By Marinne Hammond
“Calmness of mind is one of the beautiful jewels of wisdom.”
If you asked me a number of years ago what I knew about meditation, I would not have much to tell you. I may have responded by saying it was something other people, not me, did to find inner harmony or peace. I did not know then how drastically my perspective on meditation would change. When I started college, I became fascinated with the concept of mindfulness, or “present-moment awareness with acceptance” (Warren & Farley, n.d., para. 2). I felt that when I tried to be mindful, the world seemed a little more beautiful to me. A few years later, I learned that meditation was simply a formal practice of mindfulness (Warren & Farley, n.d.), and, since then, meditation has ceased to be a completely foreign concept to me.
Today, I will share some forms of meditation and the benefits behind them.
Mindfulness Meditation
In a mindfulness meditation, breath and sensations, along with thoughts and emotions, are all things that can be paid attention to by the one meditating. Single moments pass by as the meditator notices each one individually (American Psychological Association, n.d.).
A couple semesters ago, as part of an assignment for a positive psychology course, I set my mind to study and practice mindfulness for three weeks. It has been interesting to look back on the notes I took from the assignment. As I participated in several meditations, my appreciation for meditation grew. I realized that it could truly be a way to set aside present cares, even if a meditation only lasted for a number of minutes.
Today, the more I implement meditation into my life, the more I am grateful that meditation exists as a designated and personalized way to practice mindfulness. I learned through my assignment which meditations worked best for me. For example, while several meditations I have done use the breath as an object to harness wandering thoughts, my three week experiment led to a personal discovery that sounds ground me even more than the breath does, particularly sounds of nature, such as chirping birds or flowing water.
Overall, I find that while simply being in a mindful state and practicing a meditation are two different things, they go hand in hand; if I meditate more, it is easier for me to be mindful without a voice guiding me; I can be more mindful in the activities of my everyday life, as I am walking, holding a conversation with someone, or playing the violin.
I know that my success story with meditation is just one example, which is why I think research gives us greater insight into how it is helping other people, too. Participating in a mindfulness meditation shows promising benefits for anxiety. In a study by Berghoff et al. (2018), participants took just 10 minutes a day to implement mindfulness meditation into their lives. According to the findings of the study, after the 2 weeks, participants most likely reported that their anxiety symptoms had gone down significantly. Even those just starting out with meditation have shown to experience a rise in empathy and compassion (Miyahara et al., 2020). In addition, it is suggested that beginners who went through mindfulness meditation also reflected on their values more (Miyahara et al., 2020).
2. Self-Compassion Meditation
Out of all of the different types of meditation, self-compassion is one of my personal favorites. A few years ago, I came across self-compassion practices led by Kristin Neff (n.d.), and one practice that I resonated with then and still resonate with now is the Self-Compassion/Loving-Kindness Meditation. In this meditation, you are first asked to think of someone in your life who has treated you well no matter what. It is only after you have done this that you practice self-compassion towards yourself. I always love this idea of being mindful about someone who is compassionate towards you, and then channeling that energy into yourself. This is a great tool that works for me because, if I am paying attention, there are already people surrounding me that are key examples of the way I should be treating myself.
Research points to the benefits of mindful self-compassion. Loving-kindness meditation, which embraces self-compassion (Salzberg, 1995), may play a role in better self-care (Boellinghaus et al., 2013), even among therapists themselves (Boellinghaus et al., 2013). Loving-kindness meditation can also help us to feel more socially connected to those we do not know well (Hutcherson et al., 2008).
With the knowledge I have gained about meditation in the past few years, my hope is that I remember how beneficial meditation can be for everyone, myself included. Whether you engage in a simple mindfulness meditation or in a more specialized meditation like mindful self-compassion, I hope you can find a personalized sense of peace and purpose in your life.
Below are some meditations you might resonate with:
A collection of several self-compassion practices by Kristin Neff:
https://self-compassion.org/category/exercises/
A meditation for stress (Nature Relaxation Films, 2020):
“Relaxing the Mind” (Rabgye, 2017):
“The thing about meditation is: you become more and more you”
Reference
American Psychological Association. (n.d.). Mindfulness meditation. In APA dictionary of psychology. Retrieved February 1, 2023, from https://dictionary.apa.org/mindfulness-meditation
Berghoff, C. R., Forsyth, J. P., Ritzert, T. R., Eifert, G. H., & Anderson, D. A. (2018). Evaluation of the contribution of values clarification to a brief mindfulness meditation intervention for anxiety. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 74(9), 1387–1402. https://doi.org/10.1002/jclp.22610
Boellinghaus, I., Jones, F. W., & Hutton, J. (2013). Cultivating self-care and compassion in psychological therapists in training: The experience of practicing loving-kindness meditation. Training and Education in Professional Psychology, 7(4), 267–277. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0033092
Hutcherson, C. A., Seppala, E. M., & Gross, J. J. (2008). Loving-kindness meditation increases social connectedness. Emotion, 8(5), 720–724. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0013237
Miyahara, M., Wilson, R., Pocock, T., Kano, T., & Fukuhara, H. (2022). How does brief guided mindfulness meditation enhance empathic concern in novice meditators?: A pilot test of the suggestion hypothesis vs the mindfulness hypothesis. Current Psychology: A Journal for Diverse Perspectives on Diverse Psychological Issues, 41(6), 3958–3969. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-020-00881-3
Nature Relaxation Films. (2020, May 8). Zen garden meditation (4K) guided stress relief therapy session by Nature Relaxation + 432HZ music [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=75jZ7fP69Jo&ab_channel=NatureRelaxationFilms
Neff, K. (n.d.). Self-compassion guided practices and exercises. Self-Compassion: Dr. Kristin Neff. https://self-compassion.org/category/exercises/
Rabgye, Yeshe. [Yeshe Rabgye]. (2017, November 26). Guided meditation- relaxing the mind [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QNq7UGRBaQk&ab_channel=YesheRabgye
Salzberg, S. (1995). Loving-kindness: The revolutionary art of happiness. Boston, MA: Shambhala Publications.
Warren, J., & Farley, C. (n.d.). What is mindfulness? My Best Self 101. https://www.mybestself101.org/what-is-mindfulness