Everywhere you go in modern-day society we hear about the benefits that mediation and the act of mindfulness provides. The practice has been around for at least 5,000 years with origins in India and Nepal and has recently become massively popular in culture and societies all over the world.
However, thanks to the media and the internet, the information that we have on mediation can become warped through opinions and contrasting studies that can make it increasingly difficult to figure out the actual facts of mediation and the practice.
While some see mediation as the magic practice needed to reduce stress and anxiety, others see it as a ‘hippy’, tree-lovers activity where you try to become one with the universe. While there are countless studies out there that have proven the benefits of meditation, many of which are cited by countless articles, as we do here an Antaryami, but what do we actually know?
The Studies
Of course, studies are important because they highlight the effects of a practice such as mediation. If a study researches 5,000 people from all walks of life in a controlled environment and figures and statistics are then collected from these groups of people, it’s safe to say that these are going to be accurate.
While there are obviously exceptions to the rules here and there, if a study is carried out multiple times around the world, a general picture is formed, and the facts can then be applied to different concepts.
For example, if you take 100 people and give 50 meditation training and monitor their stress levels over the year, whereas the over 50 don’t receive the training, you can then see exactly what percentage of people benefit from the practice, giving you an accurate figure you can apply to society and culture.
The Science
However, it’s important to note that while we can understand the benefits and effects that meditation can have, scientists and researchers are still relatively unaware of how meditation actually affects the mind and brain.
In fact, one recent publication in the Perspectives in Psychological Science took all the data we have on mindfulness and meditation, spanning from all over the world including countries like the U.S., Australia and the Netherlands, and say that the general public theory of meditation is flawed, that it’s not a cure-everything solution.
This is because there are two major flaws that science has been unable to prove;
Firstly, there’s no way you can accurately or efficiently measure ‘mindfulness’ on a scale, range or with a number.
Secondly, there’s no similar or consistent way that you can measure and record the effects that mindfulness can bring to an individual.
This is because there is no universal definition of what mindfulness actually is. For example, is mindfulness practice for ten minutes at home the same scale of definition as a two-hour mindfulness session at a yoga studio?
Until a definition is agreed upon by researchers and scientists, this level of acknowledgement will be impossible. For example, why can some forms of mindfulness help to decrease levels of anxiety? Is it the same type of mindfulness that has been proven to reduce pain signals in the brain?
The Takeaway
While there are cases out there that meditation and mindfulness can be used for good purposes, it’s important to realise that mindfulness is an individual process. For some people it will work, for others, it won’t, and there’s only one way to find out.