For some, meditation can be a way to find inner peace, to connect with the mystical, or to find a more solemn way to pray.
But for Barbara Raco, of Mt. Lebanon, meditation has become a way to relieve the pain of severe migraine headaches.
Mrs. Raco was a student in a Mindfulness Meditation class offered by the Center for Integrative Medicine at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. In the class, she learned to meditate by concentrating only on what is happening in the present.
The center, located in Shadyside, uses therapies such as relaxation and acupuncture to complement more conventional medicine to treat illnesses.
"Mindfulness Meditation is basically about paying attention to the present moment to whatever is happening in a non-judgmental manner," said Carol Greco, a clinical psychologist and faculty member of the psychiatry department at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center.
The concept was developed by John Kabat-Zinn, a faculty member at the University of Massachusetts in the 1970s. The classes have been offered at the Center for Integrative Medicine since 2005.
Dr. Greco's speciality is helping people to deal with pain and the effects of chronic illnesses by using non-drug techniques such as meditation. (more)
Source: Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
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