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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 previous generations inhaled 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 crazy lives! We consume bad water and extremely harmful soft drinks, stuff our bellies with junk food, breathe in smoky air and hear 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 round the clock, 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 requires some rest, too. Unfortunately, the majority of humans realize this simple truth when they fall seriously ill. Don’t become one of them! Think ahead and try entirely safe and highly effective healing system known for centuries - meditation.

“Did it occur to you that humans who meditate daily are happier, healthier and live longer than those who don’t?” This utterance is rather usual these days, 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 stunned to read 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 alternative medicine that unlike official medicine it never forgets that people have more than a mere sick body. Meditation perceives humans as unique creatures having an inseparable unity of intellect, body and soul. Meditation teachers realize that you cannot be healthy and content with your life if your brain is filled with hate, anger and misery. The surprising fact is that more and more usual 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 people with asthma breathe freely;
- get rid of 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 humans choose to master meditation at home. It is very simple with all the instructional books and audio CDs available. Others choose to learn from a good teacher.

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

1. Concentrate 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 mind should be free of any judgments and reactions.

2. Concentrate on your body - keep your attention on the feelings 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 general task is to keep your head free of any harmful thoughts.

It is wrong to believe that you should always sit during meditation. It is normal 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 not new. All present-day meditative approaches are the product of years and years of work and mental experiments of people around the world. The healing power of mediation has been known and applied 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 use the practice of meditation for reaching real wisdom and compassion and for seing reality as it is. Buddha followers believe that our ordinary state of mind is very narrow - it is both limited and limiting. Meditation broadens human horizons and makes it possible to reveal our conscious and unconscious possibilities completely.

The stunning truth is that in spite of its unique history and rich traditions, meditation has been wrongly ignored by the representatives of conventional medicine and only during the past three decades the medical science concentrated on the studies of clinical effects of meditation on health. The 1960s started with stunning 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 squeamish scientific world was shaken when refined scientific instrumentation proved that unbelievable 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 proved to be a valuable means for stress reduction, and what is more, persons 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 blissful state of relaxation including decreased heart and perspiration rates, decreased 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 MD R. Keith Wallace researching Transcendental Meditation revealed that during meditation the body receives 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 think that our emotions are ruled by the Fire energy of the heart. When you cannot keep your emotions, this fire energy flares upwards and burns 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 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 body 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 good for personalities of all ages and states of health. However, you should know that in individuals with bad psychiatric problems, there have been a few reports in which regular meditation has worsened the state of their mental health. If you have a psychiatric case, please, talk to your mental health professional 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 immediately - in requires some time to work! If you cannot stand queuing up in the waiting room of your physician to get your prescription, find a trusted internet pharmacy online where you can get prescription drugs without a rx legally. Take definite steps to make your life better right now! And let healing mediation be your reliable guide.