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Meditation
Meditation is a holistic healing technique that comes to us from the Far East, mainly from China, Japan, and India. This technique is an integral part of the practice of Yoga, Qigong, and Tai Chi.
This mind-body technique teaches you to channel your awareness in a positive direction. You can totally transform your state of mind with Meditation. Your thoughts turn inward; you concentrate on your inner self.
Meditation can take you to a state of consciousness that brings serenity, clarity and harmony to your life.
Meditation is a very effective tool in stress and pain management.
Forms of Meditation:
Several different forms of meditation exist. Three of the most popular are Transcendental Meditation, Mindfulness Meditation, and Focused Meditation.
Transcendental Meditation (TM) aims for total detachment of mind. You retreat into your inner world, into a trance-like state. TM trains mental activity to settle down while alertness is maintained and enhanced.
In TM you repeat a simple word or sound, called a mantra, to help you focus your thinking and achieve a state of calm.
TM owes its origin to ancient Hindu meditative techniques. It aims towards a totally detached frame of mind. It encourages the practitioner to retreat within the inner-self, into the “real” world, away from illusions of outside influences.
Scientific research shows that TM produces a state of deep rest that is unlike sleep or even simple relaxation. Yet the brain still functions at peak performance, in a high state of alertness. Physiologically you are in a state that is totally opposite that of stress. Amazing!
TM became popular in the US in the 1960s when the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi introduced it. The method gained further popularity when Dr. Herbert Benson, a Harvard physician, wrote about it in his book, The Relaxation Response, published in 1975.
Dr. Benson realized that TM caused changes in the body that he called “the relaxation response.” He noted that people who practiced TM had lowered heart rate, lowered blood pressure, deeper breathing patterns, and less muscle tension.
As soon as Dr. Benson learned that TM reliably reduced blood pressure in meditators, he taught the relaxation response to 36 people with moderately elevated blood pressure. After several weeks of practice, their average blood pressure declined significantly, reducing their risk of stroke and heart attack.
So TM provides an optimal non-clinical treatment and preventive program for high blood pressure.
TM has proved to be a successful coping strategy in helping to deal with drug addiction. It is effective in managing pain and stress. There is also a strong link between TM practice and longevity.
Hormones and other biochemical compounds in the blood that indicate stress tend to decrease during TM practice.
Mindfulness Meditation has its roots in Buddhism, Taoism, and Ashtanga Yoga. The essential idea here is not to try to clear your mind of thoughts, but to pay attention to your thoughts as they come up. You just observe them and let them go. Don’t assign any special meaning to them. This helps you gain more awareness; a serenity and clarity; an acceptance of your place in the here-and-now.
Mindfulness Meditation involves staying in the present moment instead of thinking of the past or worrying about the future. It involves experiencing each moment as it happens and then letting it go, then experiencing the next moment.
Focusing on sensations you feel in your body is one way to keep yourself in the “now.” You can also focus on your emotions and where you “feel” them in your body. This doesn’t involve why you feel them. Just acknowledge that you are. Then simply let them go.
A technique known as Mind Body Stress Reduction (MBSR), developed by Dr. Jon Kabat-Zinn, the director of the Stress Reduction Clinic at the University of Massachusetts Medical Center in the US, is a form of Mindfulness Meditation.
This technique may include a body scan, where you bring your attention to your toes and work your way up to your head. As you “scan” each part of your body, you let go of any sensations, thoughts, or images that may come up.
This process of “letting go” will release any tension in the muscles and joints, often relieving the pain and stress associated with the tension.
In addition to stress reduction, Dr. Kabat-Zinn uses MBSR as a pain-reduction technique in his clinic.
Concentrative, or Focused, Meditation may be the easiest form of meditation for beginners to practice. This type of meditation is also called Breath Meditation because the practitioner often targets the breath as the focal point to draw the mind from the outer space to the inner space.
Your mind zeroes in on one chosen target instead of flying off into a million different directions.
You can choose almost anything as your focal point: the ticking of a clock, the flame of a candle, the smell of incense burning, or as you’ve seen previously, your own breath.
Many meditation practitioners believe that the breath and your physical and mental well-being are closely connected. For instance, when you are under stress or anxious, you tend to take quick, shallow breaths. Sometimes even to the point of hyper-ventilating.
Now imagine you are lying on the beach with your favorite beverage close at hand. You will automatically take deep, relaxing long sighs of delight. See the difference?
To practice Focused Meditation get into a comfortable position, relax your body, and start concentrating on your breath as it comes into the body and then out of the body. If you find your mind wandering don’t fret about it, just bring your focus back to the breath.
It may help to count your breaths. Breathe in to the count of four, breathe out to the count of four to give your mind something to do. Then change the count as your breathing deepens. Breathe in to the count of four, breathe out to the count of eight.
Your breathing will become rhythmic and deep. Your mind and body will soon become quiet, clear and aware.
The Benefits of Meditation are still being discovered by modern medicine. Scientific studies have already documented that meditation:
- Prevents and treats high blood pressure,
- Lowers levels of stress hormones,
- Reduces the amount of cholesterol in the blood,
- Improves blood circulation,
- Lowers blood levels of lactic acid, which is associated with anxiety,
- Lowers heart rate, which places less demand on the heart,
- Increases alpha brain waves associated with deep relaxation,
- Slows breathing, so the body uses less oxygen,
- Is effective in battling heart disease,
- Increases natural killer cells in the body,
- Increases neural activity in the brain regions associated with positive moods,
- Helps with depression,
- Reduced pain and suffering of chronic pain patients (arthritis, low back pain, etc)
- Is associated with a longer life span,
- Is associated with a better quality of life,
- Is associated with fewer hospitalizations,
- And with reduced health-care costs in general.
Meditation allows you to gaze deeper into yourself than you probably ever have before. So here are some things to look out for when you first start a meditation practice.
- You may dredge up some long-buried memories from childhood or a past traumatic experience. If you start having bad dreams or disturbing thoughts, please contact a mental health professional to help you sort out what’s going on.
- You are not advised to practice meditation if you have a seizure disorder like epilepsy. The brain wave activity produced during a meditative state could increase your seizures or their severity.
- You may have a difficult time getting to a deep meditative state when you first try any form of meditation. Remember you have to train your mind to focus and quiet down. This is not something it is accustomed to. Do not let this lead to further stress or anxiety. Give yourself a break. Don’t force the feeling. It will come naturally if you stick with it.
- If you are trying a meditation practice as a holistic healing treatment for a medical condition and your symptoms continue or get worse, please see a conventional doctor to make sure nothing serious is wrong.
Meditation is a great coping strategy to help you deal with whatever life throws at you. It allows your mind to detach itself from all the material and physical problems in your outer world.
That may be the ultimate cure of all disease. At any rate, meditation allows you to rise above your problems when you cannot avoid them.
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Make your Meditation as comfortable as possible with these essentials: easy-fitting clothing and comfortable seating.
Meditation-Props and Furniture
Watch this to find out how your computer can help deepen your Meditation Practice.
