Regularly meditating on compassion can also help prevent depression by reducing a person's emotional and physical reaction to stress in his or her daily life, says Charles L. Raison, MD, a psychiatry professor and co-director of Emory's Collaborative for Contemplative Studies.
"We look at compassion meditation as a protective strategy, sort of like exercise," he tells WebMD.
Over the past three decades, research has shown that meditation produces a relaxation response that helps decrease metabolism, lowers blood pressure, and improves heart rate, breathing, and brain waves. As the body receives a quiet message to relax, tension and tightness seep from muscles.
Meditation has gained millions of converts, helping them ease anxiety, stress, and chronic pain, improve heart health, boost mood and immunity, and resolve pregnancy problems.
By learning the Tibetan practice of "mindfulness meditation," it is possible to break the cycle of negative thinking that feeds depression, says John D. Dunne, PhD, co-director of Emory's Contemplative Practices and Studies programs.
"Negative thoughts are very real to depressed people," says Dunne. "They interpret their own actions in a very negative way ... have a very negative sense of self. They hold onto these thoughts very, very strongly."
Because a depressed person is so self-focused, it's difficult to convince them that their negative thoughts are not reality, he adds. "The goal of mindfulness meditation and compassion is to end this self-focus, this negative tone."
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