How to De-Stress and Achieve True Health with Meditation

“Meditation is the Medication”

Have a hectic lifestyle, ignoring health, became conscious, and joining a gym. If this sequence of events sounds familiar, give a pat on your back. Good job on taking the right step towards better health. But, wait a second, ever thought about your mind?

Without a glitch, you may be managing innumerable number of tasks to balance the frantic lifestyle today. Whilst managing everything one rarely pays any attention to the chaos that builds up inside. On the outside, things may be looking good, but then what is the reason for that lurking stress and anxiety?

Let’s look at the following few situations:

• Does being trapped in a traffic jam bother you to the extent that it spoils your mood for rest of the day?
• Are you troubled by the way anger controls you, rather than you controlling your anger?
• Do you feel tensed and sometimes depressed, due to no major reason at all?

If you answered yes, you are not alone. Today, many of us feel stressed and anxious by the constant pressures of this hectic lifestyle, without realizing how deeply it is affecting us. These daily, seemingly small, events have a dual impact - on your body as well as on your mind. Yes, agreed that life combats us with some situations we have no control over, but we should learn how to respond in these situations. We should learn the art of controlling what’s going on inside - in our mind. It is a well-known fact that the root of many chronic illnesses is in the mind. So by learning to manage your mind, you can reduce the chances of some of the serious chronic diseases, such as high blood pressure, heart problems, stress, anxiety, depression, etc.

The art of attending to your mind is “Meditation.” Although it has been practiced for thousands of years as a part of spiritual and cultural traditions, it now finds way to treat many neurological disorders, stress related conditions, and other diseases. It’s now a Complementary and Alternate Medicine (CAM) therapy suggested by Healthcare Providers (HCPs) all over the world. The 2007 National Health Interview Survey revealed that some 20 million US adults use meditation for health purposes.

The benefits of meditation are manifold. It is an essential practice for mental hygiene. A calm mind, good concentration, clear thinking, improved communication, blossoming of skills and talents, an unshakeable inner strength, healing, the ability to connect with inner source of energy, relaxation, and rejuvenation are all natural results of meditating regularly. The role of meditation in enhancing individual performance, leadership, and productivity is also well documented. In summary, meditation helps you have better emotional, mental, and physical well being. A National Center for Complementary and Alterative Medicine (NCCAM) study suggests that eight weeks of meditation may have an effect on brain function that persists even after someone has stopped meditating.

A will to have a quiet mind, a silent place where you can be at ease, a correct posture with mindfulness are the only essentials for a meditation practice. You can choose any of the different techniques of meditation that you believe will give you maximum results. With the loads of benefits meditation offers, you should resolve today to manifest it as a practice in your daily habits. Just 15 to 30 minutes of this practice would be sufficient if you want to reap the benefits. In today's world, where stress catches on faster than an eye can see or the mind can perceive, meditation is no more a luxury, but a necessity.

 Happy meditating!

IControlMyHealth Editorial Team

References

1. Exploring the Power of Meditation. http://nccam.nih.gov/about/offices/od/2010-06.htm. Accessed July 27, 2013.
2. Meditation: An Introduction. http://nccam.nih.gov/sites/nccam.nih.gov/files/meditation.pdf. Accessed July 27, 2013.
3. Meditation Training Program Shows Brain Effects Even Outside a Meditative State. http://nccam.nih.gov/research/results/spotlight/110112. Accessed July 27, 2013.
4. Meditation. http://www.artofliving.org/in-en/meditation. Accessed July 28, 2013.

- See more at: https://www.icontrolmyhealth.org/health-blog/secrets-to-true-health#sthash.3LJPzTPf.dpuf