Meditation for Healing and Optimal Wellness
Mar 26, 2010 by Bill Rawls, M.D.
Meditation has the potential of being one of the most powerful forms of healing. Emotional stress is a common part of chronic disease and cancer. Regaining a sense of control is profoundly important in healing. Meditation, even in a basic form, is a very powerful tool for regaining a sense of control and decreasing the stress response associated with disease.
Regular meditation provides an escape from pain, outside stressors, suffering, and discomfort. Having the ability to escape provides an increased sense of control over the situation. As an added benefit, adrenal function is improved and the immune system gets a boost.
From a health point of view, preventing excessive flow of adrenaline is the main objective of meditation. On some days life may not be very challenging and the need to meditate may not be there at all. On other more stressful days we may desperately need hours of meditation. Here lies the rub. On the most stressful days we tend to have the least amount of time to step away. This is why incorporation of spontaneous relaxation into our daily lives and the regular practice of meditation are so important.
In an overly stressful world, individuals with any significant anxiety maintain a hypersensitive adrenal gland. Even the thought of a stressful situation sends adrenaline levels soaring. For health and happiness, this over-active gland needs to be tamed and the most positive way to do it is through regularly practiced meditation or self relaxation. As with any skill, the body and mind respond to training. With training, the gland becomes less hypersensitive and stressful situations are tolerated better. Training means daily practice.
Resources for meditation:
Meditation should be comfortable and something to look forward to. It should not be thought of as a chore and should not have special requirements for time and place. Peace and quiet are helpful, but not essential. I have had some success with meditation in the middle of a busy airport.
Position is also less important than some sources would have you think. The classic “lotus position” works well for some people, but any sitting or lying position is acceptable. This can be in a lounge chair, lying on the floor or a mat, lying in bed, or even sitting on a sand dune. Anywhere that works for you. Remember, the primary purpose of meditation is relieving stress and therefore it should not be a stressful process.
There are many excellent resources for help in mastering these techniques in the form of books, CD’s and DVD’s. An internet search for “spontaneous relaxation” or “meditation” will bring up a plethora of choices. In the beginning these guided sessions will help your practice become more regular and effective. Another very useful and novel adjunct is special music with brain waves super-imposed. This work was pioneered by Dr Jeffrey Thompson and can be readily found on the internet. He has composed a variety of different formats for encouraging concentration, meditation, and even sleep. I have found them to be very effective tools and use them regularly to arrive at a deeper state of relaxation more efficiently and expeditiously. An MP3 player is another tool I have found to be helpful. A large number of relaxation CD’s can be loaded into these portable devices for whenever the moment arises.
Find yourself a special place:
The concept of a special place is an important one. For some it is an icy mountain top in Patagonia, and for others it is a quite garden in the back corner of a lot. Generally it is a place of peace and solitude away from everything and everyone. You can have more than one. Going there frequently can help maintain your sanity even during stressful times. Traveling to special places can be a lot of fun also. Some people spend entire vacations seeking out special places in natural areas such as our national parks. Sometimes just knowing that these places exist is enough to give you a sense of peace. A special place can be the object of meditation even if you can not go there.
Why are gurus always found sitting on a mountain top? The symbolism is not lost on those who meditate regularly. The mountaintop represents being above all worry and stress; a pinnacle of peaceful thought. It is a place where you can go at any time.
Don’t miss the “moments in-between”:
Have you ever looked back at the end of a particularly busy day, with feelings of being stressed-out and fatigued, only to realize that the day was filled with minimal accomplishments. Part of the problem was that you missed the “moments in between”. So often we spend so much of our time rushing from one thing to the next that we spend a lot of time “waiting around” to get from one thing to the next. Waiting for stop lights, waiting for appointments, and waiting for other people to do things seems to be a function of modern life. This “waiting time” has the potential of being the most valuable time of the day. Most of us spend it anxiously anticipating where we want to go or what we want to do, but it could be used for planning some other important part of our lives or possibly more importantly just meditating about that special place.
When life gets to be a bit too much, take time to pay attention to this particular moment. Sit down. Have a cup of hot tea if you like. Every moment of every day has something good about it. Look for the good is this moment. Let all other concerns slip away and for this brief period of time just appreciate being alive. Try to get in the habit of doing this simple thought process several times each day. If each individual moment is cherished for the good that it has to offer, then the outlook of life in general can only be positive and the future can only be bright.
Healing meditation:
With a basic form of healing meditation the focus of concentration becomes the illness itself. This may be an injured body part or an area of pain. It may be a place in the body where cancer exists or it may be the body as a whole as in the case of a disease such as chronic fatigue or multiple sclerosis. Prayer can be included as a very important part of this meditation.
On a deeper level, healing meditation takes on a more spiritual quality. Beyond food, beyond exercise, beyond medications, beyond supplements, beyond herbal therapies and beyond simple relaxation, deep meditation is the key to healing. A deeper understanding of life and “self” must happen before true healing can occur. This understanding must reach a point where love of life goes beyond fear of losing it. Seek out an experienced individual to use as a guide when pursuing this level of meditation.
Categories: Disease Recovery, Stress Relief,
Tags(s): Meditation,
