GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. -- A new study from the Chinese University of Hong Kong found that eight weeks of meditation can help combat depression. The study tested more than 200 adults with sub-clinical depression, which means showing symptoms of depression without a formal diagnosis.
At the end of the study, they found those who participated were less likely to develop major depressive disorder.
Depression is considered the most common mental illness in the United States, affecting 40 million adults. A monk who leads meditation at the Grand Rapids Buddhist Temple says the numbers are rising, but adds that medication isn't necessarily the answer. He says it starts by taming your mind.
"The Buddhists said that there is nothing as dangerous as an untamed mind," said the Ven. Dr. Ahm Koh Beighley Su, a monk at the Buddhist temple. "Meditation, and there are many kinds of meditation, but meditation is a way to tame the mind."
He says depression and anxiety have reached "pandemic levels" in the U.S., adding that treating depression starts by understanding it.
"Depression starts in the mind with depressive thoughts," he said. "The Buddha also said that all of our suffering is created by attachment, by clinging... Meditation gives us the opportunity to separate ourselves from those thoughts."
Meditation can be done anywhere, he says, for as little or as long as you'd like.
"Depression is rampant in those people who cannot settle their minds," he said. "Meditation forces us to take that break, calm the chatter and tame the mind."
He recommends sitting comfortable and closing your eyes or focusing on something and counting your breaths.
"If you were to take three deep breaths, slow inhale, exhale until there's really nothing left; do that three times and then take 10 breaths. Just easy, simply breaths."
He says to treat your mind like a crystal ball.
"That can reflect everything but it possesses nothing, it holds on to nothing. And that's meditation."
