The art of meditation is not new but even now it keeps revealing its amazing secrets in front of shocked mainstream practitioners!
Believe 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 breathed in 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 desperate lives! We consume dirty water and extremely harmful soft drinks, stuff our bellies with harmful food, inhale smoky air and hear constant urban noise around us. As for the emotional and nervous stress and strain, it is absolutely unbearable. Our speed of life makes us be in a hurry on a twenty-four hour basis, we are overworked and stressed in our family lives, we don’t have enough rest and sleep to do extra work and make our carriers. We never give a thought to the fact that our body requires some time to relax and restore, what is more, our head aches for some rest, too. Unfortunately, the majority of humans realize the fact when they fall seriously ill. Don’t become one of them! Think ahead and try completely safe and highly effective healing system known for centuries - meditation.
“Did it occur to you that patients who meditate daily are more optimistic, healthier and live longer than those who don’t?” This utterance is rather usual now, but is it true or not?
What it meditation? It is a unique focusing practice where the essential task is to suspend the normal whirl of thoughts filling the mind. There are all kinds and types of meditation. Maybe you will be stunned to hear that a prayer is also a pure meditation as it is. In addition to this kind of concentration familiar for all believers there are Transcendental Meditation, mindfulness meditation, Zen meditation, Buddhist meditation and Taoist meditation.
Meditation is the realm of alternative medicine that unlike official medicine it does no fail to forget that patients have more than a mere ill body. Meditation perceives men and women as unique creatures having an inseparable unity of intellect, body and soul. Meditation teachers understand that you cannot be healthy and happy with your life if your brain is filled with spite, anger and disappointment. The shocking fact is that more and more usual doctors prescribe their patients meditation as a way of managing a number of health issues. With meditation you can:
- lower your blood pressure;
- improve the general state of patients with angina including their exercise performance;
- let personalities with asthma breathe freely;
- forget about insomnia;
- relax after everyday stressful day of life.
Meditation is a inherent activity for every human, that is why it is up to you to make up your mind where you will practice meditation. Some people prefer 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 many 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 feeling of the stream of air passes 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 mind should be free of any judgments and reactions.
2. Focus on your body - keep your attention on the sensations in your body: pain, warmth, discomfort, tension etc.
3. Focus on any word or phrase you like - keeping your attention on a word or phrase is called a “mantra”. Its major task is to keep your mind free of any dangerous 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 contemporary meditative techniques are the result of years and years of work and mental experiments of patients around the world. The healing power of mediation has been known and applied 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 use the practice of meditation for reaching real wisdom and compassion and for perceiving reality as it is. Buddha followers think that our usual consciousness is very narrow - it is both limited and limiting. Meditation broadens human horizons and makes it possible to reveal our conscious and unconscious possibilities in full measure.
The stunning truth is that in spite of its unique history and rich traditions, meditation has been wrongly ignored by the representatives of traditional medicine and only during the past thirty years the medical science concentrated on the studies of clinical effects of meditation on health. The 1960s started with shocking medical reports of yogis and meditation masters from the mysterious East who could demonstrate 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 squeamish scientific world was deeply shocked when refined scientific instrumentation proved that incredible things can happen! Now health care professionals specializing in stress-related disorders had a unique way of treatment without ruinous side effects typical for drug treatments - it was the art of meditation! It proved to be a valuable means for stress reduction, and what is more, persons and physicians enjoyed both the process of healing meditation and the health benefits available with regular trainings!
But the biggest surprise was still to come! After some time of scientific research of meditation this activity turned out to be perfect not solely for altering the brain’s function in the short term. The medical facts demonstrated that regular practice of meditation produces a miraculous long-term positive effect! So, Transcendental Meditation in particular guarantees you a blissful state of relaxation including decreased heart and perspiration rates, low pulse rate, low concentration of cortisol in your blood (it is a major stress hormone) and increased activity of the part of your brain responsible for rest and relaxation! Famous MD R. Keith Wallace researching Transcendental Meditation found out that during meditation the body gains the most profound rest possible. Paradoxically, your brain and mind become clear and more alert - your reactions are faster, your creativity and efficiency is greater and your view of the world is broader!
As distinct from Transcendental Meditation, Taoists think that our emotions are governed 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 manage 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 consider that when you sit motionless doing nothing and thinking of nothing, i.e. when you are meditating your Fire and Water are well balanced. 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 organism your mind becomes calmer, cooler and more controllable, while your sexual energy becomes really enjoyable!
Meditation is definitely one of the safest activities imaginable. It is useful for patients of all ages and states of health. However, you should know that in persons with bad psychiatric issues, there have been a few reports in which regular meditation has worsened the state of their mental health. If you have a psychiatric issue, please, ask your mental health doctor before starting the practice of meditation.
One more important point - if you take meds on a regular basis never stop taking them before you have completed the course. The point is meditation cannot give you stable relief immediately - in requires some time to work! If you cannot stand queuing up in the waiting room of your doctor to get your prescription, find a reliable internet pharmacy online where you can buy prescription drugs no rx needed legally. Take definite steps to make your life better right now! And let healing mediation be your reliable guide.
Tags: Buddhist meditation, mantra, mediation, prescription drugs without a prescription, reliable drugstore, Taoist meditation, Transcendental Meditation