Alternative Therapies - Meditation 6 of 6 - BBC Health Documentary Series

Alternative Therapies - Meditation 6 of 6 - BBC Health Documentary Series

Alternative Therapies
Join Kathy Sykes on a personal journey of exploration into the controversial world of alternative therapies. Are there lessons for mainstream medicine to be learned from these increasingly popular therapies?

In a journey that takes her from Buddhist monks in Nepal, to brain labs in America - via yogic flying - Kathy investigates what cutting edge research can tell us about the ancient practice of meditation.

Having learnt some basic meditation for herself at a monastery in the foothills of the Himalayas, Kathy sets off to find out what science can tell her about the experiences she's had. Her investigation takes her down two routes -- can meditation improve your body, and can it improve your mind?

In the US she learns how her body responds when she meditates, and hears from a patient who believes the practice has given him his life back. From there, she journeys deeper into America, to a unique city which gathers together twice a day to meditate. She hears their claims for meditation's health benefits, and is given a rare demonstration of yogic flying.

But can meditation really deliver what its advocates claim? Weighing up the evidence is a challenge, and Kathy discovers just how difficult it is to get any definitive answers. But, back in the UK, she finds a form of meditation that is gaining some acceptance as a treatment. It is used in a new therapy for depression - and is available on the NHS.

Kathy talks to researchers who believe meditation has amazing potential to change our brains. From a neuroscientist inspired by the Dalai Lama, to a Boston researcher who is taking measurements of meditators' brains, Kathy meets mainstream scientists fascinated by the possibilities of meditation.

And in an intriguing insight into state-of-the art neuroscience, she hears how these scientists are investigating whether meditation can help improve our emotional wellbeing - and even change the structure of our brains. Their hypothesis is that meditation can make you happier, more compassionate and more in control of your emotions. So does meditation really have potential for us all?

For more Information, see http://www.open2.net/alternativetherapies/meditation.html .

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[Colstonewall]

This is the exact reason meditation should be taught in schools, starting in Elementary School, to ALL students. It should be REQUIRED, IMO. Maybe it would help put a stop to childhood depression, anxiety, crimes ect (as MrNatureCalls says in the post below). Our society as a whole would be much better off. More compassionate children means more compassionate adults.

[RuniScience]

@Colstonewall > maybe not "required" ... but optional for sure... Cheers

[Dreamazium]

i have meditated every day since i was 5 (i learned at Thomas Tallis infant school), i have found it to be most useful when in distress or worried or if i just need to study.

Most of all it is the one thing that makes me happy since people can let me down. Meditation is the way forward for all nations and people, but the person has to choose to do it:it can't be pushed on to someone.

Sometimes after meditation a conclusion is reached and i know i've changed or have something to do

[bchimself]

@Colstonewall Someone with compassion wouldn't force others to conform.

[ammusi]

I've been meditating everyday for 1/2 hr for years and will attest that all the benefits mentioned in this doc are true for me.

[thrasher0250]

honestly... TERRIBLE documentary, the entire thing is summed up with "we still don't know".... just because you have a southern londoner accent doesn't mean everyone's gonna be in awe by you. Terrible Documentary honestly, one of the worst I've ever seen.

[bloggseytube]

but after visiting nepal, you still saying you need more evidence of the real benefits of meditation, what more humane proof do you need.

[thejazzfuneral]

i knew meditation is boring but help everyone

physical brain changing part is interesting

[MrNatureCalls]

kind a cool this woud mean that it maybee woud be posible to curre or inprove the life of psycophats and former child soldiers scocial skills and help them reconekt whit are more normal life where the can show empathy?