Meditation and Your Brain 1/2

Meditation often involves an internal effort to self-regulate the mind in some way. Meditation can help clear the mind and ease many health issues, such as high blood pressure, depression, and anxiety to name a few (Yoga Journal). It may be done sitting, or in an active way, for instance Buddhist monks involve awareness in their day-to-day activities as a form of mind-training. Prayer beads or other ritual objects are commonly used during meditation in order to keep track of or remind the practitioner about some aspect of the training. Meditation may involve generating an emotional state for the purpose of analyzing that state — such as anger, hatred, etc. — or cultivating particular mental response to various phenomena, such as compassion. The term "meditation" can refer to the state itself, as well as to practices or techniques employed to cultivate the state.[7]Meditation may also involve repeating a mantra and closing the eyes. The mantra is chosen based on its suitability to the individual mediator. Meditation has a calming effect and directs awareness inward until pure awareness is achieved, described as "being awake inside without being aware of anything except awareness itself." In brief, there are dozens of specific styles of meditation practice; the word meditation may carry different meanings in different contexts. Meditation has been practiced since antiquity as a component of numerous religious traditions and beliefs.