STRESS REDUCTION MEDITATION

” THE GIFT OF LEARNING TO MEDITATE IS THE GREATEST GIFT YOU CAN GIVE YOURSELF IN YOUR LIFE “- The Tibetan Book of the Living

Meditation is a term broadly used for practices without much external aid and mostly done by individual practitioners for the purpose of relaxation or self-improvement and in advance stages for enlightenment .It does not necessarily be connected to religion . Meditation has been described as the key to the mysteries of your mind leading to enlightenment .

Meditation to be beneficial reqires ‘ mindfulness ‘ or concentration and this in turn requires effort .This can be difficult in the starting phase but will become easier as time goes.The state of your mind plays a big part in this – the more agitated the mind , the longer it takes to get into the ‘ mindfulness’ state .When you start the practice of meditation , you will have to try and control your thoughts ; a very difficult task – so try and develop a ” loving-kindness ” state in your mind .This can only be achieved by a conscious effort to think of good things – think of your young children and their smiles !Concentrate on that thought for a while and you will soon see that your breathing is becoming slower , your heart is slowing down as well . Now start to concentrate on your breathing – become conscious of each breath ; be focused on the rising and falling of each breath and soon you will  reach a level of almost  suspended respiration and you will hear every heart beat . Meditation of this type , when you shut out everything and are only aware of your every breath and every heart beat , done 20 minutes a day will be tremendously beneficial to you . When you finish this and get up , you will feel like a new person , and when practiced regularly will bring untold benefits .

At a recent controlled clinical trial over nine years involving men and women with an average age of 59 who suffered from the narrowing of the arteries in their hearts , showed that heart attacks , strokes and deaths fell by 47% in the meditating group .It showed that long term and regular practice of stress reducing meditation reduces the incidence of cardio-vascualr events .

With meditation you will obtain stability of the mind and will get rid of past and present transgressions ; thereby setting your mind free from burdens thus engaging in blissful contemplation to enjoy hapiness in everything around you .

There are different types of meditations and you need to decide the purpose for your programme . For stress reducing meditation :

• After wasing your face and hands , Find a quite spot
• Sit down in a comfortable postion which does not cause pain to the joints , preferably in loose clothing
• Have some object in front of you , like a lit candle on which you can focus
• Clear your mind
• Take a few deep breaths and then get into a regular breathing pattern , slowly becoming aware of each breath -concentrate on each breath.
• Focus on the flame of the candle without losing  awareness of your breaths
• soon you will find your mind in a calm state  ; stay that way for twenty minutes or so
• Practice this regularly , preferably at the same time and same spot.

You owe this to yourself – HAPPY MEDITATION !