Title : Meditation: Moving from doing to being and being
Abstract:
For years and still today, meditation has been treated as a holistic, alternative, even mystical concept used only in some exclusive circles related to some disciplines, lacking a scientific basis, leaving aside neurophysiology and the rest of the mental and physiological mechanisms involved. It ignores the scientific evidence that supports its practice and its many benefits in the field of holistic health. The study of the neurophysiology of meditation is relatively new and there are more and more studies that support its scientific basis and its importance in the health-disease concept. An example is Field's description in 2009, in which he referred to meditation as a practice of self-control aimed at regulating the body and mind towards a state of deep relaxation. For this reason it is capable of provoking altered states of consciousness. It is an experience of unity and wholeness, a state of consciousness in which the dual dynamic of thought is transcended. That is why meditation is not a foreign concept, neither mystical nor intellectual. Meditation is not done, meditation is experienced. What we actually try to do is to use techniques and tools that lead to the meditative state appearing through practice when the conditions are right. While the rational mind tries to divide and classify in order to understand, meditation tries to unify: it is a state in which the meditator, the object of meditation and the process of meditation merge into one. The practice of meditation requires insistence, rigour and time, as the first steps are often fruitless and unpleasant, as we are confronted with those negative impressions that are in our subconscious and are surfacing in order to disappear. The meditator becomes the very object of meditation, penetrating into the deepest essence. Through this experience one acquires a global knowledge and not a biased, partial or superficial one. This is why, through my presentation and from a scientific perspective based on evidence, participants will be able to integrate certain basic concepts of meditative neurophysiology so that the results are more satisfactory and enriching.
