Stillness Meditation Therapy - a short history
By Pauline McKinnon
Stillness Meditation Therapy describes the amazing work of the Melbourne psychiatrist, Dr Ainslie Meares. It was he who pioneered meditation for health purposes and created the unique concept of Stillness Meditation for that purpose.
Long before anxiety and stress were acknowledged as contributing to illness due to increased cortisone production and low immune function, Dr Meares had identified that connection. Long before mind-body medicine was scientifically acclaimed as it is today, Dr Meares had emphasised the importance of that. And, especially relating to this Newsletter, long before meditation was advocated as a potential source of healing, Dr Meares had established his unique concept meditative stillness, offering a natural solution to anxiety and leading people to a life with calm confidence.
Ainslie Meares was born in Melbourne in 1910. After graduating in medicine from Melbourne University, Dr Meares spent some time working at an army hospital treating soldiers who had been mentally disturbed by their war experiences. It was this exposure to the suffering caused by anxiety and the insightful link he made between anxiety and its relationship to physical illness that led him to dedicate his life’s work to the field of psychiatry.
After the Second World War, Dr Meares continued practicing psychiatry but became disenchanted with treatments including psychoanalysis, behavioural therapy and the use of medication. His innovative approach to healing originated in his expertise in Clinical Hypnosis which brought some success to his patients. But within that aspect of his work Dr Meares discovered that some patients recovered without deep-seated problems being resolved. He began to identify the reason for this as a different state of mental function, - a state of stillness of mind.
In seeking to learn more about brain function Dr Meares travelled all over the world, witnessing and studying various mental states and the role these played in the lives of people from different cultures. These studies confirmed to him the importance of treating his patients for anxiety, illness and pain by allowing the mind to rest. While honouring the value of traditional meditation, from a medical perspective he originated something quite different from meditation as it is generally taught. In stillness he assisted his patients to simply experience their own natural calm.
Dr Meares was internationally recognised as the author of some 30 books, among them the international bestseller Relief Without Drugs (Great Britain: Souvenir Press Ltd, 1968), and over 100 medical papers. He was a remarkable man whose wisdom and professional skills positively changed the lives of many people, one of whom is Pauline McKinnon who has maintained Meares’ work as featured in this Newsletter.
What is Stillness Meditation Therapy?
Effortlessness
Many meditative states are taught and practiced today, any of which can be valuable to those who practice them. Most forms of meditation however, relate to culture, philosophy or a way of life. Most involve effort of some kind – the use of the mind by way of technique, ritual or belief. In this, some meditative practices are complex, time consuming or unappealing. From his medical expertise, Ainslie Meares unlocked a simple, natural and effortless approach for anxiety reduction. Stillness Meditation Therapy therefore, is characterised by its effortlessness with an absence of technique and an absence of any disturbance of any kind.
Stillness Meditation Therapy (SMT) – Theory and Practice
In SMT the practitioner assists the client to relax body and mind as a one whole experience where the mind can temporarily regress to a simpler mental function. During that process the mind learns to let go and relax in the face of discomfort into an experience of calmness beyond the influence of anxiety. While stillness can be learned and practised from reading about it, in the learning stages its effects will be magnified when a relationship is established between practitioner and client involving personalised attention. The use of calming touch is employed by the practitioner to communicate ease, reassurance, security and empathy with the client. For best results and general maintenance, the client must then practice stillness regularly to reinforce his/her developing ease, leading to positive change.
Simple Process – Outstanding Change
The symptoms of too much anxiety include depression, agitation, terrifying thoughts, apprehension, fear, insomnia, fatigue, burnout, loss of motivation, nervous tension, muscular pain, headaches … the list goes on … until serious illness may occur. The primary aim and benefit of Stillness Meditation Therapy is the reduction of anxiety. Through the simplicity of stillness and assistance from the practitioner, lasting improvement to anxiety conditions can occur. Positive benefits include:
- Relief of symptoms of anxiety and stress
- Reduced nervous tension
- Relief of psychosomatic symptoms
- Improved sleep
- Increased self confidence
- Calm control and a sense of well-being
- Improved health
- Balanced immune function
- Greater resilience and coping ability
- Better pain tolerance
- Optimum energy
- Higher productivity with less effort
- Improved concentration, creativity and clarity of mind
- Spiritual awareness and self development
- The overall experience of a higher quality of life
In Summary
Stillness Meditation Therapy works! With a little patience, practice and perseverance this therapy is suitable for all age groups and an ideal way to relax easily and feel good, naturally. These features are summed up perfectly by Dr Meares in a sentence from his classic self-help book, Relief Without Drugs * - ‘my method is, in fact, the body’s own natural way of coping with distress.’
* Relief Without Drugs, Meares Ainslie, M.D. F.R.A.N.Z.C.P. D.P.M. Souvenir Press Ltd., London, 1968
* Information supplied by Pauline McKinnon, Life Development Centre, ©2006
