Meditation and the Human Mind/Body Navadeep Khanal Hanover College

Introduction Physical and mental fatigue can make a person prone to illness. Regular exercise, good nutrition, sanitation and good sleep and relaxation help keep mind and body healthy and less prone to illnesses. Meditation is one of the many ways to relax body and mind

Past Research Benefits of meditation improvement in mental and physical health feeling good about oneself and others relief from stress and anxiety alleviation of pain greater sense of self- actualization self-directedness -Kelly, 1996

Past Research... What happens in the body Body reaches a heightened restful state while at the same time the brain became calm but remained in a state of heightened alertness. Heightend restful state, – lowered heart rate and pulse, slow and calm breathing, and relaxed muscles, -Orme-Johnson (1987, 1995) Heightened alertness. – EEG recordings show high activity of alpha and beta waves - Persinger’s (1984, 1993)

Past Research... What happens in the body... Decrease in the concentration of arterial and blood lactate levels 4 times faster than in sleep Wallace and Benson(1970, 1971,1972) Blood lactate level goes up with increased physical activity and stress and normally go down with rest and sleep Bloomfield, et.al., Body metabolic rate down 16% in about 1 hour of meditation 5 – 10 % decrease after 6 – 7 hours of sleep.

General State of the Mind it is restless cluttered by thoughts, desires, memories randomly moves from one thought to another hard to focus the mind especially when you want it to be still/calm

What happens in the mind... (Pertaining to the techniques used in this study) With lots of practice, the minds stops reacting to thoughts, memories and desires and follows constructive actions With this training one starts to act constructively rather than react to life-situations When the mind is calm, so is the body

Hypothesis People who practice meditation on a regular basis for at least a month will experience better physical health, will feel better about their lives, will have a higher sense of self esteem and feel better oriented in life.

Participants 11 college students 7 females, 4 males between the ages of 17 and 22 years 3 females and 2 males in the meditation group 4 females and 2 males in the control group

Material 3 meditative techniques – awareness of sitting – awareness of breathing – awareness of body 4 part before-after Questionnaire – basic health questions – self-esteem inventory – life satisfaction scale – social adjustment scale

Procedure Filled questionnaire (before) meditation group trained in 3 techniques of meditation for 6 weeks Filled questionnaire (after)

Results Pretest ANOVA showed no difference between participants in the meditation group and the control group Repeated Measure Analysis of life-satisfaction showed significant difference between the meditation group (M = 28.4) and the control group (M = 24.3), p <.05 after 6 weeks of meditation.

Results 2 Within subject test showed a significant difference in the means of the meditation group before meditation (M = 25.4) and after meditation (M = 28.4), p >.05. Within subject test for the control group showed no significant difference in the means before meditation (M = 24.6) and after meditation (M = 24.3).

Results 3 There was no significant difference between the meditation and conrtol group in health, self- esteem and life orientation. There was a growing difference in the means in life orientation between and within groups however it was not significant.

Discussion Suggestion that meditation allows the person to look within oneself in relation to oneself, others and their sorrounding helping them to find satisfaction within their own lives. There was also some suggestion that people can orientation of their lives better by this inward search.

Limitations Time period was very small – Change through meditation not a short term process Very few participants – difficult process – time consuming – frustrating at times – some self-selection bias