Why Meditate?

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Meditation has been practiced for thousands of years. Originally, it was meant to help deepen understanding of the sacred mystical forces. Theses days, meditation is commonly used for relaxation and stress reduction. It’s considered as a type of mind-body complementary medicine.

Meditation can wipe away the day’s stress, bringing with it inner peace. If stress has you anxious, tense and worried, consider trying meditation. Spending a few minutes in meditation can restore your calm and inner peace. Anyone can practice meditation. It is simple and inexpensive, and it does not require any special equipment.

During meditation, you focus your attention and eliminate the stream of jumbled thoughts that might be crowding your mind and causing stress. This process may result in enhanced physical and emotional well-being

Meditation might be useful if you have a medical condition, especially one that may be worsened by stress. Research shows that meditation may help people manage symptoms of conditions such as

• Anxiety disorders
• Asthma
• Cancer
• Chronic pain
• Depression; especially for pregnant women
• Heart disease and stroke
• High blood pressure
• Irritable bowel syndrome
• Sleep problems
• Tension headaches
• Decreases depression; especially for pregnant women
• Panic disorder
• Alcohol and substance abuse/addictions
• Aids better Information processing and decision making
• Gives mental strength, resilience and emotional intelligence
• Makes you stronger against pain
• Helps manage attention deficit hyperactivity disorder
• Keep focus despite distractions
• Improves learning, memory and self awareness
• Psychological well-being
• Deal with stressful events
• Fosters creativity
• Control stress
• Increase patience and tolerance

You can practice meditation for the quite critical medical conditions, but under the supervision and advice of a medical practitioner.

Meditation is an approach to training the mind similar to the way that fitness is an approach to training the body. It is extremely difficult for a beginner to sit for hours and think of nothing. Its a habitual process of training your mind to focus and redirect your thoughts. The important thing is to have a regular daily practice of meditation. Once a twice a day is good.

Simple Meditation Steps for Beginners

1. A quiet setting
2. Comfortable position. Sit or lie comfortably
3. focus attention. Very important to free your mind and focus
4. Open attitude. Put aside the negativity.
5. Close your eyes
6. Relaxed breathing. This involves even paced breathing, using the diaphragm muscle to expand your lungs
7. Make no effort to control the breath. Simply breathe naturally.
8. Focus your attention on your breath without controlling its intensity. If your mind wanders, return focus back to your breath. Start this for two or three minute. And then, you can try it for longer periods.

Types of Meditation

1. Guided/Imagery/Visualization Meditation. 
You form mental images of places or situations you find relating. You try to use as many senses as possible. You may be lead through this process by a guide.

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2. Mantra Meditation
Here, you silently repeat a calming word to prevent distracting thoughts.

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3. Mindfulness Meditations
You broaden your conscious awareness focusing on the flow of your breath

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4. Qi gong 
This process generally combines meditation, relaxation, physical movement, and breathing exercises. 

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5. Tai-chi
it is a form of gentle martial art. In Tai-chi, you perform a self-paced series of postures or movements in a slow, graceful, manner while practicing deep breathing
  

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6. Yoga 
You perform a series of postures and controlled breathing exercises to promote a flexible body and a calm mind.

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