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You can think of 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 ancestors breathed in fresh air, enjoyed clean 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 insane lives! We consume bad water and extremely harmful soft drinks, stuff our mouths with junk food, breathe in smoky air and perceive constant urban noise around us. As for the emotional and nervous tension, it is absolutely insufferable. Our speed of life makes us be in a hurry 24/7, 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 realize the fact that our body requires some time to relax and restore, what is more, our head aches for some rest, too. Unfortunately, the bulk of humans realize the fact when they fall seriously ill. Don’t become one of them! Think ahead and try entirely safe and highly effective practice known for centuries - meditation.

“Did it occur to you that humans who meditate on a regular basis are more content with their lives, healthier and enjoy longer life expectancy than those who don’t?” This utterance is rather hackneyed these days, but is it true or not?

What it meditation? It is a unique concentrating practice where the main task is to slow down the normal whirl of thoughts occupying the mind. There are all kinds and sorts of meditation. Maybe you will be shocked to find out 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 mainstream medicine it does no fail to forget that persons have more than a mere ailing body. Meditation perceives persons as unique creatures possessing an inseparable unity of intellect, body and soul. Meditation teachers know for sure that you cannot be healthy and content with your life if your head is filled with hatred, anger and misery. The intriguing fact is that more and more traditional doctors prescribe their patients meditation as a way of managing definite health issues. With meditation you can:

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

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

With all its simplicity meditation can offer you many 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. Focus on your body - keep your attention on the feelings in your organism: 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 major task is to keep your head free of any distracting thoughts.

It is wrong to think that you should always sit during meditation. It is just as good 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 rather old. All up-to-date meditative approaches are the product of years and years of work and mental experiments of personalities 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! 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 sort of meditation in the world. Buddhists use the practice of meditation for reaching real wisdom and compassion and for perceiving 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 undeservedly ignored by the representatives of traditional medicine and only during the past thirty years the medical science focused 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 perform 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 ironical 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 ruinous side effects typical for drug treatments - it was the art of meditation! It proved to be a valuable means for stress reduction, and what is more, personalities 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 investigation 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 produces a miraculous long-term positive effect! So, Transcendental Meditation in particular guarantees you a healthy 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 increased activity of the part of your brain responsible for rest and relaxation! Famous practitioner R. Keith Wallace investigating Transcendental Meditation found out that during meditation the body gains the most profound rest imaginable. 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 burns your life energy and confuses 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 consider that when you sit motionless doing nothing and thinking of nothing, i.e. when you are meditating your Fire and Water are in harmony. 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 imaginable. It is great 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, see your mental health practitioner before starting the practice of meditation.

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