The Western Meditation – Is It A Mere Stress Reduction Technique?
If you have ever observed longtime meditators in a Buddhist monastery, or gone through rigorous meditation training yourself, you know that meditation is a serious business and has been for thousands of years. Dedicated meditators strive towards compassion, equanimity and enlightenment, and do not pursue their practice with the simple goal of stress reduction and increased wellbeing. Such longtime meditation practice has been found to be associated with structural and functional changes in the brain. This recent article draws attention to the fact that the Western version of an ancient practice, devoid of all spiritual dimensions, and promoted as a quick fix for many chronic health conditions, may not be more than a feel good stress reduction technique.
Newsweek: ‘Mindfulness’ Is a Meaningless Word With Shoddy Science Behind It
Emeran Mayer, MD Is a Distinguished Research Professor in the Departments of Medicine, Physiology and Psychiatry at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, the Executive Director of the G. Oppenheimer Center for Neurobiology of Stress and Resilience and the Founding Director of the Goodman-Luskin Microbiome Center at UCLA.