Article Directory Sputnik okcRebecca Sykes, a Boston correspondent for the IDG News Service, contributed to this article. Directory exploitation Continued from page 1 Novell Directory…

Believe it or not, but we leave in the crazy world where everything is not like it was a just a couple of centuries ago. Our ancestors breathed in unpolluted air, enjoyed clear water and produced natural food. What do we have today? Having the same physiology as it was 4 or 5 generations ago modern humans lead mad lives! We consume dirty water and extremely harmful soft drinks, stuff our bellies with harmful food, inhale smoky air and live in constant urban noise around us. As for the emotional and nervous stress and strain, it is absolutely intolerable. Our speed of life makes us be in a hurry on a twenty-four hour basis, we are overworked and downtrodden in our family lives, we don’t have enough rest and sleep to do extra work and make our carriers. We never give a thought to the fact that our body requires some time to relax and restore, what is more, our head aches for some rest, too. Unfortunately, the majority of men and women realize this simple truth when they fall seriously ill. Don’t become one of them! Think ahead and turn to absolutely safe and highly effective healing system known for centuries - meditation.

“Did it come to your mind that individuals who meditate daily are more content with their lives, healthier and enjoy longer life expectancy than those who don’t?” This utterance is rather hackneyed now, but is it true or not?

What it meditation? It is a unique concentrating practice where the major task is to suspend the normal stream of thoughts occupying the mind. There are all kinds and types of meditation. Maybe you will be amazed to read that a prayer is also a pure meditation as it is. In addition to this kind of concentration clear for all believers there are Transcendental Meditation, mindfulness meditation, Zen meditation, Buddhist meditation and Taoist meditation.

Meditation is the realm of complementary medicine that unlike traditional medicine it never forgets that humans have more than a mere ill body. Meditation views persons as unique creatures possessing an inseparable unity of intellect, body and soul. Meditation teachers realize that you cannot be healthy and happy with your life if your head is filled with hate, anger and disappointment. The interesting fact is that more and more conventional doctors recommend their patients meditation as a way of managing certain health disorders. With meditation you can:

- lower your blood pressure;
- improve the general state of people with angina including their exercise performance;
- let humans with asthma breathe easier;
- forget about insomnia;
- restore after everyday stressful day of life.

Meditation is a native activity for every human, that is why it is up to you to make up your mind where you will practice meditation. Some persons prefer to master meditation at home. It is very simple with all the instructional books and audio CDs available. Others choose to find a good teacher.

With all its simplicity meditation can offer you a number of options. There are several approaches to meditation. Here are some prompts for you how to meditate.

1. Focus on your breath - keep your attention on the feeling of the stream of air passes in and out of your nostrils. This is so called “mindfulness meditation” - the meditator should learn to be “mindful”, i.e. aware of the present moment of time, but his or her consciousness should be free of any judgments and reactions.

2. Focus on your body - keep your attention on the feelings in your body: pain, warmth, discomfort, tension etc.

3. Focus on any word or phrase you like - keeping your attention on a word or phrase is called a “mantra”. Its major task is to keep your mind free of any dangerous thoughts.

It is wrong to think that you should always sit during meditation. It is just as good to lie down, to stand or even to have a strall. If for some reason sitting still is difficult for you, feel free to combine meditation with other practices such as yoga or tai chi - you will get double pleasure and positive effect!

The use of meditation for healing human body and soul is rather old. All contemporary meditative techniques are the result of years and years of work and mental experiments of people around the world. The healing power of mediation has been known and practiced for thousands of years. Its cornerstone is tradition and religion; its effect is health and inner harmony! To tell you the truth, all religious groups apply meditation in one form or another.

It is doubtless that of all the religions Buddhism is a “father of meditation” - it is the best known and the most practiced type of meditation in the world. Buddhists use the practice of meditation for reaching real wisdom and compassion and for seing reality as it is. Buddha followers guess that our ordinary state of mind is very shallow - it is both limited and limiting. Meditation broadens human horizons and makes it possible to reveal our conscious and unconscious possibilities in full measure.

The stunning truth is that despite its unique history and rich traditions, meditation has been wrongly ignored by the representatives of conventional medicine and only during the past thirty years the medical science concentrated on the studies of clinical effects of meditation on health. The 1960s started with amazing medical reports of yogis and meditation masters from the mysterious East who could demonstrate extraordinary bodily control and could consciously stay in altered states of their minds - and this is where studies of self-regulation and voluntary control over the autonomic nervous system launched! The ironical scientific world was deeply shocked when refined scientific instrumentation proved that unbelievable things can happen! Now health care professionals specializing in stress-related disorders had a unique way of treatment without ruinous side effects typical for drug treatments - it was the art of meditation! It proved to be a valuable tool for stress reduction, and what is more, men and women and physicians enjoyed both the process of healing meditation and the health benefits available with regular trainings!

But the greatest surprise was still to come! After some time of scientific research of meditation this activity turned out to be perfect not solely for changing the brain’s function in the short term. The medical data demonstrated that regular practice of meditation produces a miraculous long-term positive effect! So, Transcendental Meditation in particular guarantees you a blissful state of relaxation including low heart and perspiration rates, low pulse rate, low concentration of cortisol in your blood (it is a major stress hormone) and increased activity of the part of your brain responsible for rest and relaxation! Famous doctor R. Keith Wallace investigating Transcendental Meditation found out that during meditation the body gains the most profound rest imaginable. Paradoxically, your brain and mind become clear and more alert - your reactions are faster, your creativity and efficiency is greater and your view of the world is broader!

In contrast to Transcendental Meditation, Taoists think that our emotions are ruled by the Fire energy of the heart. When you cannot control your emotions, this fire energy flares upwards and burns your life energy and clouds your mind. But you can cope with that! Your willpower, on the contrary, is controlled by the Water energy located in your kidneys. If you do not control this energy, it flows down through your sexual organs, weakening your spirit and ruining your life. So, Taoists consider that when you sit motionless doing nothing and thinking of nothing, i.e. when you are meditating your Fire and Water are in harmony. Water energy from the kidneys goes up to your head via the Central and Governing channels. At the same time Fire energy from the heart goes down into the Lower Elixir Field in the abdomen. Through this right circulation of two energies and by means of this mental alchemy in the body your mind becomes calmer, cooler and more controllable, while your sexual energy becomes really enjoyable!

Meditation is obviously one of the safest activities imaginable. It is wonderful for personalities of all ages and states of health. However, you should know that in individuals with bad psychiatric diseases, there have been a few reports in which regular meditation has worsened the state of their mental health. If you have a psychiatric disease, please, ask your mental health professional before starting the practice of meditation.

One more necessary point - if you take medicines on a regular basis never stop taking them before you have completed the course. The truth is meditation cannot give you stable relief at once - in needs some time to work! If you cannot stand queuing up in the waiting room of your physician to get your prescription, find a trusted online pharmacy online where you can order meds no prescription needed legally. Take definite steps to make your life better right now! And let healing mediation be your best guide.