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“ OM ” Imagine for a moment a quite tranquil room with 20-25 people sitting in a comfortable position. Their eyes are closed and the room is silent. They may look like they aren’t doing anything, and in a sense they are not—other than concentrating in total stillness on the sensation of air moving in and out of their bodies as they breathe. Meditation is an approach that offers a unique way to help people cope with stress, pain, and chronic illness. The people in this room suffer from a broad range of medical conditions, including heart disease, cancer, diabetes, chronic pain, high blood pressure and many stress-related disorders. Meditation can induce deep states of relaxation, at times directly improve physical symptoms and help people lead full and satisfying lives. Meditation is the act of focusing your attention on one thing—your breath or a mental image or phrase, known as a mantra, and being completely anchored in the moment. It brings a sense of calm by keeping the mind from pondering on the past or worrying about the future. For example, the stressful day I had yesterday, or how will I ever complete that project on time (Meditation a Beginners Guide p 23-24). It is a practice that can be done anywhere. It’s possible to have experienced a meditative state and didn’t realize it as a type of meditation. It may have just felt as a deep feeling of peace—a state of grace (Meditation a Beginners Guide p 23-24). There is nothing magical or mystical about meditation. Basically, it’s all about paying attention, purposely in the time you have to live, namely this present moment. In sickness or health meditation can help in remarkable ways. It can help the body and mind to reach a relaxing, calm state (Inner Self p 1). In the book What is Meditation?, Rob Nairn talks about it as a state of “bare attention.” He explains, “It is a highly alert and skillful state of mind because it requires one to remain psychologically present and ‘with’ whatever happens in and around one without adding to or subtracting from it in any way” (Psychology Today p 56). Why we meditate is to improve the ability to cope with medical and emotional challenges. It helps to restore balance in the body called homeostasis, in which the body runs in a state of equilibrium, and remains in a normal range. Such as the heart is beating at a normal sinus rhythm and breathing is in a non-labored state (Inner Self p 1). If you can imagine your body as a furnace and an air conditioner and the temperature is to remain at a set point. The thermostat changes as the body tries to endure the stress it may be experiencing. When this imbalance occurs in the body the furnaces or air conditioner kicks in to help the body to return to its homeostatic state (Holes p 6). Meditation acts as a furnace or air conditioner for the body.
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