In this post, I will share a few observations about meditation's effect on metabolism. I am not writing to advocate meditation (although I think it can help many people), but to relate it to Ray Peat's work.
I apologize in advance for the length of this post.
Meditation is an ancient practice for reducing stress, disciplining the mind, and increasing awareness and understanding. Meditation is commonly associated with Buddhism and the religions of India, but is used by people of many different philosophical or religious traditions. The forms of meditation I know are practical rather than mystical or other-worldly, and require no particular beliefs about anything.
There are many forms of meditation with different purposes. One of the most common varieties is called the mindfulness of breathing. In this form of meditation, the meditator simply pays attention to her breath. She relaxes her body and then focuses her attention on the breath at a particular location in her body (say the abdomen or the nose) and watches it flow in and out. Every time her mind wanders (as it inevitably and oh-so-frequently does) she simply lets go of the distracting thought or sensation and -- without judging or criticizing herself -- returns her attention to the breath. If her mind wanders 1,000 times, she returns to the breath 1,000 times.
Years ago, I noticed that interesting things happened to my body after roughly 30-40 minutes of practicing the mindfulness of breathing. My hands and feet warmed up. My breathing gradually slowed, and sometimes stopped for significant intervals. My breath became faint, and the volume of air entering my lungs dropped enough so that my abdomen and ribs barely moved as I breathed. Most interesting of all, these changes in my body mirrored changes in my mind. At the same time these physical changes occurred, distracting thoughts, emotions, and anxieties faded significantly, leaving mostly awareness of my breath, and sometimes a feeling of mild euphoria.
People familiar with the Buteyko method will immediately recognize what was happening to my breathing. To over-simplify, the Buteyko method of breathing entails: (A) breathing through the nose rather than the mouth; (B) breathing from the diaphragm (lower abdomen) rather than the chest; and (C) breathing as little as possible. I was already doing (A) and, to some extent, (B), but as I meditated, even though I had not yet encountered Buteyko, I naturally did all of (A)-(C). In other words, meditation naturally, and without any effort, leads to Buteyko breathing.
The central goal of the Buteyko method is to raise the amount of carbon dioxide in the blood. The sensations of warmth and euphoria I felt when meditating suggest that meditation, via its effect on breathing patterns (and likely also on stress hormones), increases retention of carbon dioxide!
My tentative conclusions:
(1) Buteyko breathing is the human body's default mode of breathing in the absence of physical and mental stress.
(2) Under the right circumstances, if continued long enough, meditation can induce Buteyko breathing and increase the body's retention of carbon dioxide, raising metabolism by the processes Ray Peat has described.
(3) By raising carbon dioxide levels, Peating should enable meditators to experience less distraction and greater peace and clarity during meditation.
(4) The states of calmness and relaxation that meditators cherish are states of high oxidative metabolism. (This statement is probably obvious to anyone who reads Peat, but is likely to be a big surprise to many meditators.)
I apologize in advance for the length of this post.
Meditation is an ancient practice for reducing stress, disciplining the mind, and increasing awareness and understanding. Meditation is commonly associated with Buddhism and the religions of India, but is used by people of many different philosophical or religious traditions. The forms of meditation I know are practical rather than mystical or other-worldly, and require no particular beliefs about anything.
There are many forms of meditation with different purposes. One of the most common varieties is called the mindfulness of breathing. In this form of meditation, the meditator simply pays attention to her breath. She relaxes her body and then focuses her attention on the breath at a particular location in her body (say the abdomen or the nose) and watches it flow in and out. Every time her mind wanders (as it inevitably and oh-so-frequently does) she simply lets go of the distracting thought or sensation and -- without judging or criticizing herself -- returns her attention to the breath. If her mind wanders 1,000 times, she returns to the breath 1,000 times.
Years ago, I noticed that interesting things happened to my body after roughly 30-40 minutes of practicing the mindfulness of breathing. My hands and feet warmed up. My breathing gradually slowed, and sometimes stopped for significant intervals. My breath became faint, and the volume of air entering my lungs dropped enough so that my abdomen and ribs barely moved as I breathed. Most interesting of all, these changes in my body mirrored changes in my mind. At the same time these physical changes occurred, distracting thoughts, emotions, and anxieties faded significantly, leaving mostly awareness of my breath, and sometimes a feeling of mild euphoria.
People familiar with the Buteyko method will immediately recognize what was happening to my breathing. To over-simplify, the Buteyko method of breathing entails: (A) breathing through the nose rather than the mouth; (B) breathing from the diaphragm (lower abdomen) rather than the chest; and (C) breathing as little as possible. I was already doing (A) and, to some extent, (B), but as I meditated, even though I had not yet encountered Buteyko, I naturally did all of (A)-(C). In other words, meditation naturally, and without any effort, leads to Buteyko breathing.
The central goal of the Buteyko method is to raise the amount of carbon dioxide in the blood. The sensations of warmth and euphoria I felt when meditating suggest that meditation, via its effect on breathing patterns (and likely also on stress hormones), increases retention of carbon dioxide!
My tentative conclusions:
(1) Buteyko breathing is the human body's default mode of breathing in the absence of physical and mental stress.
(2) Under the right circumstances, if continued long enough, meditation can induce Buteyko breathing and increase the body's retention of carbon dioxide, raising metabolism by the processes Ray Peat has described.
(3) By raising carbon dioxide levels, Peating should enable meditators to experience less distraction and greater peace and clarity during meditation.
(4) The states of calmness and relaxation that meditators cherish are states of high oxidative metabolism. (This statement is probably obvious to anyone who reads Peat, but is likely to be a big surprise to many meditators.)