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Why Meditation Requires Effort

Meditation is defined as focusing the mind on a word or a thought while keeping the eyes closed and the body still. After Dr. Benson's findings on the relaxation response were published in medical journals, hospitals offered training programs in meditation relaxation for recovering cardiac patients.

In the 1990s, Dr. Dean Ornish, a renowned cardiologist, conducted a two-year study of recovering heart patients who followed his three-step regimen: strict dietary program, yoga-type stretching, meditation and visualization relaxation. Medical PET scans proved this combination successfully reversed heart disease symptoms in each patient.

Dr. Benson's test subjects meditated for 20 minutes of undisrupted silence to achieve their relaxation response. Dr. Ornish's meditation and visualization periods were 45 minutes.

Aside from serious cardiac patients, most Americans have difficulty exercising regularly, never mind sitting motionless and focusing on just words, or a mental image. Have you ever tried closing your eyes and thinking of one thought -- and nothing else -- for any length of time? Try doing this for just two minutes -- you'll be amazed at how much effort it requires.

In Joan Borysenko's best-selling book, "Minding the Body, Mending the Mind," she states the three requirements for doing consistent meditation are motivation, effort and determination. Does that sound easy?  Because the mind naturally thinks many different thoughts -- in a stream of consciousness -- holding one's attention on just a few words, or a thought, is difficult and requires a lot of effort.

Other works offer advice on overcoming obstacles such as: boredom, distractions, racing thoughts, guarding against pressuring yourself to meditate correctly, fighting the impulse “I don’t want to meditate today,” and guarding against trying to empty your mind (it just makes you more restless). Imagine trying to meditate when stress has you tied up in knots.

Excerpts From Meditation Websites - Commentaries on Meditation

An intensive Vipassana meditation retreat is a serious undertaking, which requires effort and self-discipline.

Even if you have to give up a meal, do it...but do not give up meditation. The more regular you are, the greater depth you will attain. Meditation is such a delicate thing that it takes months to grow but just a day or two to wither away. A delicate thing needs much regularity, continuity. Meditation is the highest; everything else is secondary.

We need to set the motivation which gives perseverance in the practice. Keep relaxed, don't push yourself and don't expect great experiences. A dedication at the end directs positive energy towards results.

Transcendental meditation will require some effort on your part. How much? Well that depends on you of course, but at a minimum I would say 40 minutes a day for at least 3-4 weeks before you will start seeing any significant benefits.

My general recommendation is that a single forty minute meditation session practiced every day is a minimum effort, and scientists have proven that amount of meditation is enough to physically enlarge portions of the brain involved in awareness. Meditation only works for those who are hungry for it, and if you cannot spare forty minutes a day you will probably not gain substantial benefits.

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Source: Stress Makes You Fat, Wrinkled and Dead Lewis Publishing Richard Lewis ISBN 0-9664069-0-7 Vipassana Meditation (http://www.dhamma.org/) OSHO (www.osho.com) Meditation Practice (http://buddhism.kalachakranet.org) Transcendental Meditation (www.tm.org) Mediation Handbook (http://home.att.net/~meditation/MeditationHandbook.html) Meditaiton Dr. Tom J. Chalko (thiaoouba.com/medit.htm)

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