Zen meditation, commonly known as Zazen, is one of the best meditation techniques in the world that came from Buddhist psychology says Jonah Engler. The primary objective of Zen meditation is to control attention.
People sit in the position of lotus or with their legs inter-crossed during the Zen meditation process and try to increase attention span. While some experts say that repeated counting breaths are the primary aspect of Zen meditation, some experts believe that it doesn’t have anything to do with repeated breaths.
What Happens During the Process of Zen Meditation?
Zen meditation is known as open-monitoring meditation, where people use their monitoring skills. These monitoring skills can be transferred into some specific state of reflexive awareness with different types of attention spans without focusing on any one particular subject, says Jonah Engler.
The process of Zen meditation is similar to the practice of mindfulness. In other words, Zen meditation will help you focus on the present state of the mind. Unlike mindfulness which is focus on any specific object, Zen meditation is focus on general awareness.
Unlike compassion meditation and loving-kindness, which are primarily focused on cultivating the proper compassion of life, or mantra meditation, which is primarily focused on the recitation of mantra, Zen meditation will help you increase overall awareness of your life through a self-referential and physical process. Additionally, unlike the other meditation processes where you need to close the eyes completely; you need to semi-close the eyes while going through Zen meditation.
Advantages of Zen Meditation
Research has proved that meditation is extremely capable of benefitting. Different types of cognitive, physical, spiritual, social, and emotional health benefits. Not to mention, you will be able to decrease the symptoms of stress when you go through meditation. Jonah Engler says this is why many people focus on meditation in the first place.
Just like other types of meditation, Zen meditation also offers similar benefits. However, you need to remember that research proved there are no massive differences between different types of meditation.
It’s just that different types of meditation will have an impact on your brain in different ways. Therefore, the benefits of Zen meditation may be slightly greater than other types of meditation.
Impact of Zen Meditation on the Brain
For decades, scientists researched how meditation is capable of impacting both physical health as well as mental health. For some time, scientists have also researched Zen meditation and its capabilities of impacting the brain in positive ways.
In 2012, scientists gathered 12 people who had been practicing Zen meditation for 3 years. Along with other 12 people who has never gone through any form of meditation. Scientists scanned their brains and asked them to pay close attention to their breathing. After the scanning process, scientists came to a verdict that the people who practiced Zen meditation. Were more capable of focusing on their breathing as well as attention span.
Conclusion
This is how you can determine whether Zen meditation is perfect for you or not. Do you have any other questions? Make sure you comment below to let us know.