The power of meditation

By Angela Hynes

Pick up any self-help book, whether by a medical doctor or an alternative practitioner, visit the juice bar at the gym, or even tune in to a local radio station, and chances are someone will be touting the benefits of meditation. Beset by stress, work overload or everyday frustrations, legions are finding a healing serenity in this centuries-old practice.

So what exactly is it? Meditation is a state of deep physical relaxation combined with acute mental alertness. "It's like taking a nap, but you don't fall asleep, you fall awake," says Lorin Roche, Ph.D. author of Meditation Made Easy (HarperSanFrancisco, 1998).

There are many ways to achieve this state. Almost every religion incorporates meditative practices such as silent, repetitive praying or chanting. Other purely physiological techniques involve sitting and focusing on something that will hold your attention for five to 30 minutes: a progressive relaxation of your body's muscles, a word, calming music or an image. Observing your breath, which naturally tends to become slower and deeper as you relax, is a key part of many techniques.

The benefits of daily practice last far beyond the mere minutes you've spent in focus. "Meditation is an instrumental path," says Saki F. Santorelli, Ed.D, director of the Stress Reduction Clinic at the University of Massachusetts Medical School in Worcester and author of Heal Thy Self (Bell Tower, 1999). "Through practicing it, you recognize the possibility of relating to yourself and others in new ways."