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Believe it or not, but we leave in the insane world where everything is not like it was a just a couple of centuries ago. Our previous generations breathed in fresh air, enjoyed clear water and produced natural food. What do we have today? Having the same physiology as it was 4 or 5 generations ago modern humans lead crazy lives! We consume dead water and extremely harmful soft drinks, stuff our mouths with junk food, inhale smoky air and perceive constant urban noise around us. As for the emotional and nervous tension, it is absolutely intolerable. Our speed of life makes us be in a hurry on a twenty-four hour basis, we are overworked and stressed in our family lives, we don’t have enough rest and sleep to do extra work and make our carriers. We never give a thought to the fact that our body requires some time to relax and restore, what is more, our head requires some rest, too. Unfortunately, the majority of persons realize this simple truth when they fall seriously ill. Don’t join them! Think ahead and turn to completely safe and highly effective healing system known for centuries - meditation.

“Did it come to your mind that individuals who meditate on a regular basis are happier, healthier and live longer than those who don’t?” This utterance is rather common today, but is it true or not?

What it meditation? It is a unique focusing practice where the most important task is to suspend the normal stream of thoughts occupying the mind. There are all kinds and sorts of meditation. Maybe you will be surprised to read that a prayer is also a pure meditation as it is. In addition to this kind of focusing natural for all believers there are Transcendental Meditation, mindfulness meditation, Zen meditation, Buddhist meditation and Taoist meditation.

Meditation is the realm of complementary medicine that unlike conventional medicine it never forgets that individuals have more than a mere sick body. Meditation perceives people as unique creatures with an inseparable unity of intellect, body and soul. Meditation teachers realize that you cannot be healthy and happy with your life if your brain is filled with spite, anger and misery. The surprising fact is that more and more official doctors recommend their patients meditation as a way of managing definite health troubles. With meditation you can:

- lower your blood pressure;
- improve the general state of men and women with angina including their exercise performance;
- let people with asthma breathe easier;
- forget about insomnia;
- relax after everyday stressful day of life.

Meditation is a native activity for every human being, that is why it is up to you to make up your mind where you will practice meditation. Some men and women choose to master meditation at home. It is very simple with all the instructional books and audio CDs available. Others prefer to learn from a good teacher.

With all its simplicity meditation can offer you a number of options. There are several approaches to meditation. Here are some tips for you how to meditate.

1. Focus on your breath - keep your attention on the sensation of the stream of air going in and out of your nostrils. This is so called “mindfulness meditation” - the meditator should learn to be “mindful”, i.e. aware of the present moment of time, but his or her consciousness should be free of any judgments and reactions.

2. Concentrate on your body - keep your attention on the sensations in your body: pain, warmth, discomfort, tension etc.

3. Concentrate on any word or phrase you like - keeping your attention on a word or phrase is called a “mantra”. Its main task is to keep your mind free of any harmful thoughts.

It is wrong to believe that you should always sit during meditation. It is OK to lie down, to stand or even to have a strall. If for some reason sitting still is difficult for you, feel free to combine meditation with other practices such as yoga or tai chi - you will get double pleasure and positive effect!

The use of meditation for healing human body and soul is ancient. All present-day meditative techniques are the result of years and years of work and mental experiments of individuals around the world. The healing power of mediation has been known and used for thousands of years. Its cornerstone is tradition and religion; its effect is health and inner harmony! To tell you the truth, all religious groups apply meditation in one form or another.

It is doubtless that of all the religions Buddhism is a “father of meditation” - it is the best known and the most practiced type of meditation in the world. Buddhists apply the practice of meditation for reaching real wisdom and compassion and for understanding reality as it is. Buddha followers guess that our ordinary consciousness is very shallow - it is both limited and limiting. Meditation broadens human horizons and makes it possible to reveal our conscious and unconscious possibilities entirely.

The sad fact is that in spite of its unique history and rich traditions, meditation has been wrongly ignored by the representatives of traditional medicine and only during the past thirty years the medical science concentrated on the studies of clinical effects of meditation on health. The 1960s started with amazing medical reports of yogis and meditation masters from the mysterious East who could demonstrate extraordinary bodily control and could consciously stay in altered states of their minds - and this is where studies of self-regulation and voluntary control over the autonomic nervous system started! The squeamish scientific world was shaken when refined scientific instrumentation proved that incredible things can happen! Now health care professionals specializing in stress-related disorders had a unique way of treatment without awful side effects typical for drug treatments - it was the art of meditation! It turned out to be a valuable means for stress reduction, and what is more, people and physicians enjoyed both the process of healing meditation and the health benefits available with regular trainings!

But the greatest surprise was still to come! After some time of scientific research of meditation this activity turned out to be perfect not solely for changing the brain’s function in the short term. The medical data demonstrated that regular practice of meditation has a miraculous long-term positive effect! So, Transcendental Meditation in particular guarantees you a blissful state of relaxation including decreased heart and perspiration rates, low pulse rate, low concentration of cortisol in your blood (it is a major stress hormone) and high activity of the part of your brain responsible for rest and relaxation! Famous practitioner R. Keith Wallace studying Transcendental Meditation revealed that during meditation the body gets the most profound rest possible. Paradoxically, your brain and mind become clear and more alert - your reactions are faster, your creativity and efficiency is greater and your view of the world is broader!

As distinct from Transcendental Meditation, Taoists believe that our emotions are governed by the Fire energy of the heart. When you cannot control your emotions, this fire energy flares upwards and destroys your life energy and clouds your mind. But you can manage that! Your willpower, on the contrary, is controlled by the Water energy located in your kidneys. If you do not control this energy, it flows down through your sexual organs, weakening your spirit and dissipating your life. So, Taoists think that when you sit motionless doing nothing and thinking of nothing, i.e. when you are meditating your Fire and Water are well balanced. Water energy from the kidneys goes up to your head via the Central and Governing channels. At the same time Fire energy from the heart goes down into the Lower Elixir Field in the abdomen. By means of this right circulation of two energies and through this mental alchemy in the organism your mind becomes calmer, cooler and more controllable, while your sexual energy becomes really enjoyable!

Meditation is obviously one of the safest activities imaginable. It is wonderful for persons of all ages and states of health. However, you should know that in individuals with bad psychiatric cases, there have been a few reports in which regular meditation has worsened the state of their mental health. If you have a psychiatric disease, please, see your mental health practitioner before starting the practice of meditation.

One more essential point - if you take medications on a regular basis never stop taking them before you have completed the course. The point is meditation cannot give you stable relief immediately - in requires some time to work! If you cannot stand standing in line in the waiting room of your physician to get your prescription, find a reliable web drugstore online where you can get medications without a rx legally. Take definite steps to make your life better right now! And let healing mediation be your trusted guide.