The word ‘meditation’ stems from the Latin word ‘meditatum’ meaning ‘to ponder’. The history of India is commemorated for recording the practice of Dhyāna or Jhāna (the training of mind) dating back to around 1500 BCE. Meditation is a pure, delicate, authentic, disciplined, and pious method of training one’s mind through utter concentration and practice to achieve complete calmness over the mental and emotional health of the body. There is no such thing as achieving the state of perfect meditation. It is a continuous practice. It is the nurturing of one’s soul and body with positivity. It gives us a deeper look into our actions and reactions, our daily life, the strenuous busy schedule, and the overall well-being at the end of the day from the eyes of an observer. It provides us with a chance to redeem our actions and ourselves. It opens our mind to achieve the greatest happiness possible for our psyche.
Meditation promotes our emotional health by reducing stress and anxiety. It helps us in developing a stronger understanding of ourselves thereby increasing our concentration power. It aids us in getting an adequate and qualitative amount of sleep. Since the perception of the intensity of pain is controlled by our minds, meditation helps control the severity of pain. Apart from the aforementioned amazing benefits of meditation, Paul Condon, a graduate student in Psychology professor David DeSteno’s lab, at Northeastern University wanted to observe if meditation can boost compassion in an individual. This study showcased that even a brief period of meditation is enough to boost one’s compassion toward a suffering stranger more than fivefold.
This eight-week session comprised of more than three dozen participants. At the end of this time period, it was found that about 15 per cent of the nonmeditators–the waitlisted group–got up and offered their seat to the sufferer (an actor employed by DeSteno’s team) compared to about 50 per cent of those in both meditation groups–those who engaged in discussions about compassion and those who only participated in meditation training. The results suggest that it was the meditation itself—not the discussions—that accounted for the increase.
This experiment has given DeSteno and his team another big goal to examine this achieved phenomenon. “This is the first evidence that the practice of meditation—even for brief periods of time—increases peoples’ responsiveness and motivation to relieve the suffering of others,” DeSteno said.
Hopefully, they will achieve great success in the future. It could be related to a heightened awareness of one’s surroundings or an increased sense of empathy. Therefore, keep calm and meditate.
Dibyasha Das