By Julia Boyle
THE ERICKSON TRIBUNE

The lights are dim. Your eyes are closed. Thoughts drift by like white, fluffy clouds across a blue sky.

You are practicing mindfulness meditation, which has been shown to decrease psychological stress, anxiety, and blood pressure. You feel relaxed, and a sense of peace washes over you.

Proven results
In mindfulness meditation, practitioners focus on the present moment and value calmness, clarity, and compassion. “Practicing mindfulness meditation gives you the ability to attend to life more moment-to-moment,” says Elizabeth K. Pradhan, Ph.D., assistant professor in the Center for Integrative Medicine at the University of Maryland School of Medicine.

Recently Pradhan led a research team which found that people exposed to meditation techniques for six months saw as much as a one-third decrease in psychological distress. “Decreased stress is the most consistent finding,” Pradhan says.

Other studies have shown that meditation increases response to the flu vaccine, speeds up the healing time of psoriasis, and may even help rheumatoid arthritis.

Finding peace again
Lou Chaiken and his meditation group at Seabrook have been meeting once a week for seven years, and they say meditating on a regular basis has brought positive results.

Florence Misurell attributes her good health at age 95 to meditating regularly. “This was the first class I took  when I moved here two and a half years ago. I had practiced [meditation] in the past, but not as much as I do here,” she says. “There is a peaceful feeling in coming to a meditation class, because you develop a positive form of thinking.”

Misurell isn’t the only group member who rediscovered meditation at Seabrook after a long hiatus.

Chiaken started meditating in the late 1960s but stopped for several years  until he moved to Seabrook.