Intrigued and a little frustrated by the articles going around overplaying the so called negative consequences of meditation for a tiny percentage of people. I have nothing but compassion for these folks go through, but I think there is a lack of analysis regarding pre-existing conditions and a kind of mystifying meditation as having some magical power to damage some brains. Listen: if someone meditates and goes into OCD symptoms, delusions and hallucinations, gets plunged into deep depression, or gets in touch with childhood trauma, it is not as if the meditation caused the emergence of these symptoms. Simply put, meditation is not that powerful. It just shines a light on what is going on beneath the surface. But heres the thing: meditation is not good medicine for 100% of people (neither are specific forms of yoga) -I would suggest that people with already destabilized sense of self, weak ego boundaries, a slippery grasp on the difference between reality and dream/fantasy may find their symptoms worsened by intensive meditation. Zero judgment on any of this -we do not choose our brain chemistry, childhood developmental processes, or traumas! With good, grounded, psychologically informed guidance, meditation can be an amazing tool for inner work, healing, personal growth, overcoming trauma and experiencing greater mind/body integration. But I do agree that the pop-mindfulness over emphasis of pure stress reduction, relaxation, productivity and even bliss tends to overlook the key word in all transformational work: PROCESS. This means that, yes, when you start to go deeper than the surface identity, beliefs and defenses, you will very likely encounter your fears, sadness, rage, shame, restlessness, core existential conflicts..... Thats the whole point! We become more free by learning how to make these shadows conscious, bring them compassion and gain authentic insight into our experience. Freedom is not no longer being vulnerable, mortal, or human, it is being more resilient, courageous, loving and accepting of the nature of life. So: A) lets tease apart inevitable experiences of having to come to terms with our shadows and learn compassion for our suffering from bona fide psychiatric symptoms. B) lets take meditation seriously as a psychological process of growth and healing that really does ask us to face ourselves and life in open, honest and compassionate ways. It is not just about stress relief and productivity. C) lets not perpetuate the mystifying of meditation as having some kind of spooky power that can magically cause either paranormal powers, supernatural encounters, or hellish mental torment. Meditation is the act of turning attention inward and training our brains to relate to our experience, our psyches, our lives with more self-awareness - which actually can be intense and scary. It also has effects on certain neurotransmitters that in rare cases could amplify certain imbalances, by (for example) overloading an already dysregulated dopamine circuit, or driving too much serotonin.
Posted on: Thu, 26 Jun 2014 18:39:59 +0000
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