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We are told that meditation is natural, that when someone sleeps they go into a meditative state. To fully understand the purpose and functioning of meditation one has to observe the human as both a physical and spiritual or psychological being. From the dawn of time, meditation has been a vital part of self transformation and holistic health.
The journey to self-discovery, self help and spirituality begins with the sacred art of meditation. The value of Meditation is to alleviate suffering and promote healing has been known and practiced for thousands of years. Generally, Eastern religions have tended to concentrate on meditation as a means of realizing spiritual enlightenment. This is the essence of Hinduism of which all guru's promote through yoga and meditation. In fact, practically all religious groups practice meditation in one form or another.
The ultimate goal of meditation is to self realize your divinity, that you are God. God dwells within you as You. It is a means of worship and seeking God which is ultimately the highest goal of meditation The word translated as "meditation" in several verses in Psalms means to meditate in the sense of reflecting upon.
In practical terms meditation helps you learn forgiveness and loving-kindness for yourself and others in a common sense way. Mindfulness meditation relieves stress because it relieves preoccupation with the habitual thoughts about the past or the future that perpetuate stress. As your entire being becomes absorbed in meditation, every stress and strain of daily life will fall from your shoulders.
Meditation interrupts that flood of stress chemicals, so you don't feel on guard or tense. In other experiments, meditators produced fewer spontaneous GSR than their non-meditating controls, both during and after meditation.
Through meditation, one can cultivate a wonderful inner quiet that will melt away stress and nervousness By association, meditation can also help relieve stress- or anxiety-related disorders such as insomnia, headaches, depression, poor concentration and high blood pressure. Instead these conflicts could find, through meditation, an appeasement that will help their resolution by appropriate means. There is a natural alliance between psychotherapy and meditation.
Meditation is now well accepted in medical circles. Remember that meditation is an escape to reality, not an escape from reality. In the West, however the first view was that meditation induced a type of dissassociative state or a type of catatonia. Various techniques of meditation are now widely taught in medical settings such as VA clinics and hospitals. Many physicians consider meditation a key element of an integrated health program. In general, meditation produces a reduction in multiple biological systems, resulting in a state of relaxation. For example, there has been incidences where through meditation individuals have voluntarily controlled their rate of breathing.
Mindfulness meditation involves focusing one's attention on the moment, observing thoughts as they occur without judging or acting. Without acknowledgment of the present moment, meditation practice cannot progress because momentary concentration cannot occur.
Rob Daniels is a long term practitioner of Yoga and Pilates additional articles available at Religious Podcasts http://www.religious-podcasts.net and Yoga Store http://www.yoga-store.net
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The words spoken to the main character in Patsy Metzer's novel summed up exactly where I found myself. Forgetting to watch for the little miracles in my longing for big miracles. I was back in the old familiar territory of wanting to receive big proof that all of this hard work, all of this heart, all of this struggle really means something.
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