First, the body. Alan Bennett had it right when he titled his play about sex and philosophy "Habeas Corpus" or "You have the body". This phrase has enormous importance in America, England and the history of individual rights and freedom. But that is a very different story. When considering a human, start with the body. It is probably no news that if the body is lifeless, little will come from it.
So, understandably, when Prof. Herbert Benson of the Harvard Medical School was asked by people using and promoting "transcendental meditation" to study the effects of the practice had had on them, he thought in terms of the body. He studied the parasympathetic nervous system, and uses the term "the relaxation response" for what the body does when tensions in it are noticed and relaxed. But the practice of meditation relates to many things, not just the body. A body scan, where the mind is used to check each part of the body successively, is often used as a meditative practice.
You may know that "mindfulness" is all the rage in many circles. Western medicine has been closely connected to Western science and the search for causes of disease and discomfort and disability and ways to eliminate or control or lessen them. No one can be aware (mindful) of everything, not even everything in their body, their immediate environment or their lives, finances and business and hobbies. One becomes aware of something by paying attention to it. That focus of the mind, the attention, is a fundamental part of our mental life, even though many things are in our minds on the periphery or actually below our conscious level.
Modern life, academic life, political life and much else these days is shot through with talk, or substitutes and relatives of talk such as text and captivating images both moving and still. So, a natural path to explore is the opposite of talk, silence. Sitting still quietly for a moment or several can be very refreshing. But quiet or not, many processes proceed all the time in the body: heartbeat, hormonal and digestive processes and breathing. Ancient people, especially in India, noticed a special property of breathing: it is an essential process but it is also controllable. We can hold our breath, breathe more deeply or more rapidly at will.
Stilling or quieting the mind is not really possible, like it is not possible to stop one's heartbeat or digestion. As various ideas of worship, sacrifice and body exercise arose, the practice of restfully focusing the attention on a single target was found to be helpful in a number of ways. Since the mind is a thought-producing organ, why not give attention to a single target and practice for a while, say 10 minutes or so, keeping the attention on the chosen target. The attention, often as well as the focus of our eyes and the awareness of sounds, smells and touch sensation, shifts constantly. However, as a practice, why not try keeping the attention on a target and noticing when possible that it has shifted to thoughts of the grocery list or whatever. When such a notice happens, bring the attention back to the target.
The ancients realized that always has one's breath so what a great target for concentration! All sort of psychological benefits, along the line of knowing oneself, one's foibles and habits, come from daily practice of focusing the attention on a target for a short time and patiently bringing the attention back to the target during the practice. There are health benefits for the body but the one I like is the increased awareness of what I am choosing to think about and whether I currently approve of that choice or not.
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Bill
Main blog: Fear, Fun and Filoz
Main web site: Kirbyvariety
