I very often suggest meditation to HSPs for reducing and recovering from over-stimulation. But I realize that when someone recommends meditation or says they meditate or are going to teach it to you, it sounds as though meditation is just one thing. But really they may as well say, “I recommend pills.” That is, there are many kinds of meditation, just as there are many kinds of pills.
Each form of meditation has its purpose. If you already meditate, great. (But there’s no harm in trying other methods or doing two.) Since they had to be listed in some order, they are from moderately to most relaxing, given the parts of the brain being used. This is in keeping with HSPs’ need for effective, “efficient” downtime. But the list could be ordered differently, according to other benefits. I have also added something about each method’s spiritual goal, another interest of ours.
- Guided meditations. After relaxation instruction, you are guided in how to use your imagination to achieve a goal. Often inspired by depth psychology (e.g. Carl Jung), practitioners can take you to a deeper, perhaps more spiritual part of yourself (“You are at the edge of a deep forest, there is a path into it, someone is waiting in the forest to guide you through this dark place…”). Done alone it is called “Active Imagination.” Guided meditation can also be used, for example, to help you imagine how a certain animal perceives or to break a habit. But even though your body is relaxed, your brain is still pretty busy.
- Guided meditations for relaxation. Someone speaks in a soft voice (in person or audio), instructing you how to relax. There are countless methods. (For example: “Take five deep breaths, in through your nose and out through your mouth, then bring your attention to your center, around your navel, feel the warmth there…”). Best if you can learn to do the method by yourself, so that your brain is not busy listening. But it is still busy.
Now we go to the forms of meditation studied for the types of brain waves they produce. (For a summary of this research, see Travis, F., & Shear, J., 2010, “Focused Attention, Open Monitoring and Automatic Self-Transcending: Categories to Organize Meditations from Vedic, Buddhist and Chinese traditions.” Consciousness and Cognition, 19(4), 1110-1118.)
The following three also all share the goal of “Awakening” or “Enlightenment.”
- Meditations involving focused attention, concentration, or contemplation. Example: Zen Buddhist meditation, sometimes on a koan. Or counting breaths, coming back when a thought interrupts your count. Or repeating a phrase, perhaps about loving kindness. Or focusing on a candle, or any object. If your mind wanders, you bring your attention back. Proper breathing and posture (cross legged on a special pillow, without back support if at all possible) are paramount. The goal is to slip into stillness, satori, “no-mindedness,” without thoughts or feelings, and maintaining this increasingly outside of meditation, until one is enlightened (reached nirvana). The associated brain waves are Beta and Gamma, found during focused attention.
- Open monitoring or mindfulness-based meditations, usually derived from various forms of Buddhism, involve observing breathing, thoughts, or other content of ongoing experience without an emotional reaction. Again, ideally sitting in an upright posture without back support. The goal is to become reflectively aware of the contents of your mind without judgment, beginning to see the personal self as impermanent, an illusion, and what is real as pure dynamic emptiness, the “now.” Perfect calm and objectivity, whatever is going on, would be enlightenment, although instructors separate from Buddhism downplay that goal. The associated brain waves are Theta, found when monitoring internal processes, indicating that the brain is more relaxed than during focused attention.
- Automatic self-transcending practices. For Transcendental Meditation (TM) and Christian Centering Prayer (CCP) you sit in whatever way is comfortable and lie down if sleepy. Although you use a word (CCP) or mantra (a meaningless sound, TM), the goal is for it to become fainter, until it disappears. What is left is more or less pure awareness, with minimal or no thoughts or feelings. Thoughts are not discouraged, however, and even considered a necessary part. When noticing thinking, one goes gently back to the word or mantra, moving toward deeper quiet. The emphasis is on no effort. Enlightenment occurs when the inner restful silence becomes a permanent background to life. (You see how similar the goals are of all three.) The associated brain waves are Alpha 1, found when the brain is alert, relaxed, with internalized attention and expectancy. Although TM instruction has a set course fee, financial aid is available.
Folks might also be interested in the kind of discursive meditation which blogger John Michael Greer has recently written a series of posts about, beginning here: https://ecosophia.dreamwidth.org/65232.html
It’s based on a traditional system of meditation from the Anglican (Episcopalian) christian tradition and Greer writes about it as a system of training the mind as well as learning from the meditation text or image. I thought to mention it as I don’t see it perfectly fitting into any of the categories above.
Question about the posture: “posture (cross legged on a special pillow, without back support if at all possible) are paramount”. Why is that? Being very well endowed, I find it almost impossible to sit comfortably with my back straight. Very quickly my muscles start to hurt and back strain can be felt throughout the hole body, which pretty much makes the meditation impossible and very uncomfortable. It defeats the whole purpose. Why is this posture so important?
Margaret, great question. I have studied this with both teachers of Tibetan Buddhist meditation and Ki Aikido, and teach meditation and ki aikido as an assistant instructor at the Center for Mind-Body Oneness.
Each of us is a body-mind system; we can “observe” the mind through the body posture. You can experience this for yourself also, by observing your experience in three postures: slouched/collapsed, tense/rigidly upright, and relaxed with weight supported by a straight spine.
If the posture is collapsed, the breath is small and so is awareness of the environment. To take a breath, muscles in the back and abdomen have to tense and lift the upper body.
If the posture is rigid and tense, the breath tends to be shallow and confined to the upper chest. Awareness is often tunnel vision and also rigid.
If the posture is balanced, with weight supported by a relaxed straight spine and falling to the front of the pelvis, the breath can flow easily into the lower abdomen without effort. Awareness expands to encompass the surrounding environment.
If your skeleton is in good alignment and supports the weight of your body, your muscles can relax, your body settles naturally, and your mind can relax and settle also.
As an HSP, I’d say meditation and aikido were literally life-saving. Engaging in these practices – plus nature connection through wildlife tracking – have transformed my daily experience from grim struggle to joyful curiosity.
Hi Margaret,
You make a really important point, and I’m glad you brought this. The posture discussed is simply not ergonomic, comfortable or even healthy for every body, depending on a lot of physical variables. Supportive seating implements are often necessary and helpful. This is something that certainly could be addressed much more in communities of mind-body training. We need to celebrate body diversity and be more inclusive and helpful to all people seeking to practice.
When back issues factor in, it is helpful to do seated meditation in a supportive seat. For a simple solution, sitting against a wall with something cushioning under the bum and at the low back can be helpful. This can also be accomplished by a chair that allows for uncrossed legs and feet flat on the floor with solid lumbar support or a low back cushion. Alternately, there are seated meditation floor chairs if taking a floor sitting posture is desired. Here is a site I found for you with some of those, in case these products are of interest:
https://awakeandmindful.com/meditation-chair-with-back-support/
Warmly,
Laurel
Regarding posture and sitting upright and so on, this can lead to discomfort and sometimes pain. Often quitea bit of an endurance test. In Transcendental Meditation this is not required at all. Sit comfortably in a chair if you prefer. Then as you naturally relax you don’t have to keep paying attention to your posture (which becomes a distraction). The meditation takes about 20 minutes twice a day, ideally morning and evening. Do some light and gentle yoga postures before you sit down if you wish.
I found that Natural Stress Relief (NSR.org) is just as effective as Transcendental Meditation without the exorbitant cost. My best friend started TM two years ago and got me interested in it. After learning the cost, I was turned off immediately (even with the scholarship) but wanted to get the benefit of repetitive mantra (sound) meditation. That’s when I found NSR. It works beautifully, and the cost is so little for the materials and instruction compared to TM. I am not affiliated with NSR or TM but after a lot of research in true HSP style, NSR met my HSP needs for clear and concise instructions in the privacy of my own home and the option to pay a minimal fee if I needed personal guidance. I also liked that the purpose behind the low cost was to allow as many people as possible to access an effective way to mediate. An organization with a purpose is so important to me. I now recommend it to my therapy clients.
I am an highly sensitive person and I tried meditation for some years. I felt that this only did made me even more sensitive. It opens up sensitive receptors even more. I had to give it up.
I think to live as an HSP is a difficult life and in fact meditation did not help me.
Some of the biggest misunderstanding about meditation is that it is a tool for relaxation, that it works for all, that it has the same impact on all and that it is has no negative effects.
One of the most well-documented effects of meditation is that it strengthens the prefrontal cortex that regulates a variety of other brain areas, including the limbic system, which produces many of your emotions and stress reactions. In other words you become less emotional and impulsive. People with high levels of negative emotions may therefore benefit from meditation. The problem is that this process can continue and in short, go too far. The emotional and autonomic nervous system can be over-controlled or suppressed to a point where the person will struggle to function in daily life.
I didn’t do well with traditional meditation in a seated posture al though I may try it again some time.
For me, my best meditation is hand drumming. I am so focused and in the moment that there is no past or future, and three hours of drumming feels like 15 minutes. I will say, however, if I am not well rested or just feeling out of sorts that there have been times the drumming felt like overload stimulation (not good for an HSP). In those rare instances I have to focus even harder. Christine Northrup has a great post listing many of the health benefits to hand drumming: https://www.drnorthrup.com/health-benefits-drumming/ They have also been documented by neurologist Dr. Barry Bitman and are reported in the NIH: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11191041
Movement meditation I have also found to be beneficial for me.
I didn’t do well with traditional meditation in a seated posture although I may try it again some time.
For me, my best meditation is hand drumming. I am so focused and in the moment that there is no past or future, and three hours of drumming feels like 15 minutes. I will say, however, if I am not well rested or just feeling out of sorts that there have been times the drumming felt like overload stimulation (not good for an HSP). In those rare instances I have to focus even harder. Christine Northrup has a great post listing many of the health benefits to hand drumming: https://www.drnorthrup.com/health-benefits-drumming/ They have also been documented by neurologist Dr. Barry Bitman and are reported in the NIH: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11191041
Movement meditation I have also found to be beneficial for me.