“Wellbeing, of course,” is the answer if you ask those who know how to use a good relaxation, “and creativity.” Current research is interested in more than that though. They want to see if there are permanent and deep physiological effects.
Recently I looked into a database (Medline) containing reports that have been published in recognized research magazines. It contained more than 27,000 reports on relaxation.
yoga and meditation published over the last twenty years. I realized, as I went through the reports, that some of the researchers regard meditation as an unalterable quantity. Therefore they cannot understand why there is a discrepancy in their research. The fact is that the results largely depend on which meditation technique is used.
In some meditations you learn to withdraw the senses; in others you are more present in your senses. There are meditations where you learn to make your mind one-pointed, and meditations without a focal point, which are based on the ability to experience the totality in and around oneself. It should also be added that some methods give only a light relaxed state, while others produce very clear changes in your general state. Certain Tantric meditations, for example Inner Silence, are constructed as a developing sequence containing a whole array of the mentioned methods – it spans the spectrum from outer awareness to deep inner rest in oneself.
Some researchers have documented that relaxation techniques, sometimes supplemented with other yoga techniques and meditation, can be used as an alternative or a supplement to traditional treatment for people who suffer from diabetes, high blood pressure, stress, sleep disorders, chronic pain, rheumatism, anxiety, cancer, psoriasis, alcoholism, epilepsy, to name but a few.
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Interesting point. I find the same issues are involved when other methods (massage, chiropractic, and many more) are tested with the medical research model. The intervention that’s being tested is very heterogeneous.
That being said, what insight can you offer about meditation? Is one method preferable to another, or does it depend on the individual and her or his goals?