Powerful Benefits of Group Meditation

by Kathryn Remati

Considering our modern world, we may want to include group meditation. We spend a lot of time alone without realizing it. It doesn’t seem like we’re alone when we’re communicating on Twitter, sharing images on Instagram or Pinterest and liking friends’ updates on Facebook, but scrolling is, nonetheless, a solitary pastime. It keeps us in one place and time flies by. No wonder it seems so difficult to fit in that yoga class or add 20 minutes of meditation into our daily schedule. Socializing has been redefined by our technological lives and has never been so easy, yet maybe it’s too easy and making us a little too comfortable with our solitude.

Nothing can compare to a physical face-to-face connection, as can be found with group meditation. The feel of a genuine laugh and sharing ideas in person is far better than reading a text and misunderstanding the intended meaning of the typed message because it didn’t include a smiley face emoji. Go for a real smile on a real face more often.

There are many benefits to getting out, even if it is just once a week, and joining a group of like-minded souls for meditation. Get rid of the restricting idea that we can only find inner peace when we are alone. Sure, we usually go it alone at home, but group meditation has some unique benefits.

Group Meditation: Six excellent reasons to meditate with others:

Group Meditation Reason #1 – Everything is better when shared-including meditation.

Just like music, meditation can be enjoyed on its own or with others who dance to the same beat. Feel a real connection during group meditation by tapping into the same silence and source of peace at the same time. We can literally meet people on the same wavelength: recorded EEG results show that brainwaves synchronize while meditating.

Group Meditation Reason #2 – Meditating with a group helps to develop a habit.

It is too easy to find excuses at home and walk past that meditation cushion for another day. Going to the gym is part of our routines now, so finding a meditation group to help us form another good habit makes sense. In addition, the health of both the mind and the body can be checked off our to-do list thanks to group meditation.

Group Meditation Reason #3 – Feedback is available.

Meditation groups often include practitioners at varying levels. If new to meditation, we may find that other members of the group can help clear up any confusion over different types of meditation, help find answers addressing possible difficulties with the practice, and provide feedback regarding experiences that arise during the group meditation process.

Group Meditation Reason #4 – Joining a group is actually physically good for us.

According to the book Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community, by Robert D. Putnam, joining a group meditation can cut our risk of dying in the next year by half! Loneliness is now proven to be bad for our health. An environment of acceptance and belonging are perfect conditions under which social animals like us can thrive.

Group Meditation Reason #5 – Be a part of the bigger picture.

A group meditation can better support an individual’s inward journey. It is inspiring and motivating to connect with others that might share our greater good intentions for world peace. It is easier to apply Gandhi’s suggestion to “be the change you wish to see in the world” when you are part of a collective crowd. According to Andrew Kelley at The Boston Buddha, it is also a good way to “collectively unify and add strength to our intentions” with a common group goal even if the goal is just to be more relaxed and less reactive.

Group Meditation Reason #6 – There is power in numbers.

Believe it or not, there are studies that prove the existence of a ripple effect of peace in the surrounding environment when a group meditates together. According to the unified field superstring theory in physics, waves of vibration flow from everything in the universe affecting the collective consciousness of others. Groups can enliven that field. Cellular biologist, Bruce Lipton, states in his book, Biology of Belief, that our consciousness can change the physical world around us by altering the field.

An interesting experiment in group meditation tested a theory called “The Maharishi Effect” in Merseyside, England. A number that exceeded one percent of the population meditated together every day from 1988-1991 and the crime rate dropped so much that Merseyside went from third highest to the lowest ranked city in England during the time of the analysis. Meanwhile, the control town of non-meditators held a steady crime rate. Meditation was the only factor in the study that could account for the change, as the scientists calculated police practices, local economics and demographics that remained the same throughout the study.

As Margaret Mead once said, “Never doubt that a small group of people can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.”

Meditation classes and group meditations can usually be found in clean, friendly, secular environments like yoga studios or at specific meditation organizations, like Unplug in Los Angeles, or Stil Studio in Boston, with many more opening up in between the two coastlines. In NYC, we can try The Path, which is a pop up group that changes locations every week in order to keep things fresh and to prove that we don’t need perfect conditions to meditate. Or, if a local group is hard to find, we can start our own using the “Meet Up” app. Rather than allowing technology to become a distraction, let’s make it work in our favor! We can use an app to find or start a group meditation. Perhaps, each week a person can bring a favorite, guided meditation to share with the group-from an app, yoga website, or YouTube video for example. This keeps things varied and the learning curve goes up.

Group meditation is a fun and healthy way to socialize and learn a new skill that is good for mind, body, and spirit. Take meditation group leader, yogi, and author of Happy Yoga, Steve Ross’s advice: “Aim for the center, take a deep breath, and dive in!”

 
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About the Author

Kathryn Remati is a Boston-based meditation facilitator and creator of the Tranquil Spectrum app for Apple devices. Kathryn completed graduate and post-graduate studies in Humanistic Psychology (BA) and Organizational Behavior (MA) in Australia where she taught Alpha brainwave training techniques.
http://tranquilspectrum.com