVERY TIME you do it. Whether you can see it now or not. You will see the fruits of your labor, sooner or later.
Meditation Helps You Grow
Over time, if you keep a regular meditation practice, you will notice that your life changes. Because YOU will change.
If you showed up to the world in a more relaxed and easy-going state, how would your life change? Would you have more compassion for others? Will life’s challenges seem a little more digestible?
For me, I KNOW that I stress less and less about everything that happens. My relationships have improved tremendously, especially with those closest to me. I feel that I am now living a life that most closely matches who I am, inside.
And I am finding that there is ALWAYS more to let go, more to love to embody.
If you’re interested in learning more about the mind and how to let go, I highly recommend that you check out The Michael Singer Podcast. Singer is the author of The Untethered Soul and The Surrender Experiment. They provide amazing insights into workings of the human mind and the Universe, as well as how life can flow if we truly let go.
Friends! I hope this post gives you a better understanding of how meditation works and how it can benefit you. But reading is one thing. You will never really know until you TRY.
So, go TRY a quiet moment of meditation and see for yourself. And please tell me how it went for you. 😊