MEDITATION and what it can do for You!

        

Hi, do you wish to live everyday of your life stress free and full of energy, even if you work 24/7, 365 days a year, and still enjoy other health benefits, then meditation may be what you need. I know this may sound a bit exaggerating, but the benefits of meditation is "worth the saying".

"Meditation is mind without agitation", says Narasimhan. Stress creates agitation and is something most of us deal with on some level. There are different types of meditation but the two most common and useful types of meditation are the "Mindfulness of Breathing(anapana sati), and Loving-Kindness Meditation(matta bhavana)".

For those just learning about meditation for the first time, the mindfulness of breathing is a good way to start. Firstly, you have to understand the Ps which are the place, posture, practice and problem associated with this type of meditation.

- Place: a less noisy and serene environment, perhaps a room with less distraction will do.

- Posture: sit with legs folded, a pillow under your buttocks, back straight, hands nestled in the lap and eyes closed. Or you could sit on a chair but your back must be straight and legs must not be folded, hands on lap and eyes closed.

- Practice: as you sit quietly with your eyes closed focus your attention on the "in and out" movement of the breath. This can be done by counting the breaths or watching the rise and fall of the abdomen.

- Problems: during the course of practice you might experience irritating itches on the body or discomfort in the knees. If this happens, just try to keep the body relaxed without moving and keep focusing on the breath.

During meditation, you will probably have intruding thoughts coming  into your mind and distracting your attention from the breath. The only way you can deal with this problem is to patiently keep returning your attention to the breath. If you keep doing this, eventually those thoughts will weaken, and your concentration will become stronger and you will have moments of deep mental calm and inner peace.                               

This should be done for 15 minutes everyday for a week and then extend by 5 minutes each week until you are meditating for 45 minutes.

When you are used to this type of meditation, you can then proceed to the loving-kindness meditation. The loving-kindness meditation is basically saying positive words to yourself like "May I be well and happy, May I be filled with peace and love, May I be protected from danger, et cetera.

Also think of a loved one, neutral person, and also a disliked person, wishing each of them well as you do so.

This can be done two or three times a week after carrying out the previous type of meditation.

Although, meditation has so many religious backings, I would recommend using it generally for its health benefits. With that said, let's delve into why meditation is so invaluable to our health.

1. Meditation can kill stress;
2. Meditation can help boost concentration;
3. Meditation encourages a healthy lifestyle;
4. Meditation increases happiness;
5. Meditation slows aging;
6. Meditation increases grey matter concentration in the brain.
7. Meditation acutely improves psychomotor vigilance, and may decrease the need for sleep;
8. Meditation improves your focus, attention, and ability to work under stress;
9. Meditation makes you stronger against pain;

10. Meditation increases the ability to keep focus in spite of distracted;
11. Meditation improves learning, memory, and self awareness;
12. Meditation improves your mood and psychological well-being;
13. Meditation can boost creativity;
14. Meditation reduces risk of heart diseases and stroke;
15. Meditation reduces blood pressure;
16. Meditation can help treat premenstrual syndrome and menopausal symptoms;
17. Mindfulness meditation may even help treat HIV/AIDS.
18. Loving-kindness meditation improves empathy and positive relationships;
19. Meditation can help in weight loss and finally;
20. Meditation can help prevent disease and help cure diseases too.

You may ask how this is possible, but it basically is a thing of the mind. The mind, when properly developed, is a very powerful instrument and meditation plays a very big role in the development of the mind. So why not take advantage of this totally free means to living a stress free and healthy life.

Have a nice and healthy day!

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