Meditation: An Effective Way to Beat Stress and Worries
Meditation is something that some people consider to be a religious thing for certain cultures, but that isn’t always the case. Meditating can be beneficial to anyone who wants to do it, because it helps you clear your mind and de-stress a especially during these trying times.
Stress is a much larger component of your immune system than you may have thought. Getting de-stressed can make a huge difference in the frequency and probability of you getting sick.
Stress can mess with a lot of things in your body. For example, it can cause rashes, it can make you tired, and it can certainly lower your immune system. This is all mostly due to the hormone cortisol, which is released when you’re stressed out.
Cortisol is fine in small amounts, sometimes even helpful, but you’ll start to run into problems once you’re consistently stressed and your body is always used to having cortisol in it.
Cortisol can cause breakouts in acne and unsightly rashes, usually due to the fact that it reduces your blood circulation.
However, the issues run much deeper than that. Cortisol actually suppresses your immune system to the point where you’re not very well protected at all if you encounter a virus.
This may have become evident to you if you’ve ever been really stressed for an extended period of time, and you almost always get sick afterwards. The reason meditation helps with this so much is that it’s an incredible way to clear up your mind and alleviate stress.
By taking your mind off of the unpleasant events happening around you, and just being in one place for a moment, you’re able to let your body relax.
This helps reduce your stress levels, which will lower your cortisol levels, ultimately boosting your immune system.
Choose any type of meditation that works for you
Practices like yoga, Qigong, and Tai chi also involve meditation associated with movement, furthering the mind-body connection by adding movement to the practice.
You can also use guided imagery or guided meditation, in which you visualize yourself in a calm and relaxing state or mantra meditation where you choose a syllable, phrase, thought or word that you repeat repeatedly to yourself, shutting off extraneous thoughts that are trying to invade your brain. Similarly, mindfulness meditation attempts to keep you in the here and now so that you don’t focus on negative thoughts.
Meditation on Twin Hearts
I personally practice Meditation on Twin Hearts (MTH). This meditation is a simple yet powerful technique as it incorporates four of the most common type of meditation: awareness, spiritual, focused, and mantra meditation.
MTH is an advanced meditation technique introduced and guided by GrandMaster Choa Kok Sui, the founder of Modern Pranic Healing and Arhatic Yoga, which originated in the Philippines.
This meditation has been translated into over 20 languages, and is practiced by hundreds of thousands in more than 150 countries, by people of different religions (including Hindus, Christians, Buddhists, Muslims, Sikhs, and Jains) as well as other cultures and philosophies.
Science behind Meditation on Twin Hearts
Using quantitative brain waves or EEG studies, Jeff Tarrant, PhD and Neus Raines, PhD saw differences between the brain waves of experienced and non-meditators of Meditation on Twin Hearts. Results revealed experienced meditators had significantly more gamma waves (30-90 Hz) at pre- and post-tests. These brainwave patterns were found particularly at the anterior and posterior cingulate cortex suggesting increased integration and activation of key brain regions with the ability to modulate attention and states of alertness. Increased gamma waves are observed in high levels of cognitive functioning particularly in successful professional athletes, entertainers and high performing professional musicians when they are “in the zone.” Psychological functioning assessments using the Brunel Mood Scale (BRUMS) and the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI), as well as questionnaires using the coping self- effacing scale and the Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire (FFMQ), also suggested that practice of Meditation on Twin Hearts effectively reduces anxiety and improves cognitive function and happiness – even if one practices for the first time. Source: meditationontwinhearts.com
Meditation on Twin Hearts is a simple yet powerful way to de-stress yourself. Through the guided meditation, you will learn how to produce loving and positive energies (by focusing on the Prayer of St. Francis of Assisi), which you then use to bless other people. What could be more de-stressing than that?
