Is Meditation a Cure-All?
Feb 01, 2025 06:00AM ● By Patricia Schmidt, Yoga Editor
Yogic wisdom has long offered key stepping stones along a path to enlightenment, including practices to hone focus, to withdraw the senses from the all-consuming physical world and to experience a subsequent immersion in meditation. Indeed, numerous spiritual texts from a variety of traditions—including the revered Yoga Sutras of Patanjali—never question whether one should meditate and never doubt the importance of meditation. Students are taught to take steps with the body, breath and mind and to partake in daily rituals in order to prepare the Self to sit and welcome the depths of absorption that meditation can bring. The practice is recognized as difficult, but it is understood to be necessary work to make progress along a spiritual path, the outcome of which is awakening. For humble meditation, it is a pretty tall order: Enlightenment with a capital ‘E’! Awakening, with a capital ‘A’!
Similarly, within today’s Western health-and-wellness culture, many experts—from licensed medical providers to lifestyle gurus to app designers—herald big expectations for meditation. It’s often touted as the answer to anxiety, asthma, high blood pressure, traumatic experiences and more. The outcome is usually a resolution to a problem, and meditation is offered as a kind of cure-all prescription.
Indeed, credible scientific research supports prescribing meditation for many contemporary conditions that cause discomfort and disease in the body. Meditation has been clearly demonstrated in rigorous clinical work to soothe the nervous system, to benefit other bodily systems such as cardiovascular and respiratory health, to ease anxiety, lower blood pressure, reduce the frequency and severity of asthma attacks and decrease symptoms of many other chronic medical conditions. Furthermore, meditation practice earlier in life has been shown to influence drug adherence and beneficial lifestyle choices later on in life. Recent research conducted by Harvard Medical School and other affiliated institutions using sensitive brain imaging techniques demonstrated significant resiliency to stressful and emotionally triggering experiences in meditation-practicing brains, even when those brains aren’t meditating.
Meryl Arnett, host of the Our Mindful Nature podcast and a longtime Atlanta-based meditation teacher and practitioner, speaks to this nuance as she sums up her long experience with the practice. “When I think of meditation, I think of connection and resilience.” She continues: “For me, those are the qualities that have become the most obvious outcomes of my practice. What I want for all of us as practitioners is the awareness of, ‘This is what I’m doing every time I sit down. I’m not fixing anything; I’m not changing the circumstances of my life. I’m not changing who I am as a person, necessarily. But I am building my capacity to be present for whatever is.”
No Promises. Just OK in This Moment. Another trove of wisdom nestled within ancient spiritual texts is their reference to the many obstacles to enlightenment we humans suffer with. Dullness of mind, self-doubt, lack of persistence and dedication, misperception and clouded vision—it’s as if these ancient scholars could see into our living rooms. Many experience these hindrances when they try to sit and meditate. Arnett says that the most frequent complaints she hears from people encompass many of these obstacles. “I tried, but I think too much.” “It’s so uncomfortable.” “It’s not for me.” “I’m not a meditator.” “I can’t do it.” She hears this a lot.
Arnett also notices how often meditation is entered into with an expectation of what it will resolve, even though the practice cannot promise to resolve a thing. “The second most common thing I hear,” says Arnett, “is some version of, ‘Once I get really good at meditating, I’m going to be so different. I’m going to be more peaceful. I’m not going to yell. I’m not going to get upset. I’m going to change in some better way.’”
Arnett believes that “the only thing meditation is doing is allowing us to connect to ourselves. There is no promise that you’re not going to get upset; there is no promise that suddenly your emotions are just going to even out: no moments of Big Anger, Big Fear, Big Joy. Rather, the practice allows me to know without a shadow of a doubt that I am also OK in those moments.”
Arnett’s perspective is that meditation can’t cure our ills. Suffering will happen, and it’s our relationship to it that shifts through the practice.
World-renowned author and meditation pioneer Sharon Salzberg also speaks of letting go of the need to do it “right” or “better” and advises that we let go of the need to accumulate more skill at meditation. She notes that the point of meditation is to “learn how to let go more gracefully.”
Arnett agrees. “I would reiterate for the millionth time—drop the expectations. You’re gonna think. We’re all gonna think. That’s what our brains do. And our whole work in practice is just to build the capacity to see what’s going on inside—to hear the thought, as opposed to being lost in the thought.”
The “letting go” that Salzberg speaks of is a welcoming of whatever arises, a cultivation of self-curiosity. “We don’t meditate to get better at meditating; we meditate to get better at life,” says Salzberg. For Arnett, meditation practice is about being able to say, “Let me just let go of what I think meditation is. Let me let go of what I think is going to happen. Let me let go of what I think I should do.” Instead, she says, “What if I just say every day, ‘I’m going to set the timer for five minutes, and I’m going to sit down.’ I’m going to say, ‘Now is my time to meditate,’ and I’m going to see what happens.”
Similarly, within today’s Western health-and-wellness culture, many experts—from licensed medical providers to lifestyle gurus to app designers—herald big expectations for meditation. It’s often touted as the answer to anxiety, asthma, high blood pressure, traumatic experiences and more. The outcome is usually a resolution to a problem, and meditation is offered as a kind of cure-all prescription.
Indeed, credible scientific research supports prescribing meditation for many contemporary conditions that cause discomfort and disease in the body. Meditation has been clearly demonstrated in rigorous clinical work to soothe the nervous system, to benefit other bodily systems such as cardiovascular and respiratory health, to ease anxiety, lower blood pressure, reduce the frequency and severity of asthma attacks and decrease symptoms of many other chronic medical conditions. Furthermore, meditation practice earlier in life has been shown to influence drug adherence and beneficial lifestyle choices later on in life. Recent research conducted by Harvard Medical School and other affiliated institutions using sensitive brain imaging techniques demonstrated significant resiliency to stressful and emotionally triggering experiences in meditation-practicing brains, even when those brains aren’t meditating.
More Ease with Dis-ease
So, what’s the difference between the yogic wisdom of meditation and the promises of contemporary times? It is a nuanced one and worth emphasizing these days as the promotion of meditation as a cure-all appears more and more in common conversation. In fact, the teachings of yoga don’t necessarily claim to cure or circumvent any of our ills. It might happen as a byproduct of meditation, but from a yogic perspective, the promised outcome of the practice is that the meditator improves their relationship to suffering. If they discover a new ease with dis-ease and dis-comfort, it is largely a result of this change in their relationship with what’s arising in their life—rather than a change in any particular condition.Meryl Arnett, host of the Our Mindful Nature podcast and a longtime Atlanta-based meditation teacher and practitioner, speaks to this nuance as she sums up her long experience with the practice. “When I think of meditation, I think of connection and resilience.” She continues: “For me, those are the qualities that have become the most obvious outcomes of my practice. What I want for all of us as practitioners is the awareness of, ‘This is what I’m doing every time I sit down. I’m not fixing anything; I’m not changing the circumstances of my life. I’m not changing who I am as a person, necessarily. But I am building my capacity to be present for whatever is.”
No Promises. Just OK in This Moment. Another trove of wisdom nestled within ancient spiritual texts is their reference to the many obstacles to enlightenment we humans suffer with. Dullness of mind, self-doubt, lack of persistence and dedication, misperception and clouded vision—it’s as if these ancient scholars could see into our living rooms. Many experience these hindrances when they try to sit and meditate. Arnett says that the most frequent complaints she hears from people encompass many of these obstacles. “I tried, but I think too much.” “It’s so uncomfortable.” “It’s not for me.” “I’m not a meditator.” “I can’t do it.” She hears this a lot.
Arnett also notices how often meditation is entered into with an expectation of what it will resolve, even though the practice cannot promise to resolve a thing. “The second most common thing I hear,” says Arnett, “is some version of, ‘Once I get really good at meditating, I’m going to be so different. I’m going to be more peaceful. I’m not going to yell. I’m not going to get upset. I’m going to change in some better way.’”
Arnett believes that “the only thing meditation is doing is allowing us to connect to ourselves. There is no promise that you’re not going to get upset; there is no promise that suddenly your emotions are just going to even out: no moments of Big Anger, Big Fear, Big Joy. Rather, the practice allows me to know without a shadow of a doubt that I am also OK in those moments.”
Arnett’s perspective is that meditation can’t cure our ills. Suffering will happen, and it’s our relationship to it that shifts through the practice.
Letting Go and Welcoming
Adding to the challenge of meditating is that people often bring their expectations to the meditation cushion. Whether it’s the imagery of a serene yogi seated in tranquility or the more contemporary construct of an immersive, silent retreat free from grocery lists and smartphones, people often bring tremendous expectations around what meditation should look and feel like. As a result, for many, when meditation fails to meet these parameters, the exercise itself becomes an experience of failure. They give up on meditation altogether. They stop taking the medicine before it has a chance to do its work.World-renowned author and meditation pioneer Sharon Salzberg also speaks of letting go of the need to do it “right” or “better” and advises that we let go of the need to accumulate more skill at meditation. She notes that the point of meditation is to “learn how to let go more gracefully.”
Arnett agrees. “I would reiterate for the millionth time—drop the expectations. You’re gonna think. We’re all gonna think. That’s what our brains do. And our whole work in practice is just to build the capacity to see what’s going on inside—to hear the thought, as opposed to being lost in the thought.”
The “letting go” that Salzberg speaks of is a welcoming of whatever arises, a cultivation of self-curiosity. “We don’t meditate to get better at meditating; we meditate to get better at life,” says Salzberg. For Arnett, meditation practice is about being able to say, “Let me just let go of what I think meditation is. Let me let go of what I think is going to happen. Let me let go of what I think I should do.” Instead, she says, “What if I just say every day, ‘I’m going to set the timer for five minutes, and I’m going to sit down.’ I’m going to say, ‘Now is my time to meditate,’ and I’m going to see what happens.”
Simple Steps to Begin Meditating
- Set an intention for a given amount of time to meditate. Start small. Move your body first if it helps you to be still.
- Commit to completing the duration of your intended time. Set a timer if it’s helpful.
- Say to yourself, “Now is my time to meditate,” before you begin.
- Notice whatever arises. Try to notice without judgment.
- When your timer goes off, take a deep breath and leave your seat. Allow yourself to be pleased with your efforts to meditate in that moment. ❧
Patricia Schmidt, C-IAYT, E-RYT 500, YACEP, is a certified yoga therapist specializing in pelvic health, accessible yoga and yoga for cancer support. She is a Franklin Method trainer, Roll Model method teacher and somatic movement specialist. To learn more, visit PLSYoga.com.
