A Review of Mediatation Enhancing the Emotional Intelligence and Subjective Well-being

Meditation is a psychological discipline that helps people become more aware of their bodies and minds. It induces a state of consciousness that allows mankind to profit. It allows you to concentrate on a single point, such as your breath, your physique, or your mantra. It is regarded as the most effective technique for stress relaxation, mental simplicity, & pain treatment. Every one of us is filled with a variety of emotions in our daily lives. They are an inextricable element of all living things. Emotions include both happy and bad feelings. Anxiety, depression, wrath, & hostility are examples of pleasant emotions, while happiness & life satisfaction (subjective wellness) are examples of unpleasant emotions. The purpose of this study is to determine how common people are impacted by emotional imbalances. At the same time, the researcher attempted to determine the impact of meditation and intelligence on mood. The researcher has investigated the following questions based on the aforementioned issues: What function does meditation play in enhancing EI & subjective well-being of meditators in a stressful environment? As a result, this study is critical in the current situation, where humans are struggling to cope with emotions and life pleasure. Meditation practice ensures emotional intelligence & subjective well-being for meditating minds, which helps to tackle the aforesaid difficulty. In todays' fast paced life with cut throat competition across the world more emphasis is given on output and results which leads to a very stressful work culture and there is no time for personal issues like diet, health, beside inactive physical routine because of advanced technology. This modern lifestyle has reduced physical work stress but raised mental stress at the extreme and gradually it causes mental illness, and culminates at psychosomatic disorders or diseases which have been reported in majority of the population. Psychosomatic disorders which ―usually involve consideration of manifestation of psychological dysfunction appearing as manifestations of somatic dysfunction‖ (GREENE JR, 1956), are increasing rapidly. Psychosomatic health means balance between psychological and physical integration. Even in children and adolescents stress and anxiety exist more than optimum level which causes poor performance in academics and other activities and in long run it could also affect their physical health adversely (Chkhikvishvili & Somunjan, 1996). Other psychological values are also degrading constantly because of stressful modern lifestyle. Level of frustration, anger, tension, fear are proliferating and positive traits like compassion, kindness, forgiveness are declining because of unconstrained mind and emotion. Behaviour is affected by emotion and thoughts as they are interrelated with each other and the result is lot of scattered thoughts and emotional arousals which causes negative behaviour like aggression, or passive-aggressive behaviour. Physical and physiological health is also affected by these uncontrolled emotional arousals and thoughts because human is not just a physical body, it is the

This study is based on meditation intervention so it is very important to understand its origin and history. Meditation is an English word whose dictionary meaning is ―the action or practice of meditating‖ (meditation) but it is originally derived from the Latin word meditatio, referred to all type of physical and intellectual exercise. Meaning of meditation is also used as contemplation, concentration, imagine, think-over and more but here it is used as the translation of Sanskrit term ―Dhyana‖ which comes from the Sanskrit root dhyai, means to contemplate or meditate. It is difficult to tell the exact time period when meditation came into existence but some evidences were found. The most established reported evidence for practicing meditation was found in wall arts dating from approximately 5,000 to 3,500 BCE by archaeologists in Indian subcontinent which depicted people sitting in meditative posture (Giovanni). In written form earliest evidence was found in Vedas around 1500 BCE (Elaine Mead). In ancient times meditation was a part of lifestyle in Hindu culture for Sanyasis who are religious mendicant or monk and was used for spiritual purpose. In Hindu culture all the spiritual practices, ceremonies, prayer and pilgrimage were made in such a way that the state of meditation can be attained automatically. Meditation tradition in Hindu culture included both yogis meditating in caves and rishis (sages) following Vedic culture. Veda means knowledge and these are the oldest books in the world which are sacred to Hindus. Out of four Vedas, Rig Veda, the oldest one describes about meditation in mantras one of them is the first richa (mantra) of sukt eighty one of 5th mandala explained as those aspiring of bliss join their soul along with the mind and intellect with the supreme so the mind gets serene and the individual gets to a state of euphoria and edified with profound ethereal information straight from the supreme or god who is provenance to all literal knowledge (Meditation). There are many other ancient scriptures which describe about meditation in Hindu culture such as Bhagavata Purana, Bhagavad Gita, Patanjali‘s Yoga Darshana, Gheranda rishi‘s Gheranda samhita, Hath yoga, Asthanga yoga, etc. The Bhagavad Gita was written around 400 BCE to 200 CE. Bhagavad Gita - A treaties on man‘s common obligation, expound about meditation in the sixth chapter named as ―Dhyana yoga‖ and also explained some characteristics of meditator in second chapter. It is clearly elucidated in second chapter and the sixth chapter of Gita about the sage or a yogi. A yogi is a person whose mind remains settled and composed during hardship or misery, who does not crave for happiness, who is free from fear, anger and completely unattached, calm in every situation, who can withdraw his senses from their sense objects and would firmly fix (a practitioner of yoga) who does things without attachment selflessly for stipulation of duties. Patanjali‘s Yoga sutra is one of the Hindu Darshana, mainly used as authoritative book for say over references. Yoga sutras were compiled by Sage Patanjali around 400 BCE (Mandlik) in Sanskrit, in which theory and practice of yoga has been systematically expounded the philosophical aspects of mind and consciousness, for spiritual attainment as yoga provides stability by cultivating purity through a cleansing process so that one can become absorbed in oneself and discovers the true identity of self. Yoga is the science of uniting one‘s consciousness also found in Puranas, Upanishad and Sankhya yoga (hindu scriptures). Patanjali defined yoga as Chitta Vritti Nirodhaha which means the goal of yoga is to reduce or restrain defilements of mind. Chitta means the mind, Vritti means waves or fluctuations and Nirodhaha means to control or to tranquil. According to Patanjali, yoga has eight limbs and meditation is the second last among them. Meditation is the core of Ashtanga yoga. Buddhism is a path to become Buddha followed and founded by Siddhartha Gautama, ―the Buddha‖. It is difficult to pin down the time of Buddha but approximately it is between 6th to 4th century BCE. Siddhartha Gautama was an ordinary human, a son of an Indian king who wanted to know the way to become free from all the sufferings, so he left his kingdom in search of the path that leads to the ultimate reality. After few years journey he attained the state Buddha. Buddha is a Sanskrit word used for the person who attains Boddhi or awakening, basically it is a title. Meaning of Buddha is highly scholar, knowledgeable, free from all impurities, liberated from sufferings, or enlightened one. After attaining the enlightenment he devoted his whole life serving human beings with the noble path to make others experience freedom from sufferings and journey from impurity to purity. Even though Buddhist meditation was not initially any religion, later followers started this as a religion after Buddha‘s death but it is very old and practical technique which is purely based on present reality and not on any imagination. After his death his followers expanded this noble path for helping other all over the world and it got spread in lot of countries. Vipassana is most established Buddhist meditation practice. Vipassana means insight meditation, to see things the way they are with awareness. The technique comes legitimately from the Satipatthana Sutta (foundations of mindfulness), a talk ascribed by the Buddha himself. Vipassana is a straight and slow training for developing awareness or mindfulness (Gunaratana). Christianity is another religion which has along history based on the teachings of Jesus who was internalised spiritual truth which already exists within them, the direction of focus starts from heart, delivering a profoundly felt understanding that suffuses the entire being. The history of Islamic meditation was noticed from early Umayyad period (661-749) which was the first phase for Sufism, showed up for quite a while as a response against worldliness. In Islam religion the spiritual terminology like muraqada or tafakkur is used for meditation which means to observe, to watch. In Quran 9:119 it is clearly mentioned that one should be with good and honest company and always be conscious about god. In Islamic meditation focus of one‘s mind is on a single point (on the master) constantly from few minutes to hours after practicing for a long time. Eastern way of thinking grabbed the eye of western ―searchers‖ and craftsmen as early as the late nineteenth century, yet it was not until the mid-twentieth century that meditation become popular in west. In this time period eastern experts of meditation from different regions of Asian countries were invited for sharing and teaching their skills to those who were interested. Many western students who were keenly interested also travelled eastern countries to enhance the understanding of meditation and practical experience and educate people after coming back home (history of meditation). In modern society most of the healthy person who attains meditation into their life style only for keeping their mind healthy and better working efficiency, and to achieve happiness and stress free life as meditation is proven means for mental and somatic well-being (MAJUMDAR, MARCUS & et al., 2002; Hussain & Bhushan, 2010 ). Regardless the way that meditation can take numerous structures, all inclusive standards can be found in all frameworks. The entire being (body, mind, emotion) is effectively applied, through an assortment of centre focuses, to create mindfulness, knowledge, and change.

Oldest culture of meditation was found in Hindu religion. Dhyana is a Sanskrit word used in Hindu culture for meditation. Swami Narasimhananda explained the meaning of dhyana word which is a combination of two Sanskrit root words dhi and yana where dhi means to perceive, think, reflect and yana means path, journey. The root word for dhyana can also be dhyai, which means to imagine, recollect, contemplate, meditate or call to mind. Ultimately dhyana means the journey to mind (Swami Narasimhananda). According to Swami Vivekananda ―Meditation is process or part of the practice of dissolving everything into ultimate reality –spirit‖ (Vivekananda, 2016). Meditation is an exact procedure for resting the mind and accomplishing a state of cognizance which is entirely distinct from the typical is an inseparable part of asthangayoga. Yoga is used to govern the fluctuation of citta (mind). Patanjali explained in yoga sutra the dhyana is result of unbroken flow of thoughts or awareness or mind in a stream toward the object of concentration (tatrapratyaya-ikatnatadhyanam). Swami Vivekananda explained meditation has its three stageswhich are part of Asthang yoga, Dharana, Dhyanan and Samadhi. Dharana is the initial stage of meditation where one concentrates upon something but mind wanders. Dhyana is the stage when mind starts stilling and fixed on an object of dharana and the third stage is Samadhi which happens when the mind becomes still and the difference between oneself and object goes away (Vivenkanada).

Meditation is a way of being, not a technique but to reach meditative state there are techniques or methods (Kabat-Zinn J. 2015). There are several techniques for meditation practice, some are based on religion since ancient times and some are modern techniques which may or may not be based on religion. The functional classification of meditation has two aspects, mindfulness and concentration, on which any meditative techniques are based and it is dependent on how attentional processes are directed in these techniques (Cahn & Polich, 2006). Though it does not always characterize or match with this idea of classification. Mindfulness is a technique for practicing meditation where one becomes aware of or pays full attention on every moment passing through without judging it (examples vipassana, zen, etc.) whereas in concentrative meditation mind is completely focused on a single thought, object, sound or element. The aim is to keep up single-pointed fixation for span of the meditation (Concentrative Meditation).

Researches have been done on effect of long term and short term meditation with different results. Meditation set its impact on well-being. Changes because of meditation would stay for longer or shorter period of time depending on individual differences. Sometime effects are seen only when it is continuously practiced. Individual and their basic nature along with the time of practice years, months and days also matter. Effect of meditation can be seen through the observation and clinical equipment but generally there are two types of changes that can be seen and studied, State and trait. State refers to the frame of mind during meditation and trait refers to the long term changes on account of meditation practice (Raffone & Srinivasan, 2010).

betterment of future society and human beings. Meditation is a proven means (Beauchemin, Hutchins, & Patterson, 2008) for providing best health model if it is practiced for long period of time with many benefits (Cahn & Polich, 2006). More meditative research should be done on children for the evidence of its effectiveness on certain areas. Childhood is a time where children‘s base is built, whatever is learnt in childhood impacts on person‘s whole life as major brain development happens in this age. The maximum number of neurons (especially gray matter) present in the human brain are at the age of two years. Connections between the neurons are weak at this age but are more in numbers. As the child grows the connections reduce in numbers but the strength of the connections increases. From birth till 5 years of age development of brain is maximum (Development), Post 5 years the volume of gray matter starts decreasing with age and from the age of 5 years to 20 years the volume of gray matter starts declining (Bookheimer, 2017) gradually from specific areas to other areas (McPherson). Gray matter is associated with the ability of learning new things and general intelligence. The gray matter is maximum till puberty (McPherson), this means the ability to learn new things is highest during this period, hence utmost care should be taken of the children as this is the peak time of their learning process. Children quickly learn things from their surroundings in a direct or indirect way, hence we should be careful about the things we do around them so that they learn the correct habits and good qualities are inculcated in them. Meditation can help children in many ways as it gives the power to control and calms the mind. Meditation practice can help in self-regulation and emotional stability (Chambers et al., 2009; Farb and Segal, 2012). Meditation enhances the concentration and attention (Tang et al., 2015) which can improve academic results and helps to perform other activities with finest or accurate way as these qualities are required for every task or activity in the life. It is helpful in growth of children as it also regulates hormonal disbalance (Michaels R. R. et al.1979). A long time meditation practice also impacts limbic system positively and helps in becoming fearless, enhances memory and learning power besides other psychological and physiological positive changes. It provides deep peace and happiness which is very important for a smooth life and gives power to manage every situation and enhances the coping abilities.

Meditation is a famous practice now-a-days because of its health benefits as clinical practitioners use this technique to treat patients also. It is a practice which can be done by anyone. Evidences support that meditation puts positive impact not only on the mind but also on body and consciousness. This investigation blood pressure, brain waves alpha and theta. Happiness and anxiety are psychological states which influences human health, behaviour and well-being. Happiness is a state of mind and sign of health and part of positive psychology. Dalai Lama has said ―The very purpose of our life is to seek happiness‖ (Lama & Cutler, 1998). Defining happiness is a bit difficult as people get confused with pleasure or joy with happiness but it is contentment with life or what people have in their present situation with positive feeling. Happiness is a multifaceted concept which includes both emotional and cognitive domains. Veenhoven described happiness as ―the degree which an individual judges the overall quality of his life-as-a whole favorably‖ (Veenhoven, 2013). Effect of meditation on happiness is observed in this intervention. Mindfulness technique of meditation is called ―psychological and behavioural versions of meditation skills‖ (Linehan 1993, p. 114). Meditation practice helps in reduction of negative stress and enhances reported level of happiness and general effectiveness (Fergusson, Bonshek, & Boudigues, 1995). Happiness is responsible for maintaining health and it is a vital concept (Cohen, 2002). According to Dalai Lama one can attain happiness by training the mind (Lama & Cutler, 1998). Anxiety is a normal reaction to a stressful situation. At its most beneficial, stress can serve as a reminder to prepare for and deal with difficult situations, but at its worst, it can cause mental health issues (American Psychiatric Association). It is the result of a person's drive to endure, keep up with, and assert his or her identity that causes anxiety, as per Corey (2015, paraphrased). However, when this apprehensive state becomes too frequent or excessive, it can lead to mental illness or have a negative impact on overall health. Meditation is also prescribed to treat anxiety. Most of the clinical and non-clinical researches support that meditation helps in reduction of anxiety and stress (Kabat-Zinn, Massion, & et al., 1992; Miller, Fletcher, & Kabat-Zinn, 1995; Zeidan, Johnson, Gordon, & Goolkasian, 2010). In this study test anxiety is measured, it is a type of fear of failing because of test before or during any task or test. Test anxiety is very common in school going children and other students which puts adverse effect on their academic results (College, 1988; WINE, 1971). The effect of meditation on test anxiety is measured in this intervention. Blood pressure and Heart rate are physiological variables associated with the heart. Blood pressure is a measure of pressure or force used by heart on vessels while pumping the blood from heart around the body and very important for life as it is a vital force. Different pressure allows blood to flow in our whole body. There are two types of blood pressure and is not ejecting blood into arteries (pressure within arteries in between heartbeats). Height, age, and gender matter in readings of blood pressure for healthy and normal children and adolescents. Where the heart rate is the number of times this pressure is exerted on heart (ventricles) in a minute or the number of times heart beats per minute. Heart rate depends on the need of blood supply to the body, a healthy heart can pump more blood in every beat compared to others and number of beats will be less but if body needs more blood supply heart will beat faster for example while doing exercise rate of heart beats will increase. This study is interested in investigation of effect of meditation on blood pressure and heart rate. Meditation is a mental activity though it affects human physiology also so it has got noticeable attention. Previous studies of meditation showed that it helped in lowering the blood pressure in normal and moderate hypertensive people (Wallace, Silver, & al., 1983; Seer & Raeburn, 1980) and long term meditation practice also showed its effect as it slowed heart rate.

Meditation is a method of increasing one's awareness of the present moment by concentrating one's attention on a single sound, object, visualisation, breath, movement, or attention itself. It has been shown to reduce stress, promote relaxation, & foster one's spiritual & personal growth. When you meditate, your ability to pay attention improves, enhancing both your concentration and your ability to empathise with others. That which distinguishes meditation from other methods of relaxation training is the practice's capacity for training the mind. In order to achieve mental serenity, meditation is one of the greatest approaches. This tranquil, quiet state of mind allows you to better comprehend and manage your ideas and actions. Sitting still, breathing deeply, and letting the mind drift away are all part of the peaceful practise of meditation. Deep relaxation, a sense of serenity and tranquilly, and a peaceful state of mind are some of the outcomes. Meditation is based on the core tenet that our mind, body, will, and spirit are all intertwined and work as a unit. When any of these four aspects are out of sync, we are likely to feel some form of emotional distress. Meditation can be divided into two broad categories: 1. Concentration meditation 2. Mindfulness meditation Focusing on a single thing is the goal of concentration meditation. The breath, an image, a movement pattern, or a sound, word, or phrase that is repeated quietly are all examples of meditation objects (mantra). The goal of meditative exercises is to improve one's ability to concentrate or focus one's attention. The meditator In order to engage in mindfulness meditation, one must first become aware of one's complete field of attention in the moment. It's important to be aware of everything that's going on in your mind and body at any given time. Meditators who can concentrate and quiet their minds get the most benefit from mindfulness meditation. Traditional Buddhist "zazen," for example, incorporates both techniques of meditation into one.

Meditation can help a person to face situations in a relaxed state of mind. This is described as one of the quoted definitions of Yoga, ‘Yogah Karmasu Kaushalam’ in the Bhagavadgita, which means „Yoga is a special skill of action in relaxation‟. Meditation practices may be useful as a routine practice to reduce performance anxiety in meditators. Meditation practices prior to exams of students improved concentration, improved efficiency, increased attentiveness, and significant reduction in number of failures. It can reduce the impact of exaggerated stress responses and may be helpful for both anxiety and depression. Meditation practices may serve as an effective substitute or accompaniment to biological treatments in anxiety and depression.

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Research Scholar, LNCT University