i have spent many years studying and some years teaching meditation and am still confounded as to the common thread. it has something to do with intent and focus, that i know. beyond that …

will go over to your site and see what you’re up to there, and of course would be happy to have you use this article as a springboard.

One of your readers mentioned mindfulness above and that was the second question I got (the one I’m attempting to answer.)

I think there’s a significant difference between mindfulness and meditation. I also think that meditation is a spiritual pursuit and mindfulness just makes sense in any endeavor. To be completely conscious of the actions we take is a great step towards knowing the “Universe” and ourselves.

In Spirit,
Nneka

BTW, I would like to use this article as the springboard for one of the questions, is that okay?

the other difficulty is that meditation means different things to different people. for example, i can think of a number of people who would say that yoga, tai chi and qi gong cannot be equated with meditation, and others who would say that contemplative prayer, a form a christian meditation, should definitely have been included in the study.

the next thing for me to do is to read the original article!

And I recognize that there are certainly reasons to doubt the way that some of the studies were designed–small control groups, working with those who have meditated for many years without considering how their lifestyle choices may have increased their ability to concentrate/have low blood pressure/reduce angry moments, etc. But as you say, doubting a study’s design or results is not the same as doubting the benefits of meditation.

I do, however, think that there is a tendency to be mindless about reporting on mindfulness. A recent article in the NY Times carried a photo of kids sitting with eyes closed at their desks and the first sentence mentioned using Tibetan singing bowls in the public classroom as a cue for mindfulness training. Yikes. This is precisely why people continue to see mindfulness as a religious pursuit instead of a secular health or education-oriented skill that can increase our ability to focus in all areas of life.

But mindfulness teachers are just as much to blame as journalists for this perception. By clinging(!) to the concept of meditation as the only path to greater mindfulness, meditation teachers are inadvertently creating a huge barrier for the milions of people who are interested in awareness but not necessarily likely to embrace meditation.

We don’t want to throw out the baby with the bathwater–we need to encourage people to develop MINDFULNESS in whatever way works for them.

And the more headlines we read about meditation “not working”, the more likely these millions of people are to dismiss the notion of meditation altogether.

We can do our part by emphasizing that meditation can certainly work but that it is MINDFULNESS that is beneficial. Celebrate the fact that we have some wiggle room to create our own mindfulness practice, and release our grasp on meditation as the only “right” way.

Best,
Maya

http://www.Real-WorldMindfulness.com