Meditation - Top 7 Conditions To Get Healed With Mind Power

By Raymond Geok Seng Lee

During the two decades since the relaxation response first appeared, mediation has gone mainstream. Most people who practice it do so to reduce stress, anxiety, anger and other negative emotions. But increasingly, physicians prescribe meditation as part of the treatment for a large and growing number of medical conditions. Here are some of the conditions that mediation can help.

1. Panic Attacks

Sometimes anxiety becomes paralyzing and people feel that they are about to suffer some horrible fate. Panic attacks are often treated with drugs, but studies show that if people who are prone to panic attacks begin focused, meditative breathing the instant they feel the first signs of an episode, they are less likely to have a full-blown panic attack.

2. Pain Management

Anxiety decreases the threshold for pain, and pain causes anxiety. The result is a vicious cycle. Compared with people who feel relaxed, those under stress experience pain more intensely and become even more stressed, which aggravates their pain. Meditation breaks this cycle. Childbirth preparation classes routinely teach pregnant women deep breathing exercises to minimize the pain and anxiety of labor. Few call it breath meditation, but that is what it is. Meditation may not eliminate pain, but it helps people cope more effectively. In a recent study at the Mind/Body Medical Institute, after people with chronic pain learned the relaxation response, their pain-related physician visits decreased 36 percent.

3. High Blood Pressure

Transcendental meditation (TM) reliably reduced blood pressure in meditators. In a study, the relaxation response was taught to 36 people with moderately elevated blood pressure. After several weeks of practice, their average blood pressure declined significantly, reducing their risk of stroke and heart attack.

4. Cancer

Cancer is very scary. Meditation and other approaches to deep relaxation help center people so they can figure out how they would like to handle the illness and proceed with life.

5. Respiratory Crises

Asthma, emphysema and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) all restrict breathing and raise fears of suffocation, which in turn makes breathing even more difficult. Studies show that when people with these respiratory conditions learn breath meditation, they have fewer respiratory crises.

6. Depression

Feelings of helplessness, hopelessness and isolation are hallmarks of depression - the nation's most prevalent mental health problem. Meditation increases self-confidence and feelings of connection to others. Studies have shown mood elevation in depressed people who regularly elicit the relaxation response.

7. Infertility

Couples dealing with infertility may become depressed, anxious and angry. To help them cope, relaxation response was taught to one group of infertile couples at the Mind/Body Institute. Compared with a similar group of infertile couples who did not learn deep relaxation, the meditators experienced less distress - and were more likely to get pregnant.

Raymond Lee Geok Seng is one of the foremost experts in the health and fitness industry and is a writer specializing in body health, muscle development and dieting. He has spent countless of time and efforts conducting research and share his insightful and powerful secrets to benefit men and women all over the world. He is currently the author of the latest edition of "Neck Exercises and Workouts." Visit http://www.bodyfixes.com for more information.

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Meditation - The Role of Meditation

By Ricky Hussey

Meditation is a way of contacting the inner energy that powers the natural processes of healing and self-realization. Many cultures preserve some form of ritualistic technique - in one or two cultures dating from thousands of years ago - that promotes change from the normal levels of perception and that may result in feelings of well-being. This is probably why meditation in one form or another is central to the practice of so many of the world's religions.

The word meditation comes from the Latin meditatio, which originally indicated every type of physical or intellectual exercise, then later evolved into the more specific meaning "contemplation."

Eastern spiritual teachings, including meditation, have been adapted and increasingly practiced in Western culture.

The use of Meditation for healing is not new. Meditative techniques are the product of diverse cultures and peoples around the world. It has been rooted in the traditions of the world's great religions. In fact, practically all religious groups practice meditation in one form or another. The value of Meditation to alleviate suffering and promote healing has been known and practiced for thousands of years.

Whereas some traditions are strictly mystical, directed toward a unity with all creation and an infusion with sublime joy, others may be described as more pragmatic, striving instead toward what is simply a state of "being" that includes no aspect of movement or sensation. For some people, especially in the Christian faith, prayer is a form of meditation. What is always involved is time out from the world around and a stilling of the mind.

Although it is possible to learn meditation techniques from a book, it is much better to have a teacher. Failing this, a tape can be helpful. It is usual to start by adopting a comfortable posture in a quiet location and closing your eyes. At first it may be difficult to steer the attention gently away from your racing thoughts without forcing the mind to behave in a set way. The vocal repetition of sounds (a mantra), or a visual object of devotional significance to which the attention may be recalled when necessary, is helpful to some people.

It has been found that meditating effects change heart rate and respiration, helping to reduce stress. As the thoughts slow and the level of tension in the body drops accordingly, feelings of calm, detachment, peace, and sometime joy begin to fill the mind and spread through the body. Meditation promotes a state of deep relaxation, but also mental alertness and openness. An equilibrium between activity in the rational left side of the brain and the creative right side of the brain is established and there is an overall increase in the brain's range of operation. Benefits reported include decreased anxiety, feelings of anger and aggression, depression, nervousness, and physical tension increased awareness and concentration, mental clarity and resilience, creative intuitive powers, emotional stability and control, and also overall health and well-being.

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