I recently shared a pot of Gunpowder green tea with a friend who has survived Stage 4/5 Lymphoma and promised him I would write this Blog before Christmas.  He doesn’t believe meditation works for him and is having problems sleeping having gone through several intense months of chemotherapy for his advanced cancer.

Cardiologist Herbert Benson is an interesting man who like me tries to balance the academic approach and researcher approaches to mind/body connections, health and recovery.  He travelled to Northern India where Benson and his research team studied Tibetan monks and learned deep meditation from the Dalai Lama.  He believes that meditation along with exercise (and the emergency medical professionals who saved his life initially) and managing stress helped him recover from a near death experience.

Many Christians believe that meditation is purely a Buddhist practice but ‘contemplation’ in prayer with God dates back to A.D.354-430 and includes St. Theresa, St. Augustine and Martin Luther.   In praying we become ‘one with God’ and as Benson suggests “shut off the mind from the external thoughts and produce a mental solitude with God”.

I will write a separate blog on the science behind ‘The Relaxation Response’ which is just as important for our wellbeing as the ‘The Flight or Fight Response’.  In the meantime, cross your legs on the floor or sit quietly on a chair – back straight, listen to the following warming voice and breathe.  If like my friend you wake up in the middle of the night, try the same technique in the video lying down with your eyes close.  The Relaxation Response is a learned technique and the brain needs to develop a script for it.  Don’t give up on the first few attempts – your active mind has been used to the Flight response so therefore the Relaxation response will take time to develop.