The art of meditation is not new but even these days it keeps opening its incredible mysteries in front of shocked conventional practitioners!
You can think of it or not, but we leave in the mad world where everything is not like it was a just a couple of centuries ago. Our previous generations inhaled fresh air, enjoyed crystal water and grew natural food. What do we have today? Having the same physiology as it was 4 or 5 generations ago modern humans lead crazy lives! We consume bad water and extremely harmful soft drinks, stuff our bellies with harmful food, inhale smoky air and live in constant urban noise around us. As for the emotional and nervous tension, it is absolutely unbearable. Our speed of life makes us be in a hurry twenty-four hours a day, we are overworked and downtrodden in our family lives, we don’t have enough rest and sleep to do extra work and make our carriers. We never realize the fact that our body requires some time to relax and restore, what is more, our head requires some rest, too. Unfortunately, the majority of persons realize the fact when they fall seriously ill. Don’t join them! Think ahead and try completely safe and highly effective healing system known for centuries - meditation.
“Did it occur to you that individuals who meditate on a regular basis are more optimistic, healthier and live longer than those who don’t?” This utterance is rather natural now, but is it true or not?
What it meditation? It is a unique concentrating practice where the essential task is to slow down the normal whirl of thoughts filling the mind. There are all kinds and types of meditation. Maybe you will be surprised to hear that a prayer is also a pure meditation as it is. In addition to this kind of focusing clear for all believers there are Transcendental Meditation, mindfulness meditation, Zen meditation, Buddhist meditation and Taoist meditation.
Meditation is the realm of complementary medicine that unlike mainstream medicine it never forgets that persons have more than a mere sick body. Meditation views men and women as unique creatures possessing an inseparable unity of intellect, body and soul. Meditation teachers realize that you cannot be healthy and pleased with your life if your head is full of spite, anger and hopelessness. The stunning fact is that more and more official doctors recommend their patients meditation as a way of managing numerous illnesses. With meditation you can:
- lower your blood pressure;
- improve the general state of individuals with angina including their exercise performance;
- let personalities with asthma breathe freely;
- get rid of insomnia;
- relax after everyday stressful day of life.
Meditation is a natural activity for every human being, that is why it is up to you to make up your mind where you will practice meditation. Some persons choose to master meditation at home. It is very simple with all the instructional books and audio CDs available. Others prefer to learn from a good teacher.
With all its simplicity meditation can offer you a number of options. There are several approaches to meditation. Here are some tips for you how to meditate.
1. Concentrate on your breath - keep your attention on the sensation of the stream of air going in and out of your nostrils. This is so called “mindfulness meditation” - the meditator should learn to be “mindful”, i.e. aware of the present moment of time, but his or her consciousness should be free of any judgments and reactions.
2. Focus on your body - keep your attention on the feelings in your body: pain, warmth, discomfort, tension etc.
3. Concentrate on any word or phrase you like - keeping your attention on a word or phrase is called a “mantra”. Its general task is to keep your mind free of any distracting thoughts.
It is wrong to believe that you should always sit during meditation. It is just as good to lie down, to stand or even to have a strall. If for some reason sitting still is difficult for you, feel free to combine meditation with other practices such as yoga or tai chi - you will get double pleasure and positive effect!
The use of meditation for healing human body and soul is not new. All up-to-date meditative techniques are the result of years and years of work and mental experiments of men and women around the world. The healing power of mediation has been known and used for thousands of years. Its cornerstone is tradition and religion; its effect is health and inner harmony! To tell you the truth, all religious groups turn to meditation in one form or another.
No doubts of all the religions Buddhism is a “father of meditation” - it is the best known and the most practiced kind of meditation in the world. Buddhists apply the practice of meditation for reaching real wisdom and compassion and for perceiving reality as it is. Buddha followers guess that our ordinary state of mind is very narrow - it is both limited and limiting. Meditation broadens human horizons and makes it possible to reveal our conscious and unconscious possibilities profoundly.
The stunning truth is that in spite of its unique history and rich traditions, meditation has been unfairly ignored by the representatives of mainstream medicine and only during the past three decades the medical science focused on the studies of clinical effects of meditation on health. The 1960s started with stunning medical reports of yogis and meditation masters from the mysterious East who could show extraordinary bodily control and could consciously stay in altered states of their minds - and this is where studies of self-regulation and voluntary control over the autonomic nervous system launched! The pompous scientific world was shaken when refined scientific instrumentation proved that unbelievable things are possible! Now doctors specializing in stress-related disorders had a unique way of treatment without awful side effects typical for drug treatments - it was the art of meditation! It turned out to be a valuable means for stress reduction, and what is more, men and women and physicians enjoyed both the process of healing meditation and the health benefits available with regular trainings!
But the greatest surprise was still to come! After some time of scientific investigation of meditation this activity turned out to be perfect not solely for changing the brain’s function in the short term. The medical facts demonstrated that regular practice of meditation has a miraculous long-term positive effect! So, Transcendental Meditation in particular guarantees you a blissful state of relaxation including low heart and perspiration rates, decreased pulse rate, decreased concentration of cortisol in your blood (it is a major stress hormone) and high activity of the part of your brain responsible for rest and relaxation! Famous MD R. Keith Wallace investigating Transcendental Meditation found out that during meditation the body gains the most profound rest imaginable. Paradoxically, your brain and mind become clear and more alert - your reactions are faster, your creativity and efficiency is greater and your comprehension of the world is broader!
As distinct from Transcendental Meditation, Taoists believe that our emotions are ruled by the Fire energy of the heart. When you cannot keep your emotions, this fire energy flares upwards and destroys your life energy and clouds your mind. But you can cope with that! Your willpower, on the contrary, is controlled by the Water energy located in your kidneys. If you do not control this energy, it flows down through your sexual organs, weakening your spirit and dissipating your life. So, Taoists believe that when you sit motionless doing nothing and thinking of nothing, i.e. when you are meditating your Fire and Water are in harmony. Water energy from the kidneys goes up to your head via the Central and Governing channels. At the same time Fire energy from the heart goes down into the Lower Elixir Field in the abdomen. By means of this right circulation of two energies and through this mental alchemy in the body your mind becomes calmer, cooler and more controllable, while your sexual energy becomes really enjoyable!
Meditation is obviously one of the safest activities possible. It is good for humans of all ages and states of health. However, you should know that in men and women with bad psychiatric problems, there have been a few reports in which regular meditation has worsened the state of their mental health. If you have a psychiatric case, please, see your mental health professional before starting the practice of meditation.
One more vital point - if you take medicines on a regular basis never stop taking them before you have completed the course. The truth is meditation cannot give you stable relief at once - in needs some time to work! If you cannot bear queuing up in the waiting room of your doctor to get your prescription, find a trusted internet drugstore online where you can order prescription pills no prescription required legally. Take definite steps to make your life better right now! And let healing mediation be your best guide.
Tags: Buddhist meditation, mantra, mediation, prescription drugs without a prescription, reliable drugstore, Taoist meditation, Transcendental Meditation