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Meditation: Its Healing Benefits
he purpose of this month’s column of Integral Vision is threefold: to consider some of the healing benefits of meditation; to offer a simple, yet powerful method of silent meditation known as Centering Prayer; and to list some of the meditation resources available to people in the Greater Fresno Area. Benefits of Meditation People come to meditation for a variety of reasons. Some people feel called to the silence for practical purposes: they want to relieve their stress, feel a sense of calm, well-being and relaxation in body, mind and spirit. Others find nourishment and inspiration for their creative, artistic or social justice pursuits. And yet others are drawn to meditation as a way to experience inner peace and stillness in a busy and frantic world. In short, they seek intentional silence as a way to find refuge from the stresses of daily life. Our youth need a practice to help them develop the connections between the limbic system and the neo-cortex. This can be accomplished through the use of meditation, and the installation of affirmations, such as, “As a man amongst men, I am strong and dedicated to my positive growth and development.” Affirmations combined with meditation help instill a sense of positive regard and confidence. As alluded to in previous articles, the boys who attended the past summer adolescent group were able to overcome their difficulties with school, relationships with their parents, and troubles with their peers through the use of meditation in the beginning of the group process. The boys stated that they had never felt so relaxed in their entire lives. Meditation also allows for the development of consciousness from the less complex stage to the more advanced integral stages. But in addition to the ability to cultivate deeper states and stages of awareness there are also the more concrete benefits derived from meditation. In his classic book, The Relaxation Response (original, 1975), the mind/body medicine pioneer and Harvard Medical School professor, Herbert Benson, M.D., laid out in pragmatic terms the benefits of meditation, contemplation, or relaxation (for the less religiously inclined). He stated that there can be significant improvements or even cure when self-care techniques such as relaxation are utilized in such conditions as angina pectoris, cardiac arrhythmias, allergic skin reactions, anxiety, mild and moderate depression, bronchial asthma, constipation, dizziness, diabetes mellitus, hypertension, insomnia, nervousness, pain, and premenstrual syndrome, just to name a few. Some people are encouraged to practice meditation by their doctors and therapists, for example, as a way of lower-
ing their high blood pressure or helping the heart to function optimally. It can also accelerate the healing of wounds or trauma, be it emotional, physical or sexual; as well as aide in the healing of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and other conditions such as chronic rage, guilt, and grief. Still others are called to meditation as a natural progression in the evolution of their prayer life; they feel inspired to experience a more intimate relationship with the divine—wanting a more fulfilling, closer and deeper connection with Ultimate Reality. Many practitioners of the much-acclaimed 12-Step addiction recovery program have found meditation as an effective and fruitful way of implementing the 11th Step, which is reprinted here as follows: “Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God as we understood Him, praying only for knowledge of His will for us and the power to carry that out.” Many Twelve Step practitioners have reported that Centering Prayer or other forms of silent meditation are excellent ways of implementing the 11th Step. Others are inspired to meditate by Oprah or the lives of Gandhi and Cesar Chavez, or by reading the best-selling books of Eckhart Tolle, Deepak Chopra, His Holiness the Dalai Lama, Thomas Keating, Thich Nhat Hanh and many other authors whose books grace the shelves of our local bookstores. And still other people feel the need to follow a deep inspiration from within, to transcend a worry-consciousness or a depressed mindset, and experience the equanimity and peace that comes from getting in touch with their true self, their experience of inner freedom, calm, love and joy—as they develop a higher awareness and consciousness. For whatever reason we might feel called to explore the world of silent meditation, there are many wonderful resources available in the Fresno Area to help us explore the contemplative or meditative path for psychological, spiritual and emotional healing, well-being and integral evolution.
The Method of Centering Prayer One such method of silent meditation comes from the Christian contemplative tradition; it is called Centering Prayer. It is a contemporary form known at various times in history as the Prayer of the Heart, Prayer of Simplicity, Prayer of Faith, Prayer of Simple Regard. As Thomas Keating puts it, in his book, Intimacy with God: An Introduction to Centering Prayer, Centering Prayer is a “method of reducing the obstacles to the gift of contemplative prayer and of facilitating the development of habits conducive to responding to the inspiration of the Spirit” (2009 edition, 190). Keating goes on to describe contemplative prayer as the “development of one’s relationship with Christ to the point of communing beyond words, thoughts, and feelings; a process of moving from the simplified activity of waiting upon God to the ever increasing predominance of the gifts of the Spirit as the source of one’s prayer” (191). Keating offers the following guidelines for a 20-minute period of Centering Prayer as follows:
(1) Choose a sacred word as the symbol of your intention to consent to God’s presence and action within. (2) Sitting comfortably and with eyes closed, settle briefly and silently introduce the sacred word as the symbol of your consent to God’s presence and action within. (3) When you become engaged with your thoughts, return ever so gently to the sacred word. (4) At the end of the prayer period, remain in silence with eyes closed for a couple of minutes.
Meditation Resources in the Fresno Area
Contemplative Outreach of Central California (www.contemplativeoutrach-norcal.org): contact CoCoordinators Beverly Garcia, 559-251-4013, or Everardo Pedraza, 559-230-9736, evpedraza@yahoo.com. -Wednesdays, 6:30 to 8 p.m., St. Anthony of Padua Catholic Church (Maroa and Bullard), Conference Room. -Mondays 6:30 to 7:30 p.m., University Presbyterian Church (on Cedar just south of Bullard). l Summer Meditation Retreat: July 9-11, 2010, Centering Prayer Weekend Retreat, with Juan Garcia, Ph.D., and Everardo Pedraza, M.A., at St. Anthony Retreat Center in Three Rivers, California. Contact Everardo at 559-2309736 or evpedraza@yahoo.com. l
World Community of Christian Meditation, John Main Tradition
Mondays at 12:45 p.m., following the noon Mass, Meditation group at St. John’s Cathedral, in the Choir Room, contact Betty Bachica at 559.264.4007. l Meditation Group at the Convent of the Sisters of the Divine Master in Fresno, Sr. Marta at the convent, 559275-9978. l In Kingsburg, contact Benita Lankford, World Community of Christian Meditation, 559-897-3711. l
Interfaith Meditation Groups
Interspiritual Peace Meditation Group at Woodward Park: Every 3rd Saturday from 9 to 11 a.m., starting March 20th, at Woodward Park, Riverview Picnic Shelter (bring your own meditation cushion or lawn chair to sit on), contact Everardo at 559-230-9736. l Zen and Interfaith Meditation: Saturdays, from 9 to 11 a.m., at Unitarian Universalist Church, contact Kuzan Peter Schireson at 559-877-4567 and/or peter@kuzanzen.org Zen Meditation: l Empty Nest Zendo in Northfork (www.emptynestzendo.org): Tuesdays, 6:30 to 8:30 p.m., Unitarian Universalist Church, Fresno, contact Empty Nest Zendo at: 559-877-4567. l
Raja Yoga Meditation
l Raja Yoga Meditation, contact Sr. Veena Kapoor, Ed.D., at 559-435-2212
Other Contemplative and Mindful Offerings
l The Center for Mindfulness (www.thecenterformindfulness.com): contact Lori Granger, M.S., LMFT, 559-2280099, drop-in meditation clinics, contemplative psychotherapy and other wonderful programs. l Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction: contact Carmen Illic at 559-324-6504. l California Vipassana Center: 559-877-4385 l Hygienic,“Easy-to-Clean” Meditation Cushions: www.PeaceMeditation.com.