Monday, Feb. 27, 2017 | 2 a.m.

The practice of meditation dates back thousands of years and can be traced through different societies across the globe.

While the benefits of meditation have long been revered in Eastern civilizations, Western medicine has begun to recognize its impact as well, with many research studies reporting both psychological and physiological effects. We dont know exactly why meditation works for so many different conditions, but we know that it does, said Jacob Manjooran, MD, a board-certified psychiatrist at Southern Hills Hospital and Medical Center.

When it comes to managing anxiety, depression, high blood pressure and other conditions, incorporating meditation into your life may be a component to overall health and happiness.

Health benefits of meditation

For a long time, meditation was considered a spiritual or religious practice, but weve found it extends far beyond that. It can elicit a physiological response in people who meditate regularly, Manjooran said.

The Frontiers in Human Neuroscience journal has published studies reporting that meditation can cause significant neurological changes in the brain that indicate an increased level of introspection, awareness, response control and compassion. In short, long-term meditation can actually change your brain structure and the way you think.

The benefits of meditation are far reaching, and the research is ongoing, but here are some notable ways meditation can improve your health:

Anxiety and depression: Meditation can decrease anxiety, stress and depression while increasing emotional regulation, awareness, self-control, happiness and social connections.

Its the best relaxation technique that can be learned and mastered. For people dealing with anxiety and depression, meditation can be so beneficial that it feels like a spiritual experience, Manjooran said.

Memory, cognition and attention: A 2011 study published in Psychiatry Research journal found that meditation can increase the density of gray matter in areas of the brain that govern learning, memory and perspective taking.

Pain management and cancer treatment: The National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health, a branch of the National Institutes of Health, found that meditation can help control pain without using the brains naturally occurring opiates to do so.

The Society for Integrative Oncology also recommends meditation in part of a multidisciplinary approach for cancer patients to help reduce their symptoms, including pain, anxiety, depression and insomnia.

High blood pressure and heart health: Meditation is proven to help lower blood pressure for patients with high blood pressure and people who have an increased risk of developing high blood pressure, especially teens.

Its also suggested to help lower resting heart rate, reduce the thickening of coronary arteries in hypertensive adults and even reduce the risk of heart attack and stroke.

Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS)and ulcerative colitis: Some studies have suggested that meditation can reduce the severity of symptoms for IBS and ulcerative colitis patients.

Immune system: Meditation can help strengthen and regulate the immune system by reducing the chemical identifiers of inflammation. It can also reduce stress-induced inflammation and other types of chronic inflammation that contribute to disease.

How to start meditating

There is a multitude of meditation methods, but many clinical research studies have focused on the Transcendental Meditation technique.

I recommend Transcendental Meditation to my patients because its a simple technique that yields great results. Other meditation techniques ask you to imagine a relaxing image or a series of mantras, but Transcendental Meditation asks you to clear your mind completely and focus only on the moment, Manjooran said.

To practice Transcendental Meditation:

1. Sit in a comfortable position with your eyes closed, in a quiet room free of distractions.

2. Relax your muscles one by one, a technique called progressive muscle relaxation.

3. Steady your breathing. Manjooran noted that abdominal breathing is important because it relaxes your diaphragm, so be sure your belly, not your chest, inflates when you inhale.

4. Clear your mind and focus either solely on your breath, or repeating a single word with each exhale. When thoughts come into your head, simply acknowledge them and let them pass.

Do this every day for 15 to 20 minutes. If youre having trouble at first, dont panic.

Starting a meditation practice is a lot like starting a new exercise regimen. It can be difficult at first our minds are not trained to relax and be silent but make it part of your daily routine and keep practicing until it gets easier. After four or five times, youll start to see a difference, Manjooran said.

Who should meditate?

Nearly any healthy person can adopt a meditation routine. Meditation is not recommended for patients with schizophrenia or some types of psychosis, though, because it can exacerbate symptoms.

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Research proves meditation is good for your health - Las Vegas Sun

An eight-week mindfulness-based meditation program led to improved quality of life and psychological well-being in patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), according to new research.

In a randomized, open-label, and controlled clinical trial that included 100 patients, participants who underwent meditation training scored higher on a questionnaire specifically developed to assess quality of life in people with ALS, according to researchers.

They also reported lower levels of anxiety and depression, the study found.

These results remained stable, when not further improved, over a 12-month follow-up.

There has been very limited investigation on psychological interventions that can promote quality of life in people with ALS, said Dr. Francesco Pagnini, lead author of the study. I found that very strange, as we are not able to cure the disease, but we all agree that the promotion of quality of life is the current main goal in ALS cases.

This is the first controlled trial in this field, suggesting that a mindfulness-based intervention can be a very important tool to increase the well-being of people with ALS, he added.

The study was published in the European Journal of Neurology.

Source: Wiley

APA Reference Wood, J. (2017). Meditation Can Benefit ALS Patients. Psych Central. Retrieved on February 27, 2017, from https://psychcentral.com/news/2017/02/26/meditation-benefits-als-patients/116894.html

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Meditation Can Benefit ALS Patients - PsychCentral.com

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Drummer and recording artist Jim Donovan discovered yoga in the early 1990s when he was struggling to get the band Rusted Root off the ground.

Then 22, and working for his father's Bethel Park-based tree-trimming service, Donovan was searching for a way to manage the anxiety and negative self-talk that interfered with his sleep, his relationships and his music.

Rusted Root eventually would achieve fame with its platinum-selling album When I Woke, as Donovan continued on a personal path he would come to know as mindfulness, that for him encompasses yoga, meditation, focused breathing and drumming and chanting.

The basic idea behind mindfulness, says Donovan, now 48, and living in Greensburg, is letting yourself be fully present with whatever you are doing. If you're having a conversation with someone, really be in the moment with your listening. If you're taking a walk, rather than be on your phone or thinking about your to-do list, allow yourself to take in your environment ... what you see ... what you smell ... immerse yourself in that.

Donovan guides others in the practice of mindfulness with music and wellness workshops, including those offered through St. Francis College, where he chairs the department of fine arts. He is leading a drumming-and-chanting course on Mondays in February at Moonglow Yoga in Hempfield.

Drumming and chanting which some call the new yoga is popular because it lends itself to helping people let go of stress, says Donovan, who has developed a system that even non-musicians can master. Drumming has nothing to do with being super-fast or fancy. It's intense, but there's a specific rhythm and it's also improvisational.

Most of the people who come to his workshops are worried they aren't good enough, he says, but they keep coming back because I show them that they have what they need and can have a great time doing it.

Donovan asserts that drumming and other mindfulness techniques, especially meditation, can improve health, and scientific studies appear to back him up.

When we look at the physical effects of a meditation practice, research shows that it can help people reduce pain, says Dr. Natalia Morone, a University of Pittsburgh physician and author of a comprehensive clinical trial on the subject.

Morone studied 282 older adults with back pain by randomly putting half into a group that learned about exercise, immunizations and other keys to healthy aging, and the other half into a group that practiced mindfulness meditation.

Among meditators, 44 percent experienced a 30 percent reduction in pain, compared with 25 percent in the other group, even six months after the study, Morone says.

Some described how they could look at their pain from a new perspective how they were feeling more in control of their pain, which could be life-changing. It made the pain not quite as big as they thought.

Morone used the meditation model developed by Jon Kabat-Zinn, creator of the Stress Reduction Clinic and Center for Mindfulness in Medicine, Health Care, and Society at the University of Massachusetts Medical School. He is considered a pioneer in helping people cope with stress, anxiety and illness through mindfulness.

It is the same model UPMC psychologist Carol Greco uses in the meditation workshops she leads at UPMC's Center for Complementary Medicine. Greco met Kabat-Zinn and his colleague Dr. Herb Benson, founder of the Mind/Body Medical Institute at Massachusetts General, at a conference 20 years ago and says putting their teachings into practice transformed her life.

I'm still the same person with auto-pilot neuroses, but the difficulties don't grab me so much. I can step back from old habits, like thinking tomorrow will be awful, she says. Relationships are easier. I'm kinder to myself and others. I don't take myself so seriously most the time, anymore.

Research by David Creswell, an associate professor of psychology at Carnegie Mellon University, indicates that mindfulness meditation can reduce inflammation that has been linked to some cancers as well as cardiovascular and neurodegenerative diseases.

His studies also indicate that mindfulness meditation can reduce loneliness in the elderly and alleviate psychological stress.

A study involving unemployed adults who practiced intensive meditation during a three-day retreat showed they continued to reap the benefits for two weeks after the experience, according to Emily Lindsay, a doctoral student who works with Cresswell. Brain scans taken before and after the retreat measured the effects of meditation.

By comparison, participants who were instead given relaxation training, such as stretching and walking exercises, didn't show any changes in brain function, she says, noting that both groups also were tested for inflammation four months after the retreat. The group that meditated showed a reduction in inflammation in the body. The relaxation training people didn't show any changes in brain function or inflammation.

As mindfulness meditation goes mainstream, folks eager to cultivate a practice will find classes and workshops at yoga studios and health clubs. You can even find guidance on YouTube, Lindsay says.

Red Brick Yoga in Unity has slated a mindfulness course for Sundays in March that will include meditation, breathing exercises and other techniques aimed at reducing stress and increasing joy, according to Red Brick owner Angela Merendino. She says yoga is a good foundation for cultivating the ability to be fully present.

Yoga postures make you stronger and more flexible ... but it's not just a physical practice. It's so much more. It connects movement and breath. It's a flow, she says. You learn to be in each moment and not be in your head.

Deborah Weisberg is a Tribune-Review contributing writer.

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Meditation techniques help people be in the moment - Tribune-Review

The Rochester Meditation Center is a community rooted in Metta. Metta is the Buddhist term for loving-kindness and refers to a state of awareness rooted in selflessness and connectedness.

The center's founding member, Doug McGill, finds Metta to be such a grounding concept that he requested the word be stamped into his personalized license plates. McGill returned to his hometown of Rochester in 2004 after reporting for the New York Times and Bloomberg News. McGill continues to write and also finds a deep sense of purpose in his work at the center.

In describing what meditation is all about, McGill described, "Meditation is a way to develop the positive and healthy states of mind." Meditation nurtures awareness, and that awareness is an important component of learning to regulate one's emotions with intention.

On Thursday evenings and Sunday mornings, about 12 to 25 people gather at the RMC, a house just a few blocks from Mayo Clinic. Sundays begin with a 30-minute silent meditation in the living room, followed by an hourlong conversation about a reading. Then there's another brief meditation and a coffee hour. Thursday evenings usually include a silent meditation and then an opportunity to listen to a speaker and hear what is referred to as a dharma talk.

The RMC seeks to be "a safe space for people to come and to sit in the middle of all their troubles and find a way to deal with them skillfully," McGill said.

For McGill, there is a lot of benefit in having other people with whom to practice meditation. While meditation can be an individual practice, it also can be done in community with others.

"Having a group to sit with and practice with is enriching on a lot of levels," he said. "The heart of the practice is always a kind of collaboration with others. It's a discovery that you thought you were alone but you recognize over time that we all share one consciousness. When I work on my consciousness to make it healthy and happy, there's an immediate effect on others and then you start to recognize that you never were alone."

A deep sense of connectedness and mutual respect is central not only to the form of Buddhist meditation taught at Rochester Meditation Center but also to the mission of the people who come each week.

It isn't just a shared desire to experience the benefits of meditation that connects the people who support the Rochester Meditation Center. It's also an appreciation for service and fellowship. The RMC community gathers for a monthly service time at Channel One. They also enjoy movie nights together and seasonal volunteering opportunities.

When asked what he most wants people to know about the Rochester Meditation Center, McGill said, "I want people to know that we're here. So come on down."

All programs and classes are free and on a drop-in basis unless otherwise noted on the website. McGill said visitors can expect to "get an opportunity to sit quietly, to enjoy peaceful quiet presence with themselves and others, and they also get the chance to learn a bit of the traditional spiritual wisdom from Buddhism."

Worship Life is a new column giving a behind-the-scenes look of local churches, synagogues, mosques and other places of worship. Suggest one to be featured email life@postbulletin.com or call 507-285-7748.

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Worship Life: In Metta meditation, you never are alone - Post-Bulletin

Meditation has surged in popularity in recent years, from a fringe interest to a mainstream trend championed by therapists, scientists and celebrities. As part of this shift, misconceptions and dismissals have given way to the emerging recognition of meditation as a science. There are, however, those who would challenge this view. As both a scientist and a meditator, I feel a duty to respond.

In doing so, I must first acknowledge the huge number of activities commonly referred to as meditation. Many of those activities are not in any sense scientific. However, I will argue that some meditation practices, including the method I describe in The Mind Illuminated and other practices within the Buddhist tradition, do qualify as science. I will confine my discussion to those practices.

We can define science as the systematic study of the natural world through observation and experiment, yielding an organized body of knowledge on a particular subject. The human mind is undeniably a suitable subject for scientific study, and one purpose of meditation is careful observation of ones own mind. This observation reveals consistent patterns that meditators share with one another and with teachers who direct their practice. Master meditators weigh these observations against their own experience and knowledge passed down from previous generations of meditation masters, thereby generating models of the mind. Over thousands of years, meditators have tested, refined and reworked their models of the mind based on new insights as later generations developed new meditative techniques. Thus, over time, an organized body of knowledge has accumulated describing the nature and behavior of the mind at a very fine level of resolution. This is one sense in which certain forms of meditation qualify as science.

However, meditation is not simply passive observation, nor could it be, since the very act of observation is itself an activity of mind. Rather the meditator intentionally employs attention, awareness and other mental faculties in a variety of ways to better understand the functional behavior of the mind. (The effect of observation on the thing observed is not different than what occurs in quantum physics.) Precisely how these mental faculties are used in the investigation of the mind is subject to modification that can increase or decrease the efficacy of this endeavor. Thus meditation is also technology.

In the history of meditation practices that qualify as scientific, meditation masters have used models of the mind generated by meditation to modify meditation techniques for increased efficacy. Such modifications can be viewed as hypotheses, and their implementation as experiments. When these modifications are subsequently preserved because they are effective, the experimental results have passed the tests of replicability and falsifiability required by the scientific method. The picture of meditation as science is complete. The hypotheses generated in response to observation and analysis have been tested, validated and incorporated into the expanding body of knowledge. Such meditation practices are justifiably described as an evolving science, and the laboratory in which this science is carried out is the mind.

Some would argue that the results must be objective in a sense that precludes any element of subjectivity. This requirement is ultimately indefensible and would exclude much of the important work being done today in psychology and social sciences. On the other hand, we are increasingly able to verify brain changes in subject populations employing particular meditation techniques. Thus there is an emerging ability of third-person science to corroborate the models created through the first-person mind science of meditation.

When discussing meditation as a science and technology, its important to acknowledge the ultimate goal is a profound cognitive shift to a more accurate perception of ones self and ones relationship to the world. This cognitive shift, is traditionally known as liberation, enlightenment or awakening (the latter being my preferred term), which in turn, produces a dramatic and persistent increase in well-being. Therefore, both knowledge acquisition and its consequence also serve as outcome measures by which to evaluate efficacy.

We are fortunate to live in a time when the investigation of the mind through meditative science comes face-to-face with the investigation of the brain through material science. The conjunction of these different but complementary approaches provides us with an incredible opportunity. What is the mind other than the brain as experienced from the inside? And what is the brain other than the mind experienced from the outside? We have succeeded in identifying the neural correlates of many behavioral and experiential phenomena and can expect the rapid acceleration of this process. (NB: This is not a description reflecting materialistic reductionism but is equally compatible with philosophical positions of idealistic reductionism and non-dualism.)

The knowledge of the mind that meditation provides can be of enormous value in guiding the future research of neuroscientists. On the other hand, this continued unfolding of our knowledge of the physical brain can allow us to understand more clearly the most amazing and powerful experiences of adept meditators, including awakening. This cognitive transformation, characterized by wisdom, compassion and freedom from most forms of suffering, might ultimately become available to millions, completely transforming human society and helping us solve the enormous threats our species and our planet now face.

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Your brain as laboratory: The science of meditation - Salon

Bill Tinsley 1:04 a.m. CT Feb. 25, 2017

God created the Sabbath to remind humans of the need for rest and reflection.(Photo: freeimages)

I bought my first computer in 1982, a Commodore 64. It used a 340k floppy disc and operated with machine language. After typing in the machine code, the little floppy started to whirr ... and whirr ... and whirr a little more. It whirred so long that I could get a cup of coffee or make a sandwich. When it finally loaded the program it worked great. With each program, I started the process all over again, something they called booting up.

I think the term came from the farm. You didnt want to track that barnyard stuff into the house, so when you went inside, you took your boots off. And, when you wanted to go to work. You put your boots back on. So, for the little PC, we put our boots on, or booted up the program if we wanted to go to work or play.

I graduated from the Commodore to an IBM compatible Compaq that ran MS-DOS. The screen lit up with an eerie green glow and pulled its data from a hard drive.

It took a long time for me to convert to Microsoft Windows, but I finally made the leap. Today I use a DELL laptop and sometimes throw up my hands in exasperation when the Windows 10 operating system demands an update.

I usually leave it in sleep mode so it wakes right up and we get going whenever I want. I get my cup of coffee before I turn it on. I like leaving my boots on with my laptop. But sooner or later, it slows down. It begins to creep along. The mouse drags or freezes in place and I am stuck. It has too much going on in its PC memory, too many programs trying to run at once. Too much barnyard stuff tracked in and making it stink. There is nothing to do but reboot it. So, I turn it off and let it reload the operating system. After the reboot, we are good to go and back up to speed.

We are a lot like my computer. We fly from one task to another, filling our lives with frenzied activity, trying to constantly multi-task between family, business, community and personal obligations. We freeze up. We are no longer efficient. We do nothing well. Sometimes we need to reboot.

This is why God gave us the Sabbath. It is the fourth of the 10Big Ones. And, as Jesus pointed out, it was given to us by God because we need it. Man was not made for the Sabbath, Jesus said. The Sabbath was made for man.

If we want to live full, meaningful, productive and effective lives, we need time for worship and rest. We need to reboot physically, emotionally and spiritually. We are made in such a way that we have to power down if we want to power up. This means turning off the TV, disconnecting from social media and taking a deep breath. We need to listen the laughter of children, to birds singing, the wind in the trees, waves lapping on the shore and listening to God. Meditations in the Psalms and the Sermon on the Mount help me most.

We need to take the Apostle Pauls advice: Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things Philippians 4:8.

Bill Tinsley reflects on current events and life experience from a faith perspective. Visit http://www.tinsleycenter.com. Email bill@tinsleycenter.com.

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Meditation and reflection reboot our hectic lives - Times Record News

Students have an inviting place to meditate and reflect with the opening of the Interfaith Prayer and Meditation Room in its temporary location, room 76 of McVey Hall. The permanent location will be found in the new UK Student Center next fall.

According to Lexington Police Public Information Officer Brenna Angel, there will not be roadblocks in Lexington this weekend.

The University of Kentucky Board of Trustees met with diverse members from the campus community last October to discuss an idea that developed into the secluded meditation room.

The room allows privacy for individuals who want to follow their religious practices, reflect in silence or meditate. It has already been enjoyed by several since its opening earlier this month.

Meditation is a daily practice for computer science freshman Luke Miles.

Its convenient because I dont have to do the 15-minute bike ride home, Miles said. When you are feeling distracted, it helps bring focus for whatever you do next.

The room is open Monday through Friday from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. Guidelines posted by the entrance are meant to ensure that all individuals feel comfortable in the space. Furnished with pillows and warm lighting, the space brings relaxation the moment you enter.

Our shared values of integrity, mutual respect and human dignity, and diversity and inclusion take a step forward with this initiative," UK interim vice president for institutional diversity Terry Allen said in a recent press release. "We owe a special thanks to the students that challenge this institution to become better."

Con Mi Madre (With My Mother), a new program for Latina girls and their mothers, aims to change that statistic by strengthening relationships between Latina children and their parents and teaching them that college is an option.

Diversity can be found throughout the campus ranging from students of all faiths and beliefs, as well as faculty members who also welcome the addition.

I think it is a wonderful opportunity for people to have a quiet space, graduate admissions officer Maureen Barker said. Im delighted that its here.

Students of the Islam faith have found the room to be exceptionally welcoming to their practice of prayer five times daily.

I feel like its not only a personal convenience for the students, but I also feel like it will make the students feel more included on campus, journalism freshman Mohammad Ahmad said. This is a good example of UKs efforts to promote diversity.

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UK opens Interfaith Prayer and Meditation Room - Kykernel.com (subscription)

February 24, 2017 6:55 PM By Stephanie Stahl

by Stephanie Stahl

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) New life is being breathed into the ancient practice of mediation.

Meditation is a good way to help people relax and focus, and doctors say it can be a helpful stress buster.

Now, instead of meditating on your own, there are special classes just for that.

Health and fitness blogger Bianca Jade is stressed out about everyday life

Theres so many stressors. We spend more time commuting. We have a higher cost of living, she said.

The quest for more calmness brought Bianca to Inscape, a meditation studio

A recorded audio track guides the class. A leader is in the room if youre unsure what to do, but to keep the mood, theres no talking.

So this way you become a participant. Its neutral and you have no other place to go but within you, because theres no other outside distractions, explained Khajak Keledjin, the studios founder.

He turned to meditation to cope with the stress of his multi-million dollar clothing company.

I want to create an environment in a studio where people come in and have balanced calm, Keledjin said.

How much time you need to decompress is up to you. Classes range from about 20 minutes to an hour and a half.

Ive learned to take a minute, take a breath, and really think about the things I need to let go of, said Bianca.

Inscape, which is based in New York City, also has an app, so you can practice mindfulness at home.

Here in the Philadelphia area, there are also a variety of different kinds of meditation studios.

Stephanie Stahl, CBS 3 and The CW Philly 57s Emmy Award-winning medical specialist, is featured daily on Eyewitness News. As one of the television industrys most respected medical reporters, Stahl has been recognized by community and he...

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New York Studio Breathing New Life Into Meditation CBS Philly - CBS Local

Movie and theater actor Billy Crudup, who appears in two Oscar-nominated films this year, said he began practicing meditation after suffering from panic attacks, three of which occurred on stage during performances.

Its such an uncomfortable experience, Crudup told ABC News Dan Harris during an interview for his live-stream/podcast show, 10% Happier. And I took the approach that I took with everything before that which is Im just going to muscle through this and thats just no bueno for very long so I had to start figuring out some other ways to get some help.

Download and subscribe to the "10% Happier" podcast on iTunes, Google Play Music and TuneIn.

One of the first times Crudup said he experienced a panic attack was while he was having a latex mold of his face made for a role. He then said he experienced them during performances for Tom Stoppards trilogy of plays called The Coast of Utopia and again while doing a monologue for the off-Broadway play, Metal Children.

Ive never had that level of anxiety where I couldnt cope with it, he said.

When he was first starting out as an actor, Crudup said he felt a huge burden to take the craft seriously and became frustrated with not being able to find inspiring roles. He even asked Matt Damon for advice.

And he [Damon] said, Why dont your write something, Crudup said. And I said, Dude, Im going to kill you. The first thing you wrote you got an Oscar for, OK? I dont know how to write. I dont have any -- Why dont you just start welding or something.

As time went on, Crudup said the pressure to be ambitious and successful kept building. He equated the feelings of anxiety with a story he told of when he was a young boy and his father took him deep sea fishing off the coast of North Carolina.

I had always imagined I guess that once you got past the breakers, it was calm out there, and I was deeply disappointed and incredibly nauseous when I discovered that the swells continue throughout the entire ocean and forever and thats sort of how I felt when I arrived at my adult life, Crudup said. I had all the trappings of success in adulthood. I had responsibility, I had artistic agency, I had money, I had friends, I was in relationships, and my family was close to me and supported me, but there was an underlying sense of disease, and that was confusing to me.

Crudups ex, Weeds actress Mary-Louise Parker, first introduced him -- and then later their son, William Crudup, now 13 -- to meditation. Crudup also sought help from renowned Buddhist psychiatrist and author Dr. Mark Epstein and legendary Buddhist meditation teacher Joseph Goldstein. It was through their influences and others that Crudup says he started practicing mindfulness meditation as a way to triage anxiety.

I grew up hearing a lot about my gut, and go with your gut, your instincts are always right, Ive come to believe that its probably not as useful as it sounds, he said. Having to let go of that idea, and that your gut might actually lead you in a direction thats not helpful to you sometimes, has been an interesting exercise.

Now that his son meditates, Crudup said they talk about it and sometimes meditate together, although he said his practice today is still in its infancy.

Im terrible at it, he said. [But] when I can catch myself, I count it as a complete triumph, but it comes from a ton of work.

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Actor Billy Crudup says he turned to meditation after suffering panic attacks on stage - ABC News

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Imagine setting out for the day to explore the great outdoors free of technology, cars, crowds, conversation, work tasks, and more, only tostumble upon an alluring littlehobbit-like house in the middle of the forest, justbegging for you to slip inside and simply sit. Its asking you to just be. It sounds like something out of a film, except theres a real life project making a meditation fairytale come true.

Called Gapahuk, the project involvestinymeditation shelterswithin a forest garden that provide protection and a place to relax for hikers exploring the Lithuanian forests. These spacesoffer the opportunity for people to find solitude within and harmony in theenvironment, and toreconnect with nature. A stone pathway winds throughout the garden, inspired by a Lithuanian fairytale about serpents.

The project, part of a larger Meditation Garden created byBjrndal Arkitektstudio,which won the American Architecture Prize 2016, was built during theHuman Birdhouse Workshop in Lithuania last August. The team cleared out a portion of forest, shaped pathways in and around the garden, installed two fireplaces with sitting areas in front of the shelters, and added Holy stones to the siteas totems of masculine and feminine origin, one of them symbolizing the head of a serpent. The other is used for sacrificing ceremonies. The amphitheater seating, constructed with logs hammeredinto the ground, was designed to be used for small performances or poetry evenings in the Meditation Garden.

Courtesy of: v2.com

The team chose the location for the Meditation Garden to encourage visitors to dive in to the mystical surrounding.

A press release for the project explains:

The site was next to the swamp. The swamp has low sounds, invisible creatures, and unknown depth, hidden passages used by Lithuanian witches in the past and by partisans during war. It attracts and frightens at the same time. The swamp is very different when fog is going down, and when sun shines upon it. To have the opportunity to sit and meditate in the shelter and to explore the swamp and the growing forest gives an unforgettable experience by connecting with the most magical landscape. Swamps as landscape are frequently used in Lithuanian fairytales, needless to say this fact added a unique mysterious feature on the whole project.

The project was created on the property offamous Lithuanian children books author, poet, and film/theatre director, Vytautas V. Landsbergis. The team aimed todesign and build architecture that paid tribute to Constructive Shamanism.

Such a style brings together architects, builders, and spiritual practitioners to expose and dive deeper into the connections between humans and nature. The end result is a design that is dominated by Lithuanian mythology. Visitors of the Meditation Garden participate in spiritual ceremonies, and sing mantras around a bonfire.

The press release explains:

The project was filled with mythological and folk images. Singing mantras and polyphonic songs around bonfire, participating in spiritual and in tea ceremonies were creating strong bonds between team members. Also, it endowed a meaningful embracement of Lithuanian innate connection with nature and folklore and brought the full load of mystical meaning to the project.

Gapahuk by Bjrnadal Arkitektsudio

Gapahuk by Bjrnadal Arkitektsudio

Gapahuk by Bjrnadal Arkitektsudio

Gapahuk by Bjrnadal Arkitektsudio

Gapahuk by Bjrnadal Arkitektsudio

Wouldnt it be awesome if we had these throughout parks and forests?

Your life path number can tell you A LOT about you.

With the ancient science of Numerology you can find out accurate and revealing information just from your name and birth date.

Get your free numerology reading and learn more about how you can use numerology in your life to find out more about your path and journey. Get Your free reading.

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Tiny Meditation Huts Encourage Hikers Reconnect With Nature - Collective Evolution