Meditationbeats is a user-friendly, no-fuss online magazine looking at what meditation can do for you. Remember, whatever your experience of meditation, it’s likely to be different from the next person. So there’s no room for comparison. It’s a totally individual experience.
Meditation is a very subtle type of energy work. Ever heard of prana? Well, it means breath, breathing wholesomely in our own right. Meditation is a breathing discipline. You’ve heard of the phrase “mind over matter”. Meditation tackles just that.
Just as you visit the gym to tone up, turn fat into muscle, meditation is mind gym; flexing the brain and getting rid of the mental chatter ticking over in our minds every day. If we take a ‘big brother’ view of all our thoughts and dramas altogether, we soon come to realise how nonsensical and negative some of our thoughts are and how they don’t serve us. But we all need to think in our daily lives.
Practising meditation on a daily basis will leave you feeling more in control of your random thoughts and feelings and empower you to react positively in different situations and tackle problems effectively. In fact, if you are aware of how you breathe and observe your thoughts, in some shape or form you are meditating. How simple is that!
Search the net and you’ll find countless definitions. All will have one element in common: all define meditation as a state we chose to be relaxed and calm, taking time out from our busy lives. I’ve chosen two definitions.
The first defines meditation as a non-religious activity, a journey of self-discipline to attain a sense of calm. The second, is many of us pragmatists, keen to discover in black-and-white, some key benefits of practising meditation on a regular basis.
The web’s free encyclopedia, Wikipedia: Meditation refers to a state in which the body is consciously relaxed and the mind is allowed to become calm and focused. Several major religions include ritual meditation; however, meditation itself need not be a religious or spiritual activity.
Most of the more popular systems of meditation are of Eastern origin, though there exists also various forms of Christian, Jewish and Muslim meditation. and a medical definition from Medicine.Net:
Most meditative techniques have come to the West from Eastern religious practices, particularly India, China, and Japan, but can be found in all cultures of the world. Studies have found regular meditation can raise quality of living; reduce chronic pain; reduce anxiety; reduce high blood pressure; reduce serum cholesterol level; reduce substance abuse; increase intelligence-related measures; reduce post-traumatic stress syndrome in Vietnam veterans; and lower blood cortisol levels initially brought on by stress.
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