Effects of meditation on the body and mind

  • Jul 26, 2021
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Effects of meditation on the body and mind

Meditation is a practice with a lot of history and centuries old, its exercises are based on techniques of physical and mental relaxation and paying attention to the stimuli that surround us. Its practice has many benefits for our psychological well-being and helps to maintain the balance of many physiological functions.

If you want to discover in detail what are the effects of meditation on the body and mind, keep reading this Psychology-Online article.

You may also like: Types of meditation and their benefits

Index

  1. Physical effects of meditation
  2. What happens in our mind when we meditate
  3. When are the benefits of meditation noticed?

Physical effects of meditation.

Since meditation is a conscious mental process and associated with the Self-conscious Self, the question is to find out how acts on the other two dimensions of the Self, that is, what are the effects of meditation on our body and mind.

Regarding the physiological dimension, we all would like to be able to eliminate the unpleasant bodily sensations that prevent us from enjoying life everyday life (especially mental disturbance, stomach pain and insomnia) simply by thinking about it, by “ordering” the physiological system to deactivate, but this is impossible, since it depends on the autonomic nervous system that is independent of our will (unfortunately, our mental program does not have that option). The only thing we can aspire to is to reduce the intensity of such sensations through one of the various

relaxation techniques.

However, meditation can help reduce the intensity of discomfort by reflecting and assuming the idea that unpleasant bodily sensations are simply the manifestation of a physiological reaction whose mission is to warn that something harmful has been perceived or detected that breaks the reigning psychological balance and, Therefore, we must accept them with indulgence, because our body "does not know" that it is causing us suffering, it only fulfills its mission. We must become aware that this is the “normal”, the “expected”, it is the inevitable response in the being human due to our biological nature and will accompany us while the alert is activated emotional.

Relationship between neurotransmitters and meditation

Several studies have verified the following effects that are attributed to meditation: it produces changes in the secretion and release of various hormones pituitary that mimic the effects of the inhibitory neurotransmitter GABA, cortisol levels are significantly reduced, the level of serum proteins increases and the systolic and diastolic pressures and the pulse rate decrease, as well as the respiratory vital capacity and ventilation maximum voluntary. It is also associated with increased levels of melatonin and corticotropin-releasing hormone (HLC).

Effects of Meditation on the Body and Mind - Physical Effects of Meditation

What happens in our mind when we meditate.

According to the psychic dimension, the content of the meditation will be, first of all, to identify the specific emotions that we are feeling and that lead us to a distressing state of mind: fear, sadness, irritation, hatred, frustration, despair, guilt, shame, remorse, etc., and secondly, find out what is the element of the disturbing event by which the emotional system has been activated (a physical event or phenomenon, a word, a phrase, an attitude, a decision, a major loss, an illness, etc.).

Likewise, it is interesting to know what factor of my psychological ego has been affected: my self-esteem, dignity, merit, pride, social image, freedom, justice, personal beliefs, vital ties: family, work, social, etc. We must also ask ourselves: is the emotional alteration and my reaction to it justified considering the meaning and consequences of the disturbing event? for me some advantage or utility to be in that martyring psychophysical state that absorbs all my attention and prevents me from enjoying the pleasant things that the environment?

Likewise, it is interesting to be able to evaluate the intensity, frequency and duration of physical symptoms detected, which will tell us the importance that the disturbing situation has for us and when it begins to remit or definitively end it. In this sense, we must ask ourselves: is there proportionality between the significance of the disturbing event and the reaction triggered by it?, because sometimes there is a very intense activation before an event of little importance.

Cognitive benefits of meditation

Meditation at this point can produce the following effects:

  • A change in the assessment of the situation, from harmful to neutral or positive if when analyzing the situation it is perceived that there have been errors in the interpretation of the event: cognitive distortions, emotional biases, prejudices, unfounded fears, mental ties, inappropriate cognitive schemas, etc. In this way, if we manage to eliminate the negative assessment of the disturbing event, the emotional system can be deactivated and, in consequently, eliminate the annoying physical sensations or, at least, reduce their intensity, thus restoring balance and emotional stability.
  • In those cases in which the disturbing situation is caused by an irremediable event (death, serious illness, etc.), facilitates the acceptance process of the disturbing situation and its consequences and adaptation to the new vital situation.
  • Helps to achieve emotional control. According to J. LeDoux: We always have initial reactions and then we go from an emotional reaction to reacting consciously. It is not that we cannot control our emotions, it is that we cannot control them in the initial reaction, although it is the basis of our later control. The effectiveness of this control is debatable, but we always exercise some control. The key question to be resolved is: in what way does the activation of an emotional brain mechanism give rise to subjective emotional experience? LeDoux proposes that the ability to have feelings is directly related to the ability to have conscious knowledge of the self and its relationship with the environment.
Effects of meditation on the body and mind - What happens in our mind when we meditate

When the benefits of meditation are noticed.

It must be borne in mind that, through meditation, the Self-Conscious I must analyze the situation created by the disturbing event from an objective perspective, without subjective, emotional or ideological additions, to obtain an accurate diagnosis of it. But this cannot be done while we are in a disturbed state of mind.

Meditation requires a attention and concentration difficult to achieve in this state, because the emotional force generated by the disturbing situation is greater than the cognitive ability to control it, is a struggle of reason against emotion, and the latter arose evolutionarily earlier (in addition, at the biological level it has been observed that the connections neurons from the amygdala towards the prefrontal cortex are more numerous than in the opposite direction and with meditation this differential is reduced), hence the difficulty

To face this battle, the Self-Conscious I has certain fundamental weapons:

  • The will as an internal driving force of the meditative attitude
  • Tenacity to overcome distractions of attention
  • Patience so as not to give up a long process that takes longer than we would like to make the positive results visible.

By virtue of the above, it is evident that meditation, by itself, does not restore psychological balance and emotional stability. (although in some cases it does), it is a helpful tool that is integrated into a broader process of therapy psychological. But it is also evident that the constant and periodic exercise ofthe meditation, by providing us with a deeper understanding of our psychological self, strengthens us in the face of adversity, helps maintain self-control, calm and firm spirit, provides the ability to manage our emotions without being carried away by them and prepares us to exercise control over other aspects of our lifetime.

This article is merely informative, in Psychology-Online we do not have the power to make a diagnosis or recommend a treatment. We invite you to go to a psychologist to treat your particular case.

If you want to read more articles similar to Effects of meditation on the body and mind, we recommend that you enter our category of Meditation and relaxation.

Bibliography

  • Joseph LeDoux The emotional brain (1996) Ed. Ariel-Planeta
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