The Healing Power of Meditation: Leading Experts on Buddhism, Psychology, and Medicine Explore the Health Benefits of Contemplative Practice

by Andy Fraser, Daniel Goleman (Foreword), Jon Kabat-Zinn (Contributor)

Regular meditation practice has a powerful impact on the mind and body, rewiring the brain and bringing us all kinds of benefits: contentment and well-being, resilience and focus, better mental and physical health, and greater empathy and compassion. This wide-ranging anthology brings together pioneering Tibetan Buddhist teachers, scientific researchers, and health professionals to offer fascinating perspectives on the mind and emotions, new studies, and firsthand accounts of how meditation is being applied to great effect in health and social care today.

Sogyal Rinpoche and Jetsün Khandro Rinpoche on how meditation unlocks the mind’s healing power
Jon Kabat-Zinn on the benefits of mindfulness in mainstream health care
Clifford Saron on the Shamatha Project, the most comprehensive study of the effects of meditation ever conducted
Sara Lazar on what happens to our brain when we meditate
Erika Rosenberg on how meditation helps us relate better to our emotions
Dr. Lucio Bizzini, MD, on how Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy is used to treat depression
Ursula Bates on how mindfulness supports terminally ill patients as they approach the end of their lives
Plus chapters from other innovators who apply meditation in health care and social work: Dr. Edel Maex, MD; Dr. Cathy Blanc, MD; Rosamund Oliver; and Dr. Frédéric Rosenfeld, MD.

Genres: Meditation, Psychology

248 pages, Kindle Edition

First published July 2, 2013

Reviews

[Tanya McGinnity · Rating 4 out of 5]

‘The Healing Power of Meditation’ is a collection of writing from leading experts in Buddhism, psychology, counseling and meditation that provides support for the various benefits of contemplative practice. Edited by Andy Fraser, the book allows diverse voices to share the ways that they have used meditation as a means to help others with various afflictions or just with the overall suffering that comes about from this human birth.

The book features a foreword by psychologist Daniel Goleman who is a board member of the Mind & Life Institute- the non-profit organization which seeks to bridge mind and science (you may know it as the group that His Holiness the Dalai Lama helped put together bringing contemplative traditions and scientific inquiry together).

Part One of ‘The Healing Power of Meditation’ investigates the Buddhist component of meditation and the opening chapter by Sogyal Rinpoche on the Buddhist approach to well being reflects upon how contemplative practice can calm the mind for application both on and off the cushion. Jetsun Khandro Rinpoche’s chapter on meditation methods in the Buddhist tradition examines the various techniques used to dismantle habitual tendencies, false perceptions and reactive patterns.

Part Two of the book gets into the nitty gritty science and while there are some headier concepts in this section, readers will not be overwhelmed or have squiggily graph charts to nose around in. Rest assured. It’s accessible.

Dr. Frederic Rosenfeld’s chapter is on the science behind the benefits of meditation and his work at the aforementioned Mind and Life Institute and explores the positive physical and mental outcomes from introducing mindfulness and meditation on one’s life. He asserts that all therapists worth their salt should practice mindfulness as a means to know themselves and better treat their patients.

The chapter titled ‘Training the Mind- the Shamatha Project’ from Clifford Sauron, PhD. is an examination of the 2007 project that measured the effects of meditation on 60 meditators to gauge its results on attention, health, empathy and emotions. It is a rich chapter that explores many questions that both science and supporters of meditation have including:

Can attention be trained through mindfulness?
Can training in lovingkindness improve emotion?
Can mindfulness improve attention and are there any improvements in psychological functions?

The results are quite interesting and have fascinating possibilities for application in many domains where this can be of benefit to society.

The section dedicated to science also explores the effects of meditation on emotion and how there is a biological/evolutionary root to emotion which speaks to how they are truly non-dual at their core, yet it’s all what we do with them and how we behave where the rubber hits the road. This chapter was quite fascinating as it dispels the myth that many have that emotions are bad or to be rejected if you are following the Buddhist path. Meditation is described as slowing down our emotional processes and allowing us time to choose how we react to triggers around us.

Neuroscience is delved into and that juicy MRI brain scan business that was splashed all over the glossies finds a home within ‘The Healing Power of Meditation’ where an analysis of findings from this is presented.

Part Three offers insight into the practical applications of mindfulness in health care settings and this section is headed up by a chapter by John Kabat-Zinn who takes on what it means to be mindfulness-based and the secular aspects of meditation meeting with the Buddhist origins of meditation as it can be used to help in what he describes as ‘the dukkha magnets’ of locations such as hospitals, schools, prisons and the military. I did like his reference to how there are infinite ways that humans suffer so there needs to be infinite ways for the Dharma to be available to individuals. (Many mentions within the pages in the book are made to Kabat-Zinn and the Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction program he developed).

Therapeutic applications for Mindfulness Based Stress Relief are evaluated such as for use in the treatment of depression and clinical techniques such as Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) are explored and cited as helping with faster recovery times.

The chapter exploring ‘Mindfulness in Palliative Care’ was particularly vivid in its descriptions on how patients in hospice care were able to benefit from the coping strategies, stress reduction, community engagement and overall reduction of suffering that such a practice can offer.

The final section is on Mindfulness and Spiritual Care and how it can be employed to help caretakers and medical professionals truly take better care of others and speaks to the work withing the Tonglen Association which provides volunteers to teach meditation and contemplative mindfulness at medical institutions in France. Exploration into teaching prison officers, nurses and others in high pressure jobs how to meditate was also referred to and supported with stories and research statistics. Using these techniques as an antidote to burnout has proven to be worth it for those in these roles.

Overall ‘The Healing Power of Meditation’ covers a lot, and I mean a lot of ground and delivers strong support for the use of meditation in various disciplines to help relieve or end suffering for all those who wish to employ it either as part of a secular or Buddhist-oriented practice. I would highly recommend it to those who are interested in the utility of meditation within various groups who attest to how it has supported and enriched their personal and professional lives.

[Hoa Hồ · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Một số quyển sách là để nếm, số khác để nuốt và số ít để nhai và tiêu hóa. Có nghĩa là một số quyển chỉ để đọc một vài chương, những quyển khác dành để đọc nhưng không bằng sự tò mò, và một vài cuốn là để đọc hết toàn bộ với sự chú ý và siêng năng." -Francis Bacon-
Cuốn sách này xứng đáng để đọc hết toàn bộ với sự chú ý và siêng năng.

[Dmitrij · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very good introduction to mindfulness.

[Mara Elwood · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is a roundup of essays by leading experts in all of the fields surrounding meditation. There is definitely an essay for anyone that has any interest in meditation and its benefits. The Editor has arranged the essays in four different parts (Buddhism,Science, Health Care, and Spiritual Care) which makes it even easier to find where your interests lie. I found most of the essays very easy to read, and very interesting. We have come to a time when meditation is not a word that is necessarily synonymous with Buddhism, or Brainwashing, but rather something used widely for stress relief and self healing, as well as compassionate living. There will be an increasing number of studies done on mediation and its effects in these fields in the future, this is a good beginning collection.

[K.G. · Rating 3 out of 5]

I give this book 3.5 Stars. The book has some excellent information but is not a page turner.

Andy Fraser does a decent job in editing the contributions from expert mindfulness pioneers, psychologists, medical professionals and researchers. If you are considering taking up meditation and are looking for the information on the hard science on its many benefits, this book will provide you with value.

You'll learn how meditation affects the various parts of the brain, the emotions, cognitive ability, happiness and overall well-being.

[Jean-philippe Millard · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book had some great information and a variety of perspectives on meditation. I suppose this variety of perspectives on meditation broke up the continuity of the book for me as a reader. It's an excellent read if you're interested in meditation.

[Cuggiah · Rating 5 out of 5]

Solo per chi è intrigato dall'argomento o sente che la meditazione nasconda qualcosa di prezioso da scoprire