Has your doctor filled out your meditation prescription yet?
While that might not be the reality for all of us right now, a recent story in the Wall Street Journal reports on how meditation is increasingly being used in hospital rehabilitation programs. The article delves into studies that show meditation can help patients cope with chronic stress, illness, depression, and lower blood pressure.
Aditi Nerurkar, a primary-care doctor and assistant medical director of the Cheng & Tsui Center for Integrative Care told the Wall Street Journal that she asks her patients to start with 5 minutes of meditation a day and gradually increase to 20 minutes.
Nerurkar says she doesn’t send her patients for training in Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction. Instead, she gets them to meditate in the office.
“Really it’s just sitting in a quiet posture that’s comfortable, closing your eyes and watching your breath.”
Read the full Wall Street Journal article.
And if you’re looking for a way to start your own meditation practice, we’d like to help. You might, for example, take a look at our collection of Getting Started articles, which offer tips and techniques about meditation practice from seasoned practitioners, and troubleshooting for obstacles that might pop up along the way.
