Followers

Friday 31 August 2012

5 reasons to start meditating today

 

Many think of meditation as a silly New Age practice or "too hippie" for their taste. Some others think it is against their religion.

In the 1970s, Swami Muktananda arrived in Santa Monica, California from India to kick off his "meditation revolution" in the USA. A young reporter asked if her rabbi would allow meditation. Muktananda responded with this question, "Does your rabbi allow you to sleep?"

Meditation is not sleep. But it is very personally subjective and doesn't conflict with any religious dogma or belief system. It requires daily practice for optimum benefits. It's considered better to meditate for short periods daily than long periods occasionally.

Meditation requires you sit comfortably in a restful space, close your eyes, and allow mind chatter to settle on its own without forceful intervention. It also includes focusing on your breathing while calmly witnessing your thoughts and mental imagery without attachment or aversion.

Remain relaxed, aware, and alert. Start with short sessions daily and increase durations as you get more out of your practice. Eventually you'll come to enjoy the tranquility and clarity of a quiet mind. This takes steady, patient practice.

Recently, medical researchers have been exploring the physiological and psychological benefits of daily meditation.

Research on meditation proves health benefits

(1) Heart health: Meditation leads to calmness and better stress management. One report from England claims it cuts heart disease in half. The study was done on people with a history of heart health problems. Another study in Southern California had similar conclusions.

(2) Blood Pressure: Blood pressure is lowered naturally by practicing meditation daily. This has been measured and recorded.

(3) Stress reduction and improved energy levels: General health, immunity, and energy levels are boosted by meditation in that it reduces sympathetic nervous system activity, resulting in reduced stress hormones released. Chronic fatigue or adrenal fatigue and a compromised immune system are the direct results of too many unnecessary adrenaline and cortisol secretions.

(4) Increased intelligence: A University of California, Los Angeles study showed MRI evidence of increased gyrification (brain matter folding) in the cerebral cortex, the part of the brain associated with overall cognitive intelligence.

(5) Self awareness and reflection: Similar studies in Massachusetts and Germany showed brain matter changes corresponded with feelings of improved self esteem and peacefulness within eight weeks of daily meditation.

A meditation opinion

Now medical science assures us it's a good idea to meditate for practical health reasons. Consider how this benefits us as our food and water is being poisoned, beneficial foods and supplements are being banned, and toxic pharmaceuticals are shoved our way.

Let's add the worsening economic and financial situations inflicted upon us by elite financial manipulators. All this awareness is conducive to stress unless one is oblivious. Even those who are oblivious have other daily functions that are stressful to them.

We simply live in stressful times. But with meditation, we all have an equal opportunity of release that helps us maintain good health despite all this.

Escaping into delusional fantasy is avoided. This release doesn't require expensive vacationing, drug and alcohol use, or binge eating. Lots of TV makes you duller and more stupid. Lots of meditation makes you smarter and more able cope in this mad world through tolerance

All these benefits haven't delved into the increased spiritual awareness that eventually leads to absorption into inner realms of existence and eventually even total spiritual salvation. Meditation masters consider this the ultimate goal of daily meditation.

Starting meditation with only your health in mind will get you going on that journey too. Guess that makes reason number six.

Sources for this article include:

http://www.tm.org/health-benefits-stress
http://www.naturalnews.com/032897_meditation_heart_attacks.html
http://www.theepochtimes.com
http://www.theepochtimes.com

Sunday 12 August 2012

The Benefits of Meditation


Regular meditation calms down the restlessness of the mind, and decreases the number of distracting thoughts, bringing a sense of inner peace and relaxation. As the sense of inner peace increases, the ability to concentrate and focus the mind improves.

With a peaceful mind one makes fewer mistakes, makes better judgments and decisions, and becomes more patient and tolerant. This of course improves one's relationships with family, friends, neighbors and colleagues.

The benefits of meditation do not end here. Regular practice, enhances the sense of happiness and contentment. As the mind becomes more and more peaceful, the number of worries, anxieties, fears and negative thoughts decreases, and in their absence, happiness rises, unobstructed.

Much of the stress and tension we normally experience comes from our mind, and many problems, including ill health, are brought about or aggravated by stress and tension. This stress and tension can be reduced by regular meditation. When the mind is at peace, many problems just disappear, and others are more easily dealt with.

An undisciplined mind accepts every passing thought, and wastes one's time and energy on futile, useless or negative thoughts. It also aggravates every problem and takes it out of proportion. With a disciplined and trained mind, this tendency gradually gets weaker, and could even disappear completely.

In time, one can see changes in the behavior and attitude and manner of thinking. The mind becomes more positive and one learns to react more constructively, patiently and calmly to the various situations of daily life, from dealing with people to dealing with problems, tasks or goals. One's actions become positive and efficient, focused and more satisfactory.

The benefits of meditation manifest on the physical, emotional, mental and spiritual levels. Some of them appear quite fast, and others take some more time. This depends on the amount of time devoted to practicing it, the levels of earnestness and concentration, and on the inner ripeness of the meditating person. It is not enough to meditate once a week or once in a few days. Regular daily practice is required for attaining results.

There is evidence of the many rewards of regular meditation from people who meditate, and also from researches of scientists. Here are some of them:

Physical Benefits of Meditation

  • A deeper level of relaxation.
  • Deep rest accompanied by decreased metabolic rate and lower heart rate.
  • Decreased high blood pressure.
  • Improved flow of air to the lungs.
  • Increased levels of energy.
  • Decreased muscle tension.
  • More easily falling asleep and sleeping soundly.
  • Improved state of the immune system.

Mental and Emotional Benefits of Meditation

  • Decrease in restless thinking.
  • Increased ability to stay calm in every situation.
  • Greater creativity.
  • Decreased anxiety.
  • Decreased tendency to worry.
  • Decreased depression.
  • Decreased nervousness, irritability and moodiness.
  • Enhancement of self-confidence.
  • Improved concentration.
  • Increased self-discipline.
  • Improved learning ability and memory.
  • Increased feelings of vitality.
  • Enhanced feelings of happiness.
  • More emotional stability.
  • Developed intuition.

Spiritual Benefits of Meditation

  • Peace of mind.
  • Emotional and mental detachment.
  • Heightened awareness of the inner self.
  • The ability to look within, beyond the body, mind and personality.
  • Discovery of the power and consciousness beyond the ego.
  • Discovery of one's true being.
  • Attaining self-realization and spiritual awakening.



Saturday 11 August 2012

What is Meditation?




"The meditation I am talking about is not a meditation on something: rather, it is a state of meditation. So this is what I mean when I am talking to you about meditation as a state. Meditation does not mean remembering someone. Meditation means to drop everything which is in one’s memory and to come to a state where only consciousness remains, where only awareness remains.

"If you light a lamp and remove all the objects surrounding it, the lamp will still go on giving light. In the same way, if you remove all objects from your consciousness, all thoughts, all imagination, what will happen? – only consciousness will remain. That pure state of consciousness is meditation. You don’t meditate on somebody. Meditation is a state where only consciousness remains.

"When only consciousness remains without an object, that state is called meditation. I am using the word meditation in this sense.

"What you practice is not meditation in the real sense; it is only a concept. But meditation will happen on its own through this. Try to understand that what you are practicing at night, exercises involving the chakras, and in the morning, exercises involving the breath, is all a discipline, it is not meditation. Through this discipline a moment will come when the breath will seem to have disappeared. Through this discipline a moment will come when the body seems to have disappeared and thoughts have also disappeared. What will remain when everything has disappeared? That which remains is meditation. When everything has disappeared, that which is left behind is called meditation."