MEDITATION

Meditation means turning your attention away from distracting thoughts and focusing on the present moment.

Meditation is the practice of turning your attention to a single point of reference. It can involve focusing on the breath, on bodily sensations, or on a word or phrase known as a mantra.

Meditating is deceptively simple, and it is a fantastic cure for stress.

A genious cure for stress

More and more people are choosing to close their eyes for 15-30 minutes per day and close down and move into themselves, or however they experience their meditation
Not because they have nothing else to do but because the meditation gives them calmness, concentration, and energy on a stressful day
Many people use meditation as an effective and modern way to reach some mental zeroing
A conscious decision to reach peace, gives new energy and helps them stay in top form when they need to be
And the numbers are increasing. Meditation has far more deep effects than we have been aware of
It touches a row of inner Powers that can assist your physical Health to the degree that you prolong your Life
These are the Powers that people doing yoga as well as monks have been utilising for centuries but fortunately for us, they have not patented that
Scientists from the West opened their eyes to the physical effects of meditation when Dalai Lama, the leader of the Tibetan Buddhists, year 1992 asked scientists to study his monks during meditation
Advanced brain scans were made, and it was documented that many positive processes are happening within the brain during meditation, which are hard to achieve in other ways

Why?

Primary, meditation is a systematic way to relax and calm down the mind, ease stress and anxiety as well as letting the effect take part in the whole of the system
All of this is to increase the quality of life
Most of us can achieve meditation-like conditions without being aware of it
Just when we, for instance, look into a fire, look out over the ocean, while our thoughts float away, listen to soft music or when we get lost in a good novel
This is contemplation and not actually meditation even if this way is also good for us
The point is that you can choose how and when you want to achieve this condition, and to reach there within a few minutes when it fits into your daily schedule

What is happening within when we Meditate?

But what happens in our brain then?
Scientists have discovered that a few areas in the brain become more active, while others relax
The front part of the brain is used to focus the attention on a specific task
This area of the brain is stimulated by meditation, especially in the left frontal lobe
It can contribute to less anxiety and create more positive thoughts which is a part of the task for this part of the brain
You can say that meditation alters the brain from being focused on fight or flight mode to becoming more relaxed and positive
Reversely the activity of the parietal lobe lessens remarkably, which you use when you locate yourself in time and space
This coincides well with that your spatial awareness and your demarcation towards your surroundings are put down on the backburner so that you'll get a sense of sliding through the universe
This confirms the brain scans of the meditating monks

Does it affect us physically?

Meditation evokes a unique physiological condition, where you can uphold a high sense of awareness and function in certain parts of the brain, and at the same time it evokes a deep relaxation and a sense of peacefulness
At the same time the metabolism, the speed of your breathing, and the use of oxygen are lowered a lot
With people who are very experienced in meditation, there has been measured a reduction of metabolism with no less than 40 per cent. The breathing can stop completely at periods as well
The activity in the so-called sympathetic nervous system is reduced as well
It gives more calm in the whole body
The amount of stress hormones from the pituitary gland and adrenal glands is lowered acutely during meditation, and there are changes in many other of the body’s hormonal systems as well. The experts are not quite clear yet on the actual importance it has on a factual basis.
Since meditation has this effect on our psyche, it also has a positive influence on our resistance towards diseases as well
There is a close connection between the brain, the hormone system, and the immune system. Therefore, you are more vulnerable for infections among other things when you are stressed
Reversely relaxation therapy can strengthen the immune system, so that you can become more resistant to colds
That is valid for such an effective anti-stress method as meditation

Does it affect our immunesystem?

Meditation pays off when it comes to the immune system’s ability to produce the antibodies which attack bacteria and viruses
In a trial, a group of individuals were vaccinated against influenza
The participants who meditated showed much better protection against the disease since their immune system produced more antibodies against the influenza virus
The better they were at meditating, the more antibodies they produced
At the same time, they felt better and were less stressed
Even other scientific researchers have confirmed that meditation strengthens the immune system

What does doctors know about Meditation?

More and more doctors are starting to recommend meditation to prevent, ease or treat for example heart diseases, cancer, aids, lessened fertility, and psychological afflictions such as depression and hyperactivity
In certain cases, meditation and other relaxation techniques akin to it such as tai-chi, qi gong and yoga were recommended when other treatments haven’t had any effect. Meditation can also be used as a complement to other treatments
Doctors can recommend meditation to patients who have high blood pressure. A trial from Cedars-Sinai Medical Centre in Los Angeles shows how meditation can make a difference quite quickly. In the trial a Group of heart patients were participating, who tried meditation for the first time. After 16 weeks of meditation, their heart pressure had fallen remarkably, and the blood test showed that their circulation of insulin had become healthier compared to a Group which did not meditate
Both high blood pressure as well as bad insulin function can lead to atherosclerosis and blood clots. A lot of indications show that meditation can act as a retardant to this dangerous development
Stroke, the American Doctors Association's Journal described recently how the risk of atherosclerosis of the throat artery (and thereby even the risk of blood clots in the brain) is reduced in people who meditate
At ultrasound scanning of the throat artery, the scientists could demonstrate, how about six months of meditation twice a day, 20 minutes at a time, could prevent atherosclerosis of the wall of the blood vessel
The effect of the meditation corresponds to an actual 11 per cent lower risk for a blood clot of the brain and an 8-10 per cent lower risk of a brain haemorrhage
Meditation is also used to reduce chronic pain. When you are sick or in pain you get scared and anxious. That increases the pain, and you end up in a downward spiral. By relaxing the brain reverses this spiral

Can psychologists use Meditation?

Even psychologists use meditation in extreme cases to lessen the very aggressive people such as the inmates of the British Lancaster-prison
Meditation got the inmates to feel less depressive, hostile, hopeless and helpless
They even smoked less
And in an American prison only 56 percent of the meditating prisoners relapsed within two years after the end of the sentence compared to 75 percent of the non-meditating ones

So, there are many positive reasons for you to start meditating. When you have put a bit of effort into learning this technique you have gotten yourself a genius tool for both body and mind.

Source: iForm