# Meditation as Therapy



## Guest (Jun 27, 2009)

IntroductionWe are easy to take advantage of. Doctors do it, sometimes unwittingly. The companies that produce and promote drugs and supplements have a field day with us. Even those friendly websites, laden with advertisements... Many of us have at times felt desperate. Everyone wants to believe that there is a cure. A pill we can take, maybe a dietary supplement. It is the nature of ibs, with its large psychological component, that many things will help, and then not help. This is the so-called placebo effect, which in ibs is enormous. Most treatments will help most people for a few weeks and then with diminishing effect after that. Do not mistaken my cynicism for despair. Quite the contrary. I am actually quite optimistic. I wasn't always. This is an article about DIY -- doing it yourself. Treating yourself. It is not about things you take, but things you do and ultimately, if may say this, what you are. It may seem a little counter-intuitive at times. But trust me, it works. And, by the way, its free. History Did they tell you stress is an aggravating factor? I hate that word. "Stress" can mean practically anything. For me, less work in my life, generally meant more trouble. So... its the stress of not having stress? Give me a break. I can tell you, what I felt like saying was: Whose body is this?! It is odd when your body seems to know something which you are not a party to. Most ibs people spend a lot of time pondering food, at least I did. Good types, bad types, extracted types, and so on. I used to believe that if I could only eat the right foods, in the right amounts, that i would be fine.One reason we think about food so much is that there are so few drugs to talk about -- at least none that work. Look at the studies, I did. The serious ones are pretty discouraging. The benefits diminish over time so that in the end, they help only a small fraction of sufferers. Now listen to this: after a long struggle, 30 years, I have concluded that there is something actually much more important than either drugs or food. It is difficult to describe -- it is difficult to put into words. No one could write you a prescription for it. I don't want to say "state of mind" because our minds are used for thinking, and this has little to do with thoughts. If I was a doctor maybe I would call it "central nervous system" therapy. But I am not a doctor. So I ask your patience in letting me speak philosophically for a few minutes. It is the only way i know to do this.In virtually everything we do, we seek control and improvement. We want to increase, extend, develop, change, grow. In short, become more. We wake up in the morning, climb into the drivers seat and hit the gas. Zoom! Its the American way. Its the European way too. Hell, it may be the human way. Its what we do -- almost all of us, almost all of the time.Almost?I was always fascinated by Zen. I have visited Zen temples and talked to Zen masters. I am not religious. I don't even believe in God. What interests me about Zen is the mind set - the approach. Also, that they have a very concrete thing they do. Its called zazen. Zazen is zen meditation.So, how does one meditate?OK, ready? Here's what you do: Sit with your back straight, drop your chin slightly and don't move.That's it. But what do i think about? What do i do with my breath? What do i do with my eyes? My hands? What if my nose itches? Questions, questions. Human beings are curious animals. We want to know many things. Perhaps, though, it is good to have a time each day when we put it down. A time when every question, every idea, inspiration, sensation and emotion -- all of it-- gets break.In Zen, they speak of "non-attachment". It is the most important principle. You know what happens when you put a small child in front of colorful things? They pick something up. They test it. Taste it. Try it out. They will hold it tightly even when they go running around the room, forgetting that it is still in their hand. We are all of us children. When we meditate, we open our hands. We let fall the things we normally and perhaps unconsciously clutch.Some detailsThe thing about the details is, they are less important than you think. In a way, there are no details, there is only you. But ok, I'll stop the word games. I'll give you my tips, but promise me that you will take them with a grain of salt. A time and a placeSet a time. Say to yourself, "now i will sit for X minutes" -- maybe 30 minutes, maybe 20, or 10. Maybe only 5! The point is not how long, but that you do it with discipline; just what you said you would. Don't look around the room. Don't fidget. Relax, but be strict with yourself. It is a kind of training. It is not easy, but you can do it. How do I know? Because everyone can. Everyone.They say it helps to sit in the same place and at the same time each day. Personally i have never done either of these things. One thing i do believe though is in sitting first thing every day, before you have a chance to ask yourself, "should i... do i want to... do i have to....". Sit again in the evening before dinner. Eyes open or closedIn zen they keep their eyes open, looking diagonally downwards to a spot on the floor or on the wall. You know those guys you've seen in the pictures meditating? Well they are not "zoned out". They hear every chirp of every bird. Stay awake. Some zen masters tell beginners to count breaths. 101...102....30 years ago, I learned transcendental meditation. In this form, you sit with eyes closed and repeat a meaningless word or sound silently in your mind, over and over again. In a way this has stayed me. Sometimes when i am sitting, my little sound comes all by itself. I read a study once where some researches used the word "one", instead of the magic word the TM people give you. It worked just as well. one... one... one... But listen, i'm going to keep repeating this: the details are not only unimportant, but they can easily get in the way. Chair or floorI'm very flexible, but for some reason my knees can't take the lotus position (the cross-legged position the monks use). I sit low to the floor with a little stool i built. For me, with my Western knees, it works great. Find some way that works for you. It is important though that your back is straight. (And that you don't trash your knees!). Sit on a chair if you want. These are, as I said before, details.ThoughtsThoughts come and go. Sometimes a lot. Sometimes very few. But if you understood that meditation meant shutting off thoughts, then you were misinformed. The difference between meditation and, say, daydreaming, is that in meditation we do not follow those little "leads" that keep coming up. The moment you realize you are "somewhere else", let it go. You're home. Thoughts are not the enemy. Rather they are unimportant. Same with feelings, sensations. Its only a little while Rituals and VictualsYou may have the impression that I don't go in much for tradition. My head is not shaved, i do not don one of those cool robes they wear. I haven't said a word about Karma. Zen, as it is practiced in Japanese temples, includes exacting rules on eating, walking, bowing, chanting and so on. Ritual is, of course, also a part of Indian (Hindu) meditation forms on which transcendental mediation is based.We need to understand the difference between the rigmarole and the meditation itself. The rituals are there to encourage good practice -- nothing more. They help with discipline, for example, but they are not part of meditation itself. That is, they are not necessary. This is a very important point. If you are interested in the rituals, go for it. You should be able to find ample information elsewhere. My purpose here is to teach you to meditate. And if I do, will anything happen?Sure. Things always do. Quiet little things, maybe a great big thing (what they call satori in Japanese). But seeing the great white light is not the goal. Imagine that! A task without a goal! You see in a way, meditation is as much an attitude as it is a technique. What happens will happen by itself.I know I said this before, but the main thing is to KISS (Keep It Simple, Stupid). Tips, books, guides, groups, instructions, religions... these things can actually get in the way! How can I make this clear:Keep it simple.The most difficult thing about meditation is not the discipline, but rather understanding how it helps. It seems so completely counter intuitive! How can doing nothing, help anything?! I cannot prove this to you. No one can. Even if I showed you studies where sustained changes in basal metabolic indicators and hormonal balances resulted from meditation, it would not matter. But do it. Just do it. People have been doing it in many cultures (most in the East) for thousands of years. They are not crazy. It is far too much work to keep up only for ceremonial or superstitious reasons. Don't expect to get better and better at it. It's the wrong way to think about it. Do it as well as you can, each time, and it is perfect.IBSHere is my advice: Give up. Give up drugs. Give up worrying about food. Say good bye to your doctor. Start over. Sit.Sit regularly and with as much discipline as you can muster. Change yourself from the inside out.My doctor lent me a medical book on ibs. Of all the treatments reviewed (in this book), hypnosis showed one of the highest overall effects in terms of the lessening symptoms. Meditation is in some ways like hypnosis, though it is stronger. Also cheaper. When I was in pain, I sat. It helped. Every time. Over time, it more or less cured me.Another doctor once told me that 90% of his patients were not coming to him because of biological problems. He saw all of these patients with symptoms, and tried to treat them, but the causes were elusive and he knew in his heart that he was not really solving most people's problems. I liked my doctors, but I stopped seeing them. I haven't seen one in 15 years.ConclusionDon't get pushed around. What you need may lie within you. Feel free to write me if you have questions about meditation, how i built my meditation seat, or anything. ps: my favorite books on Zen are: Zen Flesh, Zen Bones" by Paul Reps, and Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind by Shunryu Suzuki. By: robertw


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## guest987 (Apr 11, 2017)

I guess it might not be appropriate to reply to you so many years after your post was written, but I simply felt compelled to do so. The solution to relief from IBS symptoms that you have outlined here makes the most sense to me from ALL I have read. And I have read and tried and been tested for a lot. Today I started working on this approach and I just feel like it is right. I hope you are still doing well and I thank you so very much for your detailed and very informative post.


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