Meditation For Health is also known as “Medical Meditation”
Herbert Benson M.D. of Harvard University researched the medical effects of meditation in the 1970’s and established it’s ability to lower blood pressure in cardiac patients. His book, entitled “The Relaxation Response” has become a classic and is recommended reading. The emerging science of psycho-neuro-immunology has shown the positive benefits of meditation practice upon the immune system and health in general.
Meditation is present in some form in almost every culture and religion of the world. As a tool, meditation deepens self awareness and enables one to live in the world more fully and more effectively. The mind influences emotion, stress levels and health. In meditation, we relax the mind’s grip on the body, allowing both to relax. As we explore the stress continuum, we tap into a reserve source of stability, inspiration and energy.
Practices using deep relaxation, breathing techniques and passive visualization release inner stress and uncover a sense of inner calm. Most meditation is composed of six ingredients of which two or three are are either combined simultaneously in a single practise, or are performed in a logical sequence. These six ingredients are: Being In the Present Moment, Relaxation Techniques, Postural Awareness, Breath Awareness, Observation and Letting the Mind Become One Pointed.
Meditation is not as difficult to do, as many people think and sometimes the approach used to teach it does not resonate with a particular person. This is the reason, that when I present talks and classes on how to meditate, I explain these different ingredients in detail, and we experience doing them together in class. In this way, each person finds out their own best approach, which may evolve over time.
My experience is, that when a person can integrate a simple, but effective meditation approach into their lifestyle, either upon awaking in the morning, before sleep at night, or during breaks during the day, that person’s health improves. Thru meditation, as one becomes more conscious of one’s thinking process, one’s emotional process, and how one becomes physically stressed, one realizes that new choices can be made, furthering the healing process.
Meditation in itself, induces a deep state of relaxation and releases stress. During my treatment sessions with patients, I will often give instruction in a meditation technique, that they may do during the session, or later, when they go home, to address some aspect of their healing process. This is one of the ways to treat the cause of the physical imbalance that the patient is seeking treatment for.