Spiritual Wellness: Meditation Explained

I’ve used meditation techniques on and off for many years. As a teenager living in Canada, my father discovered Transcendental Meditation and before you knew it, the whole family was meditating – 20minutes each morning and again in the evening. Somewhere along the way, I gave it up but began practicing a breathing form of meditation a couple of years ago because it really helped to make me feel more relaxed and balanced. So what exactly is meditation?

Meditation is generally thought of as a cessation of the though process. It’s a way to quiet our minds and to stop the constant chatter. To better understand what I’m saying, try this simple exercise. For just one minute, close your eyes and try to think of absolutely nothing. What did you experience? Most are surprised at the variety of thoughts that fly in and out of our minds in such a short space of time when we are trying not to think of a single thing.

Meditation is also a component of many different religions, encompassing a variety of spiritual practices that may have different goals. For example, some meditation practices seek to achieve a higher state of consciousness which enables us to commune with our higher self or with our Creator. Other practices focus more on self-awareness and still others focus on relaxation.

What’s really interesting is that medical practitioners are prescribing meditation as a natural healing technique to treat disease including high blood pressure, stress and to help those with asthma breathe more easily.

So whether you’re just looking to reduce your stress levels and live a more balanced life (like me) or if you would like to try meditation as a healing practice – it’s well worth the effort.

Stay tuned for further posts in this series including: Breathing Meditation; Transcendental Meditation; Christian Meditation; Buddhist Meditation.