Another very helpful practise we can do to help ourselves at home, work and life.
An EFT (Tapping) practitioner in Melbourne (Jenny Johnson) recently commented on her blog “ EFT for the Soul” https://jennyjohnston.com.au, about how scientists are now studying meditation. Their studies showing us how to be better meditators. And, also revealing which meditation techniques work best for changing the brain.
Effective practice creates new neural pathways in the brain’s reward and happiness circuits. These enhance the networks associated with happiness, productivity, and cognitive ability.
EcoMeditation is a combination of Tapping and Meditation.
Researcher Dawson Church gathered findings from over 400 scientific studies. He found that 7 simple techniques are the most effective at producing rapid brain change in meditators. He named this method of 7 techniques EcoMeditation.
Dawson’s research team conducted an MRI study of people who used EcoMeditation for 22 minutes a day. They found that in 28 days, the brain’s empathy circuit activated, while the “suffering self” dialled down.
In another study, EEG expert Judith Pennington (https://www.judithpennington.com, Pennington et al., 2019) reported that even in novices, “EcoMeditation produced … elevated brain states normally found only after years of meditation practice. EcoMeditation facilitated participants’ ability to induce and sustain the alpha brain waves characteristic of high-level emotional, mental, and spiritual integration … participants were able to carry elevated mental states into waking consciousness.”
Carrying “elevated emotional states” we experience in meditation “into waking consciousness”……. has to be a good thing. Jenny Johnston
Many have endorsed Dawson’s work. e.g. Marilyn Schlitz, PhD, Dean of Transpersonal Psychology at Sofia University, https://noetic.org/profile/marilyn-schlitz/ describes it as, “an evidence-based path to creating a happy, peaceful and resourceful brain.”
EcoMeditation is becoming the talk of the town among meditators.
“EcoMeditation produced extraordinarily high levels of Gamma Synchrony … participants acquired elevated brain states normally found only after years of meditation practice. EcoMeditation facilitated participants’ ability to induce and sustain the alpha brain waves characteristic of high-level emotional, mental, and spiritual integration.”
MRI scans show that EcoMeditation decreases activity in the brain regions associated with self-focus and suffering and increases activity in the areas of compassion
So what is this EcoMeditation?
7 Steps of EcoMeditation: a combination of Meditation and Tapping
Before you begin, turn off your cell phone, laptop, and alerts. Give yourself the gift of 20 minutes of undisturbed time. You can do this first thing in the morning, last thing at night, or during a break in the day. Sit upright in a quiet place where you won’t be interrupted.
Step 1
Use your fingertips to tap on each of the EFT acupressure points in any order, (see previous article/post )while thinking the intention that you are in a calm and peaceful state, and nothing matters except the gift of undisturbed time you are now giving yourself. Tap from top to bottom, and when you get to the last point, start on the first point again. This is time just for you. Let all your preoccupations vanish, and allow yourself to be fully present. As you tap, say:
“I release any and all blocks to inner peace. I release all tension in my body. I release anything in my past, present or future that stands between me and inner peace.”
Step 2
Stop tapping and relax your hands. Close your eyes, and let your tongue rest loosely on the floor of your mouth.
Step 3
Feel your hands. Feel your feet. Feel the space inside your hands. Feel the space inside your feet. Feel the space inside your legs, your arms, your torso, your neck and head. Feel the space inside your whole body. Picture a big empty space behind your eyes. Picture a big empty space between your eyebrows.
If thoughts arise in your mind at any point during the meditation, just let them go. Watch them drift like clouds across the sky, without attachment.
Step 4
Breathe slowly, for 6 seconds per out-breath, and 6 seconds per in-breath. Count to 6 silently each time you breathe in, and each time you breathe out. Notice how relaxed your tongue is. Picture the big empty space behind your eyes. Keep your tongue relaxed.
If physical sensations arise in your body, such as aches or pains, just observe them. You don’t have to do anything about them. Keep your attention focused on your breath, counting 6 seconds in, and 6 seconds out.
Step 5
Visualize the location in your chest where your physical heart resides. Imagine breathing in and out through your heart, while maintaining 6 second in-breaths and 6 second out-breaths. Maintain a relaxed tongue.
Step 6
Imagine a beam of love pouring out through your heart toward a person or place that you love with each out-breath. Stay in this state for several breaths. Notice the big empty space behind your eyes, and how relaxed your tongue is on the floor of your mouth
Step 7
Bring the beam of love back into your body, into the area of your physical heart. Send that love to any part of your body that is uncomfortable or in pain. To end the meditation, take 3 deep 6 second breaths.
When you feel complete with the meditation, return your attention to the room you’re in. Open your eyes and look at the object closest to you, and observe its characteristics, such as colour, texture, and weight. Shift your gaze and look at the object furthest away from you. Notice your breath. Notice the weight of your body on the chair or on the surface on which you’re sitting. Feel your hands and feet. Be aware of the time.
Bring yourself back to the here and now. While a meditative state supports our well-being, it’s also vital to orient yourself to the “real world” and function there effectively at the end of each meditation period.Do this every day for a week, and you’ll notice a difference in how you feel during the rest of the day. Do this every day for a month, and you’ll be hooked! It only requires 20 minutes, though you may want to gradually increase your time frame to 30 or 45 minutes.
What Studies Show About Master Meditators
High-resolution MRIs and EEGs are now showing us what’s going on in the body and brain of a meditation master.
They have large amounts of the slowest brain waves, alpha, theta and delta, as well as the fastest wave, gamma.
They have small amounts of beta, the signature wave of worry and stress.
Their bodies generate a unique “cocktail” of 7 hormones and neurotransmitters, including pleasure chemicals like serotonin, dopamine and oxytocin. Their nervous systems are firing in “coherence,” relaxed but alert.
The happiness centres of their brains are lit up, while the self-absorbed parts shut down. They are literally in “bliss brain.” Amazingly, when novice meditators follow the 7 steps above, “strong echoes” of these very same changes are observed. (Pennington et al., 2019)
Clinical trial eco meditation has found:
- Cortisol down 29% Immunity up 27%
- Heart rate down 5% Happiness up 9%
- Anxiety down 23% Brain balance up 30%
- Pain down 43%
Research validating the remarkable benefits of EcoMeditation has been published in peer-reviewed professional journals.eg
Global Advances,
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/journals/2198/https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/journals/2198/
- Jebim,
Journal of Evidence-Based Integrative Medicine
https://us.sagepub.com › en-us › nam › journal203506
Energy Psychology