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Brett Daniel Shehadey
Special Contributor for In Homeland Security

The art of peaceful mental cultivation is not something that is traditionally associated with the US military and where controlled aggression, survival and a long line of martial traditions prevail. Isn’t meditation something that hippies did in the ‘60s and ‘70s?

All that is about to change. The future of the US military is linked to honing and strengthening the full range of one’s mental powers. It is being slowly integrated into combat preparedness, health and therapy programs. Scientific research continues to show the remarkable benefits of mediation practices in active stress scenarios, post-trauma related circumstances and overall mental health.

In the past, it did not make much sense to explore this area. The public also had little interest or acceptance or exposure to Eastern ideas. The institutional line of thought was typically- In a practice of war, why study peace?

The types of meditation being introduced into the military now tend to be highly passive. This has yet to become more akin to the monastic martial traditions of the East, which will take America’s defenders away from the halls of 18th century Prussia.

This increasingly popular turn might turn out to be a modern American variant of the historic Japanese Bushido (“way of the warrior”) that was associated with the Samurai lifestyle. It would incorporate Zen Buddhist techniques that mix violence with serenity, wisdom and self-cultivation.

But this is not the reason for adopting meditation right now. The West has always lacked an effective calming practice before deployment or after war. Mind-body-spirit disciplines have typically been limited to willpower, rather than internal self-cultivation variant. If the individual did not have the gift or they could not self-manage, then they were never fit for the job to begin with. Those attitudes continue to be outcasts as more diversity enters the service.

Yet even for those service members that can manage on their own, these methods are proving to be an overall added benefit in a new trend of experimental self-enhancement. Hybrid psychology/psychiatry combined with Eastern techniques will continue to proliferate throughout the military and may also become extremely helpful for all those involved in intelligence, law enforcement, and first responders.

The two most common types in military use right now are: Mindfulness Meditation- the focusing on breathing and detaching the mind from emotions and thoughts while still observing incoming or outgoing emotions and thoughts. This allows a directed concentration of the practitioner’s mind to a nonjudgmental awareness of the present. It is a technique for growing inner self-strengthening and mental conditioning via peaceful calm.

Transcendental Meditation (TM) is the other. TM is a patented technique of meditation invented in the 1960s by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi while in India and then brought to the US and internationally. Yes, this is the one that gurued the Beatles. It involves a 20 minute session of repeated mantras specific to each student. The idea here is to find the “most silent and peaceful level of consciousness,” according to the group’s website.

Studies show advantages of meditation in respect to the following: physical pain resistance (e.g. a study at Wake Forest University showed that the active discipline of mediation was more effective than applying morphine); decreases stress and anxiety; improves mood, memory boost, emotional regulation, concentration, environmental awareness and decreases depression and mental illness. Lastly, it is cost-effective (i.e. less costly than many options with greater promise potential but in many cases there really are no alternatives, everything else failed).

The program “M-Fit” or MMFT (Mindfulness-based Mental Fitness) was designed by U.S. Army Capt. Elizabeth Stanley, who is a professor at Georgetown University. After recognizing the personal benefits of doing yoga and meditation for her PTSD, she invented a system to share for the whole of the services.

Operation Warrior Wellness is devoted to enrolling 30,000 veterans in the practice of mediation over the next three years. Two independent studies confirmed that veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan with PTSD symptoms found that those symptoms were reduced by 50 percent in eight weeks.

And it is not just for lower ranks or for veterans. US Marine Corps Major General Melvin Spiese said of the TM course: “It’s like doing pushups for the brain…As we see the data supports it, it makes perfect sense that this is what we should be doing.”

In 2010, US Army Major Victor Won said, “It would be more effective for soldiers to learn and train mindfulness prior to deployment…It is through finding peace within and clarity [that you] see that you are not the thoughts or the emotions that bind you and take you away into suffering…In the present, you have the power to make changes to the situations affecting you…With mindfulness, you can choose to see things as they are and accept them as they are and then work to improve the situation if possible.”

Still, as good as it is, meditation is not a cure-all solution. Again, orders, hierarchy and violence might appear to be at odds with self-discovery, peace, empathy and increased compassion. Yet the alternative is far worse: historically high suicide rates, highly medicated soldiers, and troubling resettlement for volunteers that decide to re-enter civilian life as veterans.

As meditation slowly gains DoD-wide acceptance, a better quality of life and increased professional efficiency may also entail a higher rate of conscientious objections to specific courses of actions, such as highly political wars. Nevertheless, an “American Bushido” development could mitigate this effect in the future and balance out the needs of a necessary martial service with peace, harmony and wisdom.

This is a good link for those interested in learning more about the benefits of meditation based on scientific research: http://www.apa.org/monitor/2012/07-08/ce-corner.aspx