Entries Tagged as 'Meditation'

How to Meditate to Reduce Stress and Improve Mental Abilities

Meditation is a group of mental training techniques .You can use meditation to improve mental health and capacities, and also to help improve the physical health. Some of these techniques are very simple, so you can learn them from a book or an article; others require guidance by a qualified meditation teacher.

WHAT IS MEDITATION

Most techniques called meditation include these components:
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1. You sit or lie in a relaxed position.

2. You breathe regularly. You breathe in deep enough to get enough oxygen. When you breathe out, you relax your muscles so that your lungs are well emptied, but without straining.

3. You stop thinking about everyday problems and matters.

4. You concentrate your thoughts upon some sound, some word you repeat, some image, some abstract concept or some feeling. Your whole attention should be pointed at the object you have chosen to concentrate upon.

5. If some foreign thoughts creep in, you just stop this foreign thought, and go back to the object of meditation.

The different meditation techniques differ according to the degree of concentration, and how foreign thoughts are handled. By some techniques, the objective is to concentrate so intensely that no foreign thoughts occur at all.

In other techniques, the concentration is more relaxed so that foreign thoughts easily pop up. When these foreign thoughts are discovered, one stops these and goes back to the pure meditation in a relaxed manner. Thoughts coming up, will often be about things you have forgotten or suppressed, and allow you to rediscover hidden memory material. This rediscovery will have a psychotherapeutic effect.

THE EFFECTS OF MEDITATION

Meditation has the following effects:

1. Meditation will give you rest and recreation.

2. You learn to relax.

3. You learn to concentrate better on problem solving.

4. Meditation often has a good effect upon the blood pressure.

5. Meditation has beneficial effects upon inner body processes, like circulation, respiration and digestion.

6. Regular meditation will have a psychotherapeutically effect.

7. Regular meditation will facilitate the immune system.

8. Meditation is usually pleasant. THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN HYPNOSIS AND MEDITATION

Hypnosis may have some of the same relaxing and psychotherapeutic effects as meditation. However, when you meditate you are in control yourself; by hypnosis you let some other person or some mechanical device control you. Also hypnosis will not have a training effect upon the ability to concentrate.

A SIMPLE FORM OF MEDITATION

Here is a simple form of meditation. By this meditation technique, you should concentrate in an easy manner. This will allow foreign thoughts to pop up. These are handled one by one as they appear. You proceed as follows:

1. Sit in a good chair in a comfortable position.

2. Relax all your muscles as well as you can.

3. Stop thinking about anything, or at least try not to think about anything.

4. Breath out, relaxing all the muscles in your breathing apparatus.

5. Repeat the following in 10 - 20 minutes:

– Breath in so deep that you feel you get enough oxygen.

– Breath out, relaxing your chest and diaphragm completely.

– Every time you breathe out, think the word “one” or another simple word inside yourself. You should think the word in a prolonged manner, and so that you hear it inside you, but you should try to avoid using your mouth or voice.

6. If foreign thoughts come in, just stop these thoughts in a relaxed manner, and keep on concentrating upon the breathing and the word you repeat.

As you proceed through this meditation, you should feel steadily more relaxed in your mind and body, feel that you breathe steadily more effectively, and that the blood circulation throughout your body gets more efficient. You may also feel an increasing mental pleasure throughout the meditation.

THE EFFECTS OF MEDITATION UPON DISEASES

As any kind of training, meditation may be exaggerated so that you get tired and worn out. Therefore you should not meditate so long or so concentrated that you feel tired or mentally emptied.

Meditation may sometimes give problems for people suffering from mental diseases, epilepsy, serious heart problems or neurological diseases. On the other hand, meditation may be of help in the treatment of these and other conditions.

People suffering from such conditions should check out what effects the different kinds of meditation have on their own kind of health problems, before beginning to practise meditation, and be cautious if they choose to begin to meditate. It may be wise to learn meditation from an experienced teacher, psychologist or health worker that use meditation as a treatment module for the actual disease.

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Knut Holt is an internet consultant and marketer focusing on health items. Please go here for natural medicines against diseases, like: Over-weight, acne, eczema, hypothyroidism, fatigue, depression, hemorrhoids, joint pain, hypertension, high cholesterol, circulatory problems, digestive ailments, allergies, respiratory diseases, etc:—- http://www.abicana.com

 

Tags: Meditation · Miscellaneous

The Benefits of Meditation: Tips and Techniques

Meditation is healthy, safe and affordable. In fact it’s free. The only expense you’ll have is a meditation mat, which isn’t especially necessary-at least from my experience. Meditation has been around for 5,000 years, and was originally a spiritual component of yoga. Through the years non-yogis adopted it, intuitively sensing and connecting the practice with greater peace of mind. Personally, I can’t say enough good things about meditation. Its use has rewarded me with less worry and much more energy. But I’ve never been one for anecdotal evidence. Let’s get to the science…

Transcendental Meditation

Recently, there’s an incredible amount of science tied into the benefits of meditation. The studies are endless and cover a variety of meditative practices. On Transcendental Meditation alone (mantra repetition) there are over 500 studies. Some are more noteworthy that others. A study in the Japanese Journal of Public Health found that through Transcendental Meditation, industrial workers sleep improved and their smoking decreased. Another study conducted at MERU Research Institute, in Buckinghamshire, England found that the length of time practicing the Transcendental Meditation and TM-Sidhi program correlated with younger biological age and younger functional age.

Mindfulness Meditation

Mindfulness meditation, which asks us to focus on our breath to facilitate awareness of the present moment, is another widely studied meditation technique. After studying the effects of 8-weeks of mindfulness meditation on participants, a 2003 report in the Journal of Psychosomatic Medicine concluded: “A short program in mindfulness meditation produces demonstrable effects on brain and immune function.” Impressive, but fairly vague. To get a more committed response to the benefits of meditation we have to turn to Taiwan. In 2002 their journal Chang Gung Medicine reported that “training in MM may be a medically superior and cost-effective alternative to pain medication for the control of headaches with no underlying organic causes in highly motivated patients.”

Stress Reduction and Meditation

What causes these positive physical changes? To answer this, other research has looked at the specifics of what happens in the body during meditation. . Researchers at the Maharishi School of Management in Fairfield, Iowa, found that meditation has an enormous impact on stress reduction. When they examined a group who had meditated for four months they saw that they produced less of the stress hormone cortisol. They were therefore better able to adapt to stress in their lives, no matter what their circumstances were.

Having balanced cortisol levels is essential to mental and emotional health. Notice I say balanced rather than none. We don’t want to completely eliminate cortisol. If we did we’d be dead. Even low cortisol levels can be dangerous. Not enough cortisol is the identifying trait of Addison’s disease. John F. Kennedy had this condition, which he denied passionately during his presidency. Yet during his term he regulated his levels through hydrocortisone (synthetic cortisol). The reverse of JFK’s condition is called Cushings Syndrome. The five most common and noticeable changes of this condition include; red face and puffy cheeks; excess fat surrounding the collar bones, muscle weakness, and hypertension. But we don’t have to have Cushing’s Syndrome to be damaged by extra cortisol. The changes we experience may be subtle variations of these. Plus, the changes caused by excess cortisol are age dependent. Young people may stop growing and teenagers can develop acne. The mature among us aren’t safe either. Since excess cortisol damages bone-tissue those over age 60 may develop fractures related to osteoporosis. So it’s evident that if we can regulate cortisol, especially through a natural process, we owe it to ourselves to try.

Other Benefits of Meditation

Regina Drueding, MD, is a meditation instructor at Life Circles in Utah, USA. She quotes the benefits of meditation as follows: “more energy, improved quality of sleep, decreased anxiety, lessened chronological aging, improved concentration, improved visual acuity, increased alertness and heightened immunity.” She writes: “Besides the benefits mentioned earlier, meditation results in improvement of hypertension, sleep disorders, headaches, heartrhythm disturbances, chronic pain – pain due to cancer, infertility and irritable bowel syndrome. Following meditation, mental and physical refreshment result – and benefits are cumulative with regular practice.”

How to Meditate

Meditation is both simple and complex. It’s like defining the color orange: When you see it you know it. Similarly, the experience of meditation is best, well…experienced. In an article in New View magazine, Shippensburg University’s Dr. C. George Boeree describes the basics of Buddhist meditation. In summary, the beginner’s technique is as follows:

1. Sit or kneel comfortably.
2. The hands are loose and open with the palms up, one atop the other and thumbs lightly touching.
3. Head is upright. Eyes may be closed or open. If open they should focus on your hands or a spot nearby.
4. Beginning meditators should count upwards to ten on each exhale. Breathe in a relaxed and natural way. Then begin again at one and repeat. Continue to breathe naturally.
5. Continue for 15 minutes.

In my personal experience, I don’t find that the specific length of time is as important as repetition and persistence. To paraphrase, 10 minutes daily beats 15 minutes once a week. This brings me to another point: We all have different personalities and as such, different meditation approaches suit some more than others. Thankfully there are many varieties of meditation. Some varieties have sub-varieties.

Mindfulness meditation is one of these versatile practices. Perhaps it’s because its essence-awareness of the present moment-is so versatile. Mindfulness in our daily life can be practiced by slowing down and attending to our surroundings. What are our 5 senses telling us? We can use mindfulness in the middle of a hectic day, such as paying attention to our breathing when stopped at a traffic light. We can also use other everyday events as triggers for mindfulness. Buckling your seatbelt? Make this a reminder to return to the present. Really think about what you’re doing and the details of the experience.

The more traditional may benefit from a more formal mindfulness practice. You may sit in the identical form as in traditional Buddhist meditation- on a chair or kneeling. However, you may also sit with your legs crossed. Your eyes are closed and your posture is both straight and relaxed while your head remains upright. Focus on your breath and allow mental chatter to float by without regard. Thoughts, emotions and sensations will come, but don’t be influenced by them. Keep focused on your breath. If you are getting involved with your thoughts don’t worry-your efforts aren’t destroyed. The key thing is to bring your attention back to breathing and continue. This can go on for 5 minutes to 5 hours. It’s up to you.

Transcendental Meditation is another popular form of meditation. Generally, this type is practiced twice daily for a period of 15-20 minutes. Again, this technique involves sitting comfortably. Yet in contrast to basic Buddhist the eyes stay closed. Each student is given a mantra and is instructed to induce relaxation through use of this mantra. Since many of either can’t or won’t go to a formal TM class, a no-fail mantra I recommend is the classic OM. In The Heart of Yoga, T.K.V Desikachar writes that repetition of “OM” enables us to maintain mental and emotional calmness, overcome obstacles and enable understanding. It is the shortest of the mantras, and is said to be suggestive of God. If you’re uncomfortable with the religious aspects of OM I suggest a word that has positive meaning for you, such as love, calm or peace. Calm is an ideal substitute, since vocally it resembles OM.

Final Word

You may never, ever choose to meditate. Yet if this is your choice it may be valuable to question why. For a long time I was reluctant because of images of the dropout hippie 60’s. Yet when I tried it the experience overcame my reservations. If you try it the same may happen to you. If it doesn’t you haven’t lost any money, and you’ve gained a new experience.

Resources:

Getting in the Gap: Making Conscious Contact with God Through Meditation (Hay House Inc., 2003)
The Miracle of Mindfulness by Thich Nhat Hanh (Beacon Press, 1975)

Author Info:

Galina Pembroke is the editor and publisher of New View magazine online. New View offers articles on spirituality, health, self-help, animal rights, green living and more. For the complete text of Dr. Boeree’s meditation article visit their Spirituality section. Visit New View at http://www.nuvunow.ca. nuvunow@gmail.com

 

Tags: Meditation · Stress

Conscious Meditation

To live consciously in the here and now is fundamental to
many Eastern cultures and philosophies. And, I have come to
realise that it is an essential part of each of our lives if
we wish to attain optimum health.

The reason for this is simple. In order to be able to
balance all the aspects of a full and fruitful life, we need
to be able to appreciate exactly where we are right this
very moment.

The essence of this is acceptance. Acceptance of ourselves
as we are at this present point, acceptance of the world
that we have been born on, acceptance of our place in this
world. Acceptance is more like a absolute force of physics
than a fundamental truth, although I have found that
acceptance and truth are so entwined that they are
inseparable.

I have found that I, personally, can make no real forward
progress without truly accepting all the circumstances where
I find myself and also accepting the person I am right now -
with all my foibles, prejudices, fear, skills, experience
and potential. It is only when I have a clear sense of this
moment in my life, that I am able to truly transform. I
believe this is because when we let go of our expectations,
our worries and our fears, we naturally enter the movement
of life that is the flow of nature and the universe around
us. You do not have to think big, you simply have to turn
down the mental processes and still yourself enough to be in
touch with your intuitive or essential self.

Okay, I hear you say, that sounds like just what I want to
do, but where will I get the time, how can I release the
responsibilities of everything else I must do. And, if I
stop worrying all the time, I will stop being me, because
everyone in my family worries and I am a worrier. Right?

Perhaps not. Consider the possibility that several of the
most potent and I believe long term destructive things we do
are simply bad habits. Habits that we do not recognise as
habits only because so many people fall into the patterns
that they seem an inevitable part of life.

I KNOW that it is possible to reduce the time and energy we
waste on worrying. And I know that by doing so we can
instantly find ourselves in a less negative mind set.

I KNOW that we can care deeply and passionately about many
things, and still realise the habits of worry and anger.

I KNOW that fear need not stop us in our tracks, but that it
can be both a useful tool in growth and it can be
drastically reduced.

Best of all, I KNOW a simple way to prove this to you. All
you need to do is to be aware that this is possible, and
that you wish to progress beyond the place where you seem to
be trapped by old mind patterns and negative attitudes, and
the obsession to get everything done as quickly as possible.

Here we go:-

Whenever you have a moment to yourself - perhaps on the
train into work, whilst you are waiting for something to
happen, during a tea or coffee break (simply any time when
you are alone or when you are in a place where you are not
expected to interact with those around you e.g. in front of
a boring television programme will work for some people) -
try this:-

Focus your complete concentration on your breathing. Allow
your breathing to slow down and to become easy and calm.

Once you are in tune with the rhythm of your own breath,
then very slowly expand your awareness to the rest of your
body. Be aware of any tension, and let go it - sometimes you
will find it useful to tense a muscle or give it a we shake
or stretch to help you release the tension - great, do it.

Once you are feeling very clearly aware of your body,
slowing reach out your senses to the place you find
yourself. Allow your sense of judgement to be still. Just
look out, listen, smell, feel what is around you, as if you
had found yourself waking up in a book or movie. Simply be
aware of what your senses take in.

Then step back into the moment.

This wee exercise takes only a few minutes of time. It need
never prevent you from doing anything pressing in your life.
But I can guarantee that if you repeat it when you have a
few moments, when you think of it, preferably a couple of
times a day, but whenever - then you will be accepting this
moment more fully, you will be living in the here and now.

Because of that, you will be able to engage with your own
potential self. Try it. You have nothing to lose!

Some early reflections of the process

It is an art to learn to let time pass, to feel the flow of
it, quick and rippling, gentle eddying.

To push acceptance of self outward to the physical here. To
this place of comfort and rest and out - to the dear planet
on which we rest.

To unfold and to become part of the universe at this
instant.

And the next many moments. Allowing thoughts and feelings to
flash across the inner canvas of self, or lurk in the waters
of the lower conscious. To feel . To know. To be.

Still. Like a conscious meditation, a spiritual recharging.

And later sharing with a dear friend some aspect of the
inner picture, or capturing it gently in words, movement or
colour. Or not.

I am. And later, when I am ready, I will do.

Derby Stewart-Amsden runs her own business, Ashwhin, where she offers complementary therapies, holistic retreats, training and resources for individuals, groups and for the workplace. http://www.ashwhin.com. Derby also works with her partner, Peter Amsden, to bring this holistic and people centred approach into small business support. ASAT Productions - http://www.asat.biz.

 

Tags: Meditation · Spirituality