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Meditation and the Brain, Herbal Medicine Kathy Sykes, a Bristol University professor, has long known that if she does not find at least 30
minutes a day in her frantically overcrowded schedule to lie down and listen to music, she is grumpier, more tired and less
able to concentrate. When Professor Sykes put meditation under the metaphorical microscope
for the second series of Alternative Therapies: The Evidence, which she is presenting on BBC Two on Monday, she was surprised
to find that the saffron-robed monks of Kathmandu and the white-coated scientists of Harvard shared more common ground than
might have been expected. "Several people have told me that meditation can affect your emotions," she says,
"and one of the areas of the brain that scientists are finding may be affected by meditation is involved in processing
emotions, among other things. These are early days and we need more trials, but this is potentially very exciting."
There are signs that mainstream medicine has already started to sit up and take notice of meditation. Mindfulness-based cognitive
therapy (MBCT), which is about 80 per cent meditation, has been approved by the National Institute for Health and Clinical
Excellence (NICE) for use with people who have experienced three or more episodes of depression. And MBCT is now offered by
some UK primary care trusts. Finding a state of calm About ten million people meditate every
day in the West and, while there are many different techniques, the purpose is always to focus the mind - sometimes through
the use of a mantra, a sound or the breath - and promote a state of calm. Although Professor Sykes had always found
her own ad hoc methods useful, she noticed a change after her visit to Kathmandu for instruction with Matthieu Ricard, a Buddhist
monk who has been meditating for more than 30 years. "It would be absurd to say that I have learnt to meditate when people
spend a lifetime doing that, but when I try to meditate now it does have a more powerful effect," she says. Herbal Medicine Click Here if you are interested in herbs without the acupuncture.
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When you judge another, you do not define them, you define yourself. - Wayne Dyer |
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What Professor Sykes, who holds the chair in the Public Engagement of Science and Engineering at Bristol, did not realise
until recently is that she was, in effect, practising a fairly crude form of meditation. She also didn't know that there
was growing evidence to show that this ancient practice can make people healthier and happier. It may even increase life span,
alter brain structure and change personality. 