Meditation and your health in the news

Listening to Holosync brain entrainment program is like teaching your brain to achieve deep zen meditative states in a matter of weeks. Without Holosync, most people are likely to give up on meditation, or else take years of practice to achieve the same results.

Western scientific methods are finally, finally being applied to meditation to examine the results in our bodies and brains. Check out these articles to see for yourself what kind of health benefits you could achieve even faster than normal meditation, by listening to Holosync.

the mind can change the brain

I am going to link you into the middle of a long article published by Time.com, of Time Magazine. Look for the "As Scientists Probe..." paragraph. This is evidence that people with obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) can improve their condition using mindfulness meditation. The scientists conclude that "the mind can change the brain."

Mindfulness meditation is the process of looking at thoughts as they arise, examining them, labeling them, and putting them down. It is this practice I am referring to when I say "you don't have to own every thought that crosses your mind."

How the Brain Re-Wires Itself, pg 3 of 5. Time Magazine Jan 2007

On the next page of the same article, Time Magazine talks about the famous study of Buddhist monks who meditated while an MRI machine scanned their brains. The conclusion is that "the positive state is a skill that can be trained."

So don't worry if you're depressed, just practice any kind of meditation! It's not an overnight fix, and it takes self-discipline.

How the Brain Re-Wires Itself, pg 4 of 5 Time Magazine Jan 2007

Benefits of Meditation

Here is a short article at Psychology Today that explains an experiment where participants had their brain waves scanned at three points in the study. It was found that those who meditate shift their brain activity to the left frontal lobe. The conclusion is that meditators are calmer and happier than non-meditators!

Benefits of Meditation Psychology Today, April 24, 2003

Buddhist-style meditation to prevent the recurrence of depression

This is an interview with Mark Williams, Professor of Psychology at the University of Wales. Mixing cognitive therapy with meditation does wonders to prevent depression-prone people from relapsing.

Buddhist-style meditation to Prevent the Recurrence of Depression The Health Report Radio National,
May 13, 2002

Larry King Live- Power of Positive Thinking

There is an outstanding television interview on the power of positive thinking. Larry King interviews Jack Canfield, James Ray (many of whose quotes appear in my banner), Dr. Joe Vitale, Dr. George Pratt, and Jayne Payne. They don't mention meditation, but they do focus on emotional awareness, a skill gained through meditation and introspection.

There is a lot of focus on the law of attraction, which Joe Vitale sums up:

If you're focusing on lack, you're going to get more lack. If you focus on abundance, you're going to get more abundance.

There is an entire section on "keys to using emotional awareness to control your physical health." For instance:

KING: Are you saying you can think good health?

RAY: You can. You can. You can just as easily think good health as you can think poor health. You've to give your attention to something, Larry. So energy flows where attention goes (editors note: see my desktop wallpaper with this phrase on it). If you get up every single morning and you are giving all your attention to how overweight, out of shape and broke you are, then energy is going to flow in that direction.

Transcript of the Power of Positive Thinking on Larry King Live
CNN, Aired November 16, 2006

Stroke

The following article reveals how one study on TM (transcendental meditation, simply a form/style of meditation) has proven that meditation can lessen the plaque on arterial walls, and therefore lower one's blood pressure. This spells out the positive benefit of warding off heart attack or stroke.
Transcendental Meditation Can Help Ward Off Stroke

WebMD.com, March 2, 2000

Stress

This article reviews several styles of meditation and emphasizes that if you feel better at the end of it you're doing it right. But everybody struggles with that internal mind chatter during meditation. That's what makes it difficult to persevere.

"Studies have shown that, among other benefits, meditation can help reverse heart disease, the number-one killer in the U.S. It can reduce pain and enhance the body's immune system, enabling it to better fight disease."

Scientists studied people who had meditated for four months and found they had less cortisol in their systems. They could adapt to stress much better than if they had never meditated.

The Science of Meditation
Psychology Today, May/Jun 2001

Blood Pressure

The various health benefits of meditation are spelled out in this article, including better concentration, better relaxation, lower blood pressure, an increased sense of inner joy.

Can Meditation Help Lower My Cholesterol?
WebMd, January 2004
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"Probably the single most reported physiological benefit of meditation — indeed, of systematic relaxation techniques generally — is the drop in blood pressure. Even the National Institutes of Health (NIH) have recommended meditation (along with salt and dietary restrictions) above prescription drugs as the first treatment for mild hypertension."
"Other meditation research has demonstrated this wide range of psychological benefits:

arrow Improvement in measurements of personality

arrow Decrease in neurotic tendencies

arrow Increase in psychic sensitivity

arrow Improvement in study efficiency and exam performance

arrow Increase in efficiency of problem solving

arrow Improvement in creativity in the visual arts

arrow Decrease in drug and alcohol abuse"
Above quotations from:

WHAT SCIENCE KNOWS ABOUT MEDITATION AND THE TRANSPERSONAL SELF
Sort Life Out.co.uk
This page contains information about much more than lowering blood pressure. For instance, the short article Sentenced to three years hard meditation, 10/07/01, shows how prisoners who were taught vispassana meditation show an improvement in discipline and co-operation among other prisoners.

Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM)

This is a backgrounder article on the practice of mediation. It is stated that people practice for many health reasons, including:

Anxiety
Pain
Depression
Mood and self-esteem problems
Stress
Insomnia
Physical or emotional symptoms that may be associated with chronic illnesses and their treatment, such as: Cardiovascular (heart) disease, HIV/AIDS, and Cancer.

Meditation for Health Purposes
National Center for Complementary & Alternative Medicine, Feb 2006

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Live On Purpose is about helping you become conscious of your thought patterns, so you can make better decisions in your life. Don't live an accidental life! Live on purpose.

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