Meditation Wins U.S. Converts

BALTIMORE — Remember when meditating was something only hippies did? Remember when it was something only New Age crystal carriers did?

No more.

East increasingly meets mainstream West these days as meditation and other relaxation techniques--often with roots deep in Eastern philosophies--gain acceptance and credence among Americans ranging from true spiritual seekers to yuppie Type-A's just trying to relax.

Consider: On Thursday evenings at the Golden Temple, a woman in a white turban, pants and T-shirt begins a yoga class with a deep breathing exercise. The class ends when her students--retirees, social workers, students--meditate together.

In Washington on Fridays, the Pentagon Meditation Club meets in the Pentagon chapel to meditate for peace. Members of the group call it SDI--the Spiritual Defense Initiative.

On any given day at Johns Hopkins Hospital, patients suffering from stress-related symptoms such as headaches are treated with a combination of meditation, biofeedback and relaxation techniques, says Richard Waranch, director of the Behavioral Medicine and Biofeedback Clinic at the hospital.

"I think part of what enabled meditation to go from the 'guru image'--you know, people who went to India and things--to mainstream was the use of machines and scientific research" to confirm its efficacy, says Diane Dreher, an English professor at Santa Clara University in California and author of the recently published "The Tao of Peace."

"Americans seem to be able to deal with things when they can use technology, when they can see it objectively."

The result of all this research has been a gradual change of outlook within the medical community toward meditation--a practice that involves sitting quietly, disassociating oneself from one's thoughts by sometimes repeating one word (with or without spiritual meaning).

"We used to get (patients) who had been to about 20 doctors and nothing worked. The referrals we got were those very, very difficult, hard-to-treat cases. Now we get cases, even children, whose doctors say 'Try these techniques first,' " says Waranch, who has used relaxation and biofeedback techniques at Hopkins since 1978.

Some people, initially drawn to meditation for physical reasons, find it has other benefits as well. Rosinda Alexander, a retired social worker, for years has taken yoga classes that include meditation at the Golden Temple--a health food store, cafe and meditation center--because she had a bad back.