If not for the many scientific studies on the positive results of meditation, I would tend to dismiss this activity as in the category of quack science.
Meditation is said to be able to lower blood pressure, help relieve stress, increase mindfulness and contentment etc. But the clincher for me is the claim that it can somehow also work to cure depression. I can not say if this is true but I won't be losing anything if I try. I am hoping that it works - this time.
Actually I have been acquainted with meditation way back in high school when I took a special class in transcendental meditation. It was really just out of curiosity that I tried it plus the claim that those who practice TM can even achieve levitation. Wow!
But I soon realized that this was folly including the ritual of having an offering of fruit and some other things that I don't remember anymore to a guru. After trying it a few times, I simply dropped of from doing it and I treated it with benign skepticism.
But thanks to a Dan Harris video on YouTube, I was reacquainted with it again and it was presented without the dross of extraneous and unnecessary rituals that put me off it before. (Dan Harris was a news presenter in a major US tv network when he suffered an anxiety attack while delivering the news)
At its basic, meditation is nothing more than a mental shutdown while focusing on one's breathing.
Very simple indeed but the result has profound effects on one's mind and brain which can be scientifically monitored. Enough to make me try meditation again. This time with no expectation of attaining superpower abilities but simply focus, peace and contentment.
