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Believe it or not, but we leave in the crazy world where everything is not like it was a just a couple of centuries ago. Our forefathers inhaled fresh air, enjoyed clean water and grew 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 unclean water and extremely harmful soft drinks, stuff our bellies with fast food, inhale filthy air and perceive constant urban noise around us. As for the emotional and nervous stress and strain, it is absolutely intolerable. Our speed of life makes us be in a hurry twenty-four hours a day, we are overworked and downtrodden 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 needs some time to relax and restore, what is more, our head aches for some rest, too. Unfortunately, the main part of individuals realize this simple truth when they fall seriously ill. Don’t become one of them! Think ahead and try absolutely safe and highly effective practice known for centuries - meditation.

“Did it occur to you that persons who meditate daily are happier, healthier and enjoy longer life expectancy than those who don’t?” This utterance is rather usual now, but is it true or not?

What it meditation? It is a unique concentrating practice where the vital task is to slow down the normal whirl of thoughts occupying the mind. There are all kinds and types of meditation. Maybe you will be amazed to hear that a prayer is also a pure meditation as it is. In addition to this kind of focusing clear 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 mainstream medicine it does no fail to forget that personalities have more than a mere aching body. Meditation perceives persons as unique creatures having an inseparable unity of intellect, body and soul. Meditation teachers understand that you cannot be healthy and happy with your life if your head is filled with spite, anger and hopelessness. The surprising fact is that more and more mainstream doctors prescribe their patients meditation as a way of managing certain health disorders. With meditation you can:

- lower your blood pressure;
- improve the general state of people with angina including their exercise performance;
- let patients with asthma breathe easier;
- forget about insomnia;
- restore after everyday disastrous day of life.

Meditation is a inherent activity for every human, that is why it is up to you to decide where you will practice meditation. Some individuals choose to master meditation at home. It is very simple with all the instructional books and audio CDs available. Others prefer to find a good teacher.

With all its simplicity meditation can offer you numerous options. There are several approaches to meditation. Here are some prompts for you how to meditate.

1. Focus on your breath - keep your attention on the feeling of the stream of air passes 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 mind should be free of any judgments and reactions.

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

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

It is wrong to believe that you should always sit during meditation. It is normal to lie down, to stand or even to walk. 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 not new. All up-to-date meditative techniques are the result of years and years of work and mental experiments of humans around the world. The healing power of mediation has been known and practiced for thousands of years. Its cornerstone is tradition and religion; its effect is health and inner harmony! Actually, all religious groups turn to meditation in one form or another.

No doubts of all the religions Buddhism is a “father of meditation” - it is the best known and the most practiced sort 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 state of mind is very shallow - it is both limited and limiting. Meditation broadens human horizons and makes it possible to reveal our conscious and unconscious possibilities profoundly.

The stunning truth is that in spite of its unique history and rich traditions, meditation has been wrongly ignored by the representatives of usual 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 show 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 launched! The pompous scientific world was deeply shocked when refined scientific instrumentation proved that unbelievable things exist! 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 proved to be a valuable tool 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 biggest surprise was still to come! After some time of scientific research of meditation this activity turned out to be perfect not solely for altering the brain’s function in the short term. The medical data demonstrated that regular practice of meditation produces a miraculous long-term positive effect! So, Transcendental Meditation in particular guarantees you a blissful state of relaxation including low 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 doctor R. Keith Wallace studying Transcendental Meditation found out that during meditation the body gains 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!

Unlike Transcendental Meditation, Taoists consider 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 confuses your mind. But you can cope with 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 ruining your life. So, Taoists consider 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 definitely one of the safest activities possible. It is wonderful for humans of all ages and states of health. However, you should know that in people with bad psychiatric diseases, there have been a few reports in which regular meditation has worsened the state of their mental health. If you have a psychiatric problem, please, talk to your mental health doctor before starting the practice of meditation.

One more important 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 bear standing in line in the waiting room of your doctor to get your prescription, find a reliable pharmacy online where you can purchase pills no rx required legally. Take definite steps to make your life better right now! And let healing mediation be your best guide.