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Meditate Your Way to Better Health
Tune out the world, forget your worries, relax. This is what meditation allows you to do. Meditate and you will gradually become aware of what is happening inside you and around you in an objective manner. Medical research conducted over the last 40 years shows that meditation leads to many measurable psychological and physiological benefits.
The experience sounds tempting, but you’re not sure where to begin?
Don’t worry, because practicing meditation is very easy and it requires no elaborate setting or complicated theory! Here are a few tips for getting started:
- Find a few moments in your day when you will not be disturbed.
- Sit comfortably, with your back straight but not rigid.
- Start off with 10-minute sessions (set an alarm to avoid looking at the clock and getting distracted).
- Concentrate: Think of a soothing object to begin with: a flower, a small fountain, a geometrical design, etc. Once you are comfortably settled down, focus all your attention on this object. If your mind wanders, bring it back to the object you’re concentrating on, without getting worked up.
- Inhale deeply and listen to your breathing: Pay total attention to the rhythm of your breathing and your heartbeat and block out everything else.
- Watch your thoughts flash by: When a thought takes shape in your head, see it in your mind’s eye, then let it vanish. This activity is known as letting go.
- Practice: It is normal if you are unable to concentrate for long in the beginning. It is only by practicing meditation regularly and with perseverance that you’ll be able to switch off and also discover the ideal amount of time for switching off, be it 10 or 20 minutes. Later on, if you want to go one step further, you can join a meditation group.
- You’ll see: the calming effect of meditation is usually experienced from the first sessions onwards and over time, your concentration and attention span will also improve.
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Another great visualization that has really helped me is this. Start off by imagining that you are in a fast flowing river. This river is your mind and all its thoughts and obligations of the day. Slowly make your way to the side of the river and feel the speed of the water losing its grip on you. Climb the bank of the river high away from the rushing water and find a rock to sit on. Now, with the sun on your face, you can only barely hear the faintness of the river below as you continue to let go. If a thought comes into your mind not in keeping with the serenity of the visualization, personify it as a bird in the sky and watch as it flies away only to be replaced by the warm sunshine on your face.
When you’ve meditated enough and are relaxed, stand up within the visualization and make your way back to the river. It’s now time to return, refreshed and renewed.
Try it! It really works well.