Three Meditation Techniques That You Can Use To Relax At The End Of A Long Day
Studies on Meditation show a high correlation between increased relaxation and the practice of Meditation. This was revealed in 1967, when Dr. Herbert Benson, the author of the classic bestseller, “the Relaxation Response” found out that when people meditate, they use 17% less oxygen, lower their heart rates by three beats a minute, and increase their theta brain waves which dominate the brain during the periods of deep relaxation.
As meditation is demystified and its practice becomes more widespread, the methods utilized by practitioners have become more modernized. There’s less incense burning today, but the core of the philosophy remains unchanged.
Transcendental Meditation is one of the more popular techniques used for meditaion. It is surprisingly easy to do and efficient.
It involves the use of a secret word or phrase (called a mantra), given to you by an instructor, which you promise not to divulge to anyone. This mantra is chosen to suit the individual.
Next, the meditator sits in a comfortable position and repeats the mantra over and over again when exhaling. The main purpose of this mantra is to prevent distractive thoughts from straying into the mind. Even when they come, as is expected, the meditator is required to passively ignore the distraction and continue with the recitation of the mantra. The practitioner is required to spend at least 10 to 15 minutes per session and meditate twice a day.
Another form of meditation practised is the Walking Meditation. This technique fits well with aerobic activities such as swimming and jogging which involves rhythmic, smooth and repetitive forms of exercises.
In this method, you start off, walking very slowly like a warm up exercise, keeping your eyes open and becoming aware of your breathing. When you achieve a regular pattern of breathing, focus on it and say silently ‘in’ when you breath in and ‘out’ when you breath out. This becomes a mental device, like the mantra, to avoid distraction.
Additionally, westerners are now trying Vipassana Meditation, a method of meditation which is all about focusing on your breath. Vipassana originated in India. It means to see things as they really are. It involves three Stages:
1. The first is a moral form of cleanliness which means you must abstain from activities such as killing, stealing, sexual activities, drugs and alcohols or any intoxicant at all.
2. The second stage requires you to fix your attention on the natural flow of air through your nostrils. Unlike the previous two meditation techniques discussed above, Vipassana, takes days to complete. Vipassana will be felt on the fourth day of practise by observing the sensation through out the body, which is an obvious sense of calmness and greater understanding of nature. To this end, the entire practice of meditation is actually a form of training.
3. The final stage of Vipassana is a reflection upon the discoveries uncovered during the first two stages of this meditation process.
Just like exercises are physical training to the body, meditation is a mental training for the mind.
It is most necessary and strigently important that meditation is encouraged as part of our daily and healthy living. Its curative effects include relieving headaches, reduction in pectoris pains, reduced blood pressure, and it helps in the control of hypertension. It is also effective in treating insomnia and enhancing cancer therapy.
Taking a short time out of our busy day to rediscover the present through meditation is a worth while activity, which helps us reduce the deadly effects of the above-mentioned ailments and many more not discussed here.
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