Not so much breaking news, but more proof of what many of us know. Shamata meditation, or more specifically a style now known as Sahaja Yoga has been proved to reduce stress AND disease in a scientific study carried out in Australia.
The study was carried out by a team which was led by Dr. Ramesh Manocha, a senior lecturer in Psychiatry, at Sydney University. They used more than 175 people who were in full time work. They were asked to meditate twice daily for 10 - 20 minutes over 8 weeks and were measured on general stress and disease levels. There were two other groups, those who were just taught how to relax and a placebo group (I take it they did it without using authentic teachings?) The results of the meditation group were apparently twice better than the other two groups.
"Within the context of meditation and stress, it's the largest study in the world … and we've applied some rigorous conditions," Dr. Manocha said. On the subject of the kind of calm abiding (or Shamata) meditation they used he said, "What authentic techniques should do is show you how to widen space between thoughts until the space is so large you have no thoughts whatsoever in that moment ".
With Stress levels hitting an estimated 93% of Australian workers right now, meditation is seen as being one of the best ways to avoid the health problems associated with stress. Indeed it has been further estimated about $15billion a year is lost due to workers being stressed.
Original Story
The study was carried out by a team which was led by Dr. Ramesh Manocha, a senior lecturer in Psychiatry, at Sydney University. They used more than 175 people who were in full time work. They were asked to meditate twice daily for 10 - 20 minutes over 8 weeks and were measured on general stress and disease levels. There were two other groups, those who were just taught how to relax and a placebo group (I take it they did it without using authentic teachings?) The results of the meditation group were apparently twice better than the other two groups.
"Within the context of meditation and stress, it's the largest study in the world … and we've applied some rigorous conditions," Dr. Manocha said. On the subject of the kind of calm abiding (or Shamata) meditation they used he said, "What authentic techniques should do is show you how to widen space between thoughts until the space is so large you have no thoughts whatsoever in that moment ".
With Stress levels hitting an estimated 93% of Australian workers right now, meditation is seen as being one of the best ways to avoid the health problems associated with stress. Indeed it has been further estimated about $15billion a year is lost due to workers being stressed.
Original Story
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