Meditation: Mindfulness, Zen, Transcendental Meditation, Mantra, Tibetan, Christian Mysticism, Hebrew Meditation (Kabbalah), Ritual as Meditation, Japanese Tea Ceremony, Tai Chi, Yoga
What is Meditation? The word itself means to think, contemplate, ponder. The latin word Meitato. For us now it generally means any of a number of techniques, mostly from Eastern Religions, that involve sitting quietly repeating something or who knows what…
It was first used with it’s modern contain by Guigo II a Carthusian Monk from the 12th century. It was one of the Four steps “Lectio Divina”. In latin: lectio, meditatio, oratio, and contemplatio. “In Guigo’s four stages one first reads, which leads to think about (i.e. meditate on) the significance of the text; that process in turn leads the person to respond in prayer as the third stage. The fourth stage is when the prayer, in turn, points to the gift of quiet stillness in the presence of God, called contemplation.”
Today Mindfulness is being widely recognized for the simple but effective way it can change lives.
Mindfullness reminds me of Zen. During my martial arts training we would always start and end in a zazen like position. Breathing correctly, through the tan jun (it was Korean Tae Kwon Do).
Now Evidence based trials are showing the many benefits, especially to mental and physical health. Including Insomnia.
- “In a small, NCCIH-funded study, 54 adults with chronic insomnia learned mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR), a form of MBSR specially adapted to deal with insomnia (mindfulness-based therapy for insomnia, or MBTI), or a self-monitoring program. Both meditation-based programs aided sleep, with MBTI providing a significantly greater reduction in insomnia severity compared with MBSR.”