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The Holistic Mystic: |
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Meditation as Health Insurance |
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by Lonny Brown, Ph.D. |
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When it comes to alternatives to high-cost, high-tech health care, the results are in and the word is out: meditation is good medicine. The list of health benefits associated with the practice of meditation grows daily. These include lower blood pressure and cholesterol levels, improved immunity, vision and hearing, improved sleep, asthma control, better pregnancy and childbirth outcomes, stress reduction, pain control and lots more.
A Harvard University study found a substantial drop in the frequency of headaches, colds, and insomnia among experienced mediators as compared with non-mediators. These changes were also accompanied by reduced dependence on alcohol, cigarettes, coffee, and other drugs. In addition, the group of mediators reported more positive mood states and more regular daily routines."
In another landmark study at Harvard Medical School, Dr. Herbert Benson, author of "The Relaxation Response" demonstrated that meditation "produces a state of rest deeper than sleep, and that it lowers oxygen consumption, heart rate, respiration, and blood lactate (associated with anxiety), and increases Alpha brain wave activity (associated with relaxation). "As long as the subjects continued to meditate regularly for two brief periods a day, their blood pressures stayed measurably lower."
The University of Massachusetts Stress Reduction Clinic trains chronic pain and stress patients to do 30 minutes of yoga, four times a week, plus mindfulness meditation techniques. "Most people come into the program with an average of 22 symptoms out of a possible 110, a relatively high number. When people leave, they average 14; that's 36 percent fewer symptoms."
In studies at Maharishi University of Management, meditation students were found to be physiologically 12 years younger than their chronological age, as measured by lower blood pressure, better near-point vision, and better auditory discrimination.
A five-year study of medical care utilization statistics on 2,000 people throughout the U.S. who regularly practiced Transcendental Meditation found that their overall rate of hospitalization was 56% lower than the norm, and 87% less for cardiovascular disease.
Mental and emotional problems such as anxiety, depression, and heart-threatening hostility are also proving equally responsive to meditative therapies.
If you have symptoms or health problems and wish to utilize the therapeutic effects of meditation, first get a complete diagnostic check up from your physician. Find a doctor willing to work with mind-based approaches and benchmark your condition and track your progress. Then enroll in a meditation class and begin a daily meditation routine. Sit mindfully in peaceful silence for at least twenty minutes in the morning and evenings. You may find it helpful to use a "mantra," a simple phrase repeated mentally for focused concentration. Choose one that holds significance for you, such as I have an abundance of energy, or My body is whole.. Since meditation has subtle, organic influences, don't look for fast, dramatic improvements. Instead, build a regular meditation practice into your overall holistic health-improvement lifestyle, and you'll find that a sustained healing can occur over the course of weeks, months, or years. It's definitely worth the effort!
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Lonny Brown,
Ph.D.
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Lonny J. Brown, Ph.D. is the author of "Self-Actuated Healing" (Naturegraph, Publ.), and "Enlightenment In Our Time," (BookLocker.com/
LonnyBrown).
His writings on holistic health have appeared on AOL's Alternative Medicine Forum and in Alternative Health Practitioner, Yoga Journal, and many other progressive publications.
Dr. Brown teaches holistic health, mind/body healing, and stress reduction courses at hospitals, schools and businesses throughout the US. His Web site also features essays, tapes, books, and links to a variety of integrative health sources.
Lonny J. Brown, Ph.D. is also the author of " ENLIGHTENMENT ONLINE - The Newsletter for Spiritual Cyberspace.
holistic.com/lonny
lonny@holistic.com
lonnybrown@aol.com
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