Meditation: benefit and harm

First of all, meditation is called upon to find harmony with one's own "I", to make your life more spiritual and meaningful, to find a way to the Higher Consciousness and establish a connection with the Lord. At once we will make a reservation, that to any sectarian ceremonies does not concern a meditation, its advantage is obvious. In fact, in all religious movements, believers meditate - these are prayers, rituals, everything that helps to keep in touch with the Higher Mind.

What is meditation?

In Latin, "meditation" means "meditate", "think". This is a series of mental special exercises that are used in spiritual and religious, recreational practice. As a result of training, a mental state arises that allows you to rethink yourself. During meditation, a person makes an alliance with his "I", which makes it possible to establish contact with the source of wisdom and light, the entire universe. Finding the integrity of the personality, on the whole understanding of one's essence - all this is provided by meditation. The benefit lies in the fact that through the altered consciousness (trance) a person is able to gain control over his emotions, feelings and thoughts.

During meditation, a person focuses on the essence of the object, completely immersed in it. Thinking at this time is attached to one idea, and the mind returns to it again and again, after any wander or deviation. Gradually, with practice comes the ability to concentrate your mind on one object, control the course of your thoughts. They stop wandering and getting confused in the head. The highest form of meditation is the ability to guide the mind, freeing oneself from the constant habit of thinking about something. This leads to higher bliss, freedom of reason, awareness, clarity and serenity.

In the Western world, meditation has come about thanks to the Maharishi Indian Maharishi Yoga. The current world organization teaches transcendental meditation, the simplicity of technology and effective propaganda bring meditation to everyone.

What is the use of meditation?

Having mastered the technique and believing in yourself, everyone can meditate. After several successful sessions, a person easily finds contact with his own "I". This is helped by proper meditation. Its use is as follows:

• The process calms the mind, takes away depression, fears, aggression.
• Displays in a short period of stressful situations.
• Meditation makes it possible to stop the senseless life flow of fuss, to look into your soul, inner world, to feel your involvement in the divine.
• Increases self-esteem and improves emotional state. Gives the tides of joy and cheerfulness.
• Meditation has a positive effect on the nerves, heart, reduces blood pressure.
• The immune system is strengthened.
• Meditating, a person gets rid of cravings for things, thus simplifying his own attitude to life.
• The level of awareness of their own actions and actions is increasing.
• Meditation over time accustoms a person to perceive all as they are, to feel at one with all people, in the course of time to love all life.
• Developing creative abilities - this is the benefit of meditation, the reviews of many talented people confirm this. Many meditators who have experienced meditation note that thus they were chosen from the captivity of the past and began to appreciate life here and now.
• Meditation provides answers to many vital questions and fills the existence on this earth with joy.
• Finding your own "I", we gain happiness. An open heart for the world makes us one with it.

Basic types of meditation

There are two main types of fundamentally different meditations:

• The first kind refers to "meditation on emptiness." The kind of meditation is very complicated. It is in complete tranquility and full mental silence. It is here required to completely eliminate all thoughts from your head and simply observe the emptiness. This kind of meditation leads to complete "enlightenment", awareness of the essence of all existence.
• The second type of meditation is meditation on "one" or one-way meditation. Here you need to focus all your attention on one thing, concentrate your attention completely, contemplate, listen or say something. The meaning of this kind - gradually plunge into "meditation on the empty," from which even greater benefit comes.

Dynamic meditations make it possible to purify our unconscious limiting attitudes, our emotions associated with something accumulated in childhood and adolescence. We grew up, the installations are out of date, but emotional rubbish remained. We need to get rid of it and clean up our energy.

Subspecies. Active and passive meditation

What is active meditation? Monotonous repetition of various physical exercises or some kind of stress leads to the fact that the thought process is blocked. Man plunges into a trance. Often active meditation is performed in dance, when the muscles work in the same rhythm, are involved in one monotonous process.

Most meditations can be classified as passive. Here, a person takes the most convenient position and begins to sink into his own world. This state should be achieved without any emotional and mental activity. An example of such immersion is the meditation form of traditional Indian yoga. In a deep trance, a person is able to expand his own consciousness, after a few sessions, the benefits of meditation are felt. It is based on mantras, simple formulas. The psyche calms down in a natural way, there comes a peace of mind, an immersion in yourself. The body in this state is completely relaxed and as if immersed in the waves of the ocean.

Disclosing and meaningful meditation

When revealing meditation, a person consciously refers to the existing reality. In this case, a consciousness is formed, which refers to the current reality, in this case this is the benefit of meditation. Whatever you do: go, sit, lie, you must be completely captured by this action.

Substantial meditation. Plunge into natural meditation will allow contemplation of fire, water, clouds, much more. Based on this condition, specialists created forms of meaningful meditation. As a starting point, a natural object or phenomenon is used in one's own immersion. The meditator fully comprehends the essence of the phenomenon and there is a relationship between man and nature.

Also, as subjects in meaningful meditation can be used photographs, drawings, images. Man, focusing on the meaning of the picture, dissolves in it and knows a deep meaning.

Substantive meditation can be musical. Listening to beautiful music, a person opens his imagination, draws different pictures and discovers a world of new sounds, as if from another world.

Objects for concentration

In some types of meditation, you need to select an object for concentration. The concentration is most often used:

• On my own breath. You need to concentrate and watch your own breathing. Each time, meditation becomes clearer and clearer.
• On a candle or its mirror image. Sit in front of the mirror, light a candle in front of you. Relax, do not think about anything, but just watch the fire or your own eyes. This is how meditation goes on a candle, the benefits are felt soon. The body simply falls into nirvana.
• On your own internal sound. It is necessary to sit comfortably, relax and silently listen to the sounds in your own head. Soon you will hear a subtle sound - an echo of the flowing energy.
• On mantras. A mantra is used in Sanskrit. Variety is transcendental meditation.
• On the chakras. Each chakra has its own sound, color, taste, smell and image. They are focused on.
• In the air, which touches the nostrils with exhalation and inspiration.
• On the beating of the heart muscle.

The process of meditation

For the meditation you need to completely relax. The most important aspect of the session is complete relaxation. Every muscle in the body should become free. Next, you need to fully concentrate your attention on breathing, or on some subject of meditation, music, the rhythm of your own heartbeat. The thoughts need to be completely turned off. If concentration can be maintained, then it will not be possible to think about anything else at the same time. Our brain constantly thinks about something, and it's hard to get rid of thoughts at first, but you can learn it. This will take some time.

Then stay relaxed without any tension. If thoughts can not be turned off, do not get upset, fight them and get angry. Just start watching them and watch their current from the side, like an uninteresting film. The main task at this stage is to stay indifferent and ignore all thoughts. If they appear in your head, do not show interest in them. It is very difficult to disable the internal dialog, it requires a strong, long practice.

At the first stages, learn to observe the thoughts from outside, not necessarily drive them away from yourself. This is not the only meaning that meditation entails. The benefit will come even from the fact that even for a short time you can relax and indifferent on the part of watching your problems. You will understand how insignificant they are in the vastness of the universe.

Brain, its performance and mood

The use of meditation for the brain has been proven by many studies. In the Belgian schools, a test was conducted, in which 400 schoolchildren took part. Those who followed the meditation program in six months confirmed the fact that they felt no sense of fear and anxiety. These teenagers have disappeared all signs of possible manifestations of depression.

Similar studies were conducted at the University of California, among depressed patients. A conscious meditation made it possible to reduce the dysfunctional life beliefs, its effect on the body worked even better than antidepressants. By the way, they only drown out the symptoms, but they do not cure the cause of the disease.

The use of meditation for the human body is also proved in other directions, here are just some of them:

• Help in the treatment of postpartum depression.
• Adjustment of mood and anxiety disorders.
• Removing panic attacks.
• Increased concentration in the brain of gray matter.
• Reduces the need for sleep and promotes increased psychomotor vigilance.
• Reduces alcohol and drug addiction.
• In the brain, gamma-wave generation is enhanced.
• The body becomes sturdier and stronger against pain.
• Pain is better than morphine.

Body and health. Relations

When meditation is performed, the health benefits are felt even in the most neglected cases. The most popular method - transcendental meditation - has helped many patients, and this is also confirmed by research in the largest scientific centers and institutes:

• The metabolic syndrome decreases.
• Life expectancy increases.
• Lowering blood pressure.
• The risk of atherosclerosis decreases.
• The risk of ischemic disease decreases.
• Control of cholesterol.
• Help in the treatment of epilepsy.
• Support in the fight against smoking.
• There is clarity of thinking.
• Increased resistance to harmful factors.

The state of rest not only of the body, but of the mind - all this gives meditation, the benefit to the organism of which is invaluable.

As for the relationship, here the process of meditation gives rise to a feeling of empathy in a person, a positive attitude to everything living, reduces the desire for social isolation, loneliness. Raises the mood, increases compassion, reduces anxiety.

Harm to meditation

Yet there are controversial issues that meditation causes. Benefits and harm here are sides of the same coin. According to some researchers, meditation can be harmful to an unprepared person. Initially, having experienced the bliss of union with the higher "I", a person can become addicted to the process of meditation, as to a drug. It simply causes dependence.

To reach the highest levels of meditation, experienced yogis go to this decade. In the process of meditation, the blood composition changes, endorphin level increases, but the oxygen level may decrease, the heart rate and the number of heartbeats change.

Knowingly in the eastern cultures and religions, only dedicated people, clergymen, are allowed to meditate. They argue that for Europeans this is a very serious and complicated process.

As for the brain, scientists have proved that in the process of meditation, changes take place in it. It was found that people with trauma in the right parietal region quickly reach a state of transcendence. The brain of meditating Tibetan monks was also scanned. It was found that the areas regulating attention were most active. At the same time, the posterior parietal zone was completely passive, there is a bundle of neurons responsible for orienting the body in space. That is why during meditation a person feels reunited with eternity, loses the sense of reality.

The question of the benefits and dangers of meditation is always open, but the facts remain facts. Everyone can decide for himself whether his mind is ready to reunite with his eternal self, or is the psyche still weak for such a step?