Altertnative Medicine Online

Meditation is being prescribed by more doctors each day to heal the body of many illnesses or diseases. It is a way to relax the body and become more aware of one’s surroundings. There are many positive effects of meditation which are, but not limited to, relief of stress, help with asthma and breathing, lowering blood pressure, and relief of insomnia. It can help balance the needs of your physical, emotional, and mental wellbeing.

There are generally two types of meditation that can be practiced, concentrative and mindful. Concentrative meditation is focusing on one object, breathing, an image, or a sound. One of these is isolated and contemplated over. Mindful meditation is more of a free-flow thought view. Monitoring the thoughts, images, feelings, smells, or tastes as they flow through your mind and body, yet not focusing on any one of them is essential in Mindful meditation.

Here are some steps that you can take to meditate using the Concentrative method:

1. Set the mood—darken the room and light the candles. Make sure you are in a place that you feel most comfortable.
2. Sit on the floor on a comfortable pillow with your legs crossed “Indian Style”.
3. Sit up straight—posture is key to meditation—relax your muscles.
4. Close your eyes to block out surroundings
5. Focus on your breathing—take big breaths in, hold for a few seconds, and release. Notice the air coming in and leaving your body. Feel the breeze and take note of that. Anything to do with breathing and air, focus on as you breathe. You will need to focus on your breathing throughout the duration of the exercise.
6. Think about one thing at a time and go in-depth with it. Think about this object’s possibilities. Think about the appearance, how you feel about it, what you want to do with it, and how you could best use it. Get personal with the object of your choice.
7. After you are finished thinking about the object, sit still and continue to focus on your breathing. Do this until you feel ready to end your session.

Here are some steps that you can take to meditate using the Mindful method:

1. Set the mood—darken the room and light the candles. Make sure you are in a place that you feel most comfortable.
2. Sit on the floor on a comfortable pillow with your legs crossed “Indian Style”.
3. Sit up straight—posture is key to meditation—relax your muscles.
4. Close your eyes to block out surroundings.
5. Focus on your breathing—take big breaths in, hold for a few seconds, and release. Notice the air coming in and leaving your body. Feel the breeze and take note of that. Anything to do with breathing and air, focus on as you breathe. You will need to focus on your breathing throughout the duration of the exercise.
6. Observe every thought, smell, taste, touch, or feeling come into your mind as your breathe.
7. Do not focus on any one of those in depth. Just let them wistfully pass through as you take notice to them.
8. When you feel you are ready to close the session, sit still and focus on breathing once more.