There can be a few avenues for Science to analyse and postulate the mechanics of typical meditative responses, mostly focusing on physiological responses in the body. The hyper oxygenation of tissues is typically put forward to explain the many and varied sensations that manifest in breath type meditations. There is definitely truth to this line of thought, however…the story is far from complete and even further from being understood.
An expanding body of evidence: There is a swath of studies being released every day now further asserting the wondrous ways that our bodies respond to breath, and many even studying the coupling with a directed intention of devotional purity. This is the X factor that often confuses and confounds the Scientific vantage point: intention makes a difference.
On a mundane level, the breathing process is akin to physically massaging your organs and visceral body. From the membrane between your nose and brain, to the spaces between the convoluted tubes of your stomach and abdominal wall, breath reaches parts of you untouched by just about every other aspect of our lives and activates areas, including hormonal glands, often long laying dormant and neglected.
Many learned people agree that each human (and all organisms in fact) has a system of meridians and chakras – channelling Prana/Life Energy/Qi/Ch’i. around our subtle bodies via nadis. Science is seemingly shy to take on many of these concepts, lest of all acknowledge these structures – but for the Meditator, the breath has apparently some way of activating them.
The power of good breathing and therapeutic touch has become very much become scientifically validated as essential for healthy human growth. Indeed as has the power of intention, the mental or “thought touch”, that we may consciously or otherwise “give” to ourselves or another.
There is a swath of studies being released every day now further asserting the wondrous ways that our bodies respond to breath, many of which correlate the changes in brainwave patterns and postulate that the brain is being rewired, giving rise to the term Neuroplasticity.
But what is doing the re-wiring? And why is it re-wiring in a certin way, a way that seeming correlates with pleasantness, even bliss, in the meditator?
Certain areas of our Brains responsible for Emotion and Memory could be reconditioned to create more reasonable behavioural outcomes that standard psychotherapeutic techniques are unable to meaningfully effect. The mechanisms still aren’t clear how or why, but the evidence is real.
At the end of the day, the person in the street has no idea how or why electricity works but it doesn’t mean it is not useful. And it means that we have the authority to use elements and discoveries of Society, in this case the Ancient practice and art of Meditation, with thoughtful enthusiasm and loving vigor.
In this way we be sure to harness this BODY Electricity for our best of health and wellbeing. We reclaim our health, by opening ourselves to deep levels of restorative bioregeneration that Science is only just recognising; from the experience that arises from Consciousness, or the Divine.