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Uses of Meditation For Health in The United States

Meditation involves focusing one's attention in a nonjudgmental way on thoughts and sensations to achieve calmness. It commonly involves sitting quietly, maintaining a comfortable posture, focusing on the breath or a mantra, and letting distracting thoughts come and go without judgment. Practicing meditation changes how one relates to emotions and thoughts and is a type of mind-body medicine that focuses on the interactions between the mind, body, and behavior. A 2007 survey found that over 20 million adults and 725,000 children in the US had used meditation in the past year to help with issues like anxiety and pain.

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Kimi Palgotra
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46 views

Uses of Meditation For Health in The United States

Meditation involves focusing one's attention in a nonjudgmental way on thoughts and sensations to achieve calmness. It commonly involves sitting quietly, maintaining a comfortable posture, focusing on the breath or a mantra, and letting distracting thoughts come and go without judgment. Practicing meditation changes how one relates to emotions and thoughts and is a type of mind-body medicine that focuses on the interactions between the mind, body, and behavior. A 2007 survey found that over 20 million adults and 725,000 children in the US had used meditation in the past year to help with issues like anxiety and pain.

Uploaded by

Kimi Palgotra
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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In meditation, a person learns to focus attention.

Some forms of meditation instruct the


practitioner to become mindful of thoughts, feelings, and sensations and to observe them in a
nonjudgmental way. This practice is believed to result in a state of greater calmness and
physical relaxation, and psychological balance. Practicing meditation can change how a person
relates to the flow of emotions and thoughts.

Most types of meditation have four elements in common:

 A quiet location. Meditation is usually practiced in a quiet place with as few distractions as
possible. This can be particularly helpful for beginners.

 A specific, comfortable posture. Depending on the type being practiced, meditation can be
done while sitting, lying down, standing, walking, or in other positions.

 A focus of attention. Focusing one’s attention is usually a part of meditation. For example,
the meditator may focus on a mantra (a specially chosen word or set of words), an object,
or the sensations of the breath. Some forms of meditation involve paying attention to
whatever is the dominant content of consciousness.

 An open attitude. Having an open attitude during meditation means letting distractions
come and go naturally without judging them. When the attention goes to distracting or
wandering thoughts, they are not suppressed; instead, the meditator gently brings
attention back to the focus. In some types of meditation, the meditator learns to “observe”
thoughts and emotions while meditating.

Meditation used as CAM is a type of mind-body medicine. Generally, mind-body medicine


focuses on:

 The interactions among the brain/mind, the rest of the body, and behavior

 The ways in which emotional, mental, social, spiritual, and behavioral factors can directly
affect health.

Uses of Meditation for Health in the United States

A 2007 national Government survey that asked about CAM use in a sample of 23,393 U.S. adults
found that 9.4 percent of respondents (representing more than 20 million people) had used
meditation in the past 12 months—compared with 7.6 percent of respondents (representing
more than 15 million people) in a similar survey conducted in 2002. The 2007 survey also asked
about CAM use in a sample of 9,417 children; 1 percent (representing 725,000 children) had
used meditation in the past 12 months.

People use meditation for various health problems, such as:

 Anxiety
 Pain

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