The spiritual wisdom gained through meditation is all about pain – deep emotional pain. Not removing it but truly feeling it. Why is this worthwhile? Well, the best analogy I can think of is when one experiences a sprain of any kind, it can often be useful to move into the pain (through message or gentle exercise) to help relieve it. That’s what you’re doing when you meditate – you are truly feeling, and so unburdening yourself of the pain of being human.
This week a paper was published in the American Psychological Association journal, Emotion, regarding a study conducted by researchers in Montreal Canada. The study goes to the very heart of the spiritual wisdom gained through meditation. Joshua Grant, the lead researcher, described the study in which they measured the brain thickness of 17 Zen meditators and 18 non-meditators using MRI scans. They examined in particular specific areas of the brain that regulate emotion and pain and what they discovered was that these areas are significantly thicker in meditators than non meditators.
This finding has received a great deal of publicity as it is the first direct evidence of a physical and neurological change produced by meditation. Previous research had unearthed differing health outcomes, but this actually looks at the way in which meditation starts changing the shape of our inner organs. This greatly affects our understanding of our ability to improve ourselves – even at a level of altering the anatomy of our brains – and it provides ample encouragement to the world of personal development in general and contemplative/meditation based self help in particular.
Stillness and presence is a far more powerful route to spiritual wisdom than many had previously known. This fact is echoed throughout nature; Trees appear still, yet they grow every day - each tree was once a seed. Mountains appear still, yet they rise every day - each mountain range was once an ocean floor. Lakes appear still, yet they reshape every day - each natural lake was once a volcanic crater. And so it is with humans; present stillness is truly our most powerful state of being.
Dr Russell Razzaque is a practicing psychiatrist based in London, England. He earned his medical degree from the University of London, he is a member of the UK Royal College of Psychiatrists and in 2009, after several years of clinical development, he launched SILEOTHERAPY - an innovative online self help program...
www.meditation-therapy.net
Sileotherapy is a unique synthesis of meditation techniques and Internet therapy, and this new approach to personal development is the basis of an ongoing series of articles in this blog.
