Our world is filled with worries, stress, noise, pollution, and many other disturbances. You often hear people saying that all they want is some peace. Everyone has their own definition of peace. For some people, its world peace, and for others, its their boss not giving them more work, or its parents wanting their children to quiet down. Regardless of your definition of peace, true peace comes from within. Peace comes from inner stability and inner satisfaction. You can often tell when people are at peace within themselves.
One of the best ways to be peaceful from within is through meditation. The Sanskrit word for meditation is Dhyana. There are many scientifically proven benefits of practicing meditation such as reduced stress levels and blood pressure. However, I am not recommending meditation simply because of its scientific basis. Meditation has its roots in almost every culture of the world, from culturally to religiously, meditation is a part of history and there is a reason for why it was there.
Meditation is a time to explore yourself in silence. It is a time to release stress and discover your inner beauty and strength. These days, meditation is considered to be a spiritual practice and has no relation with religion, which allows everyone from all walks of life to find a type of meditation that suits them. Furthermore, meditation brings the inner peace, the inner stability that is needed for a healthy life. You cannot always control your external environment, but you can control your reaction to your environment. You have control over how you handle and cope with a situation. And of course, from the Ayurveda standpoint, meditation balances all the doshas, improves digestion and sleep.
For many people, their daily meditation is their time to themselves and their time for peace. It is a cleanse for the heart, mind, and soul. Especially for those with an overactive Vata and those who think a lot, meditation is highly recommended. One of the purposes of sleeping at night is to rejuvenate your body and clean out the toxins that have accumulated. Meditation has a similar effect. Meditation in fact takes it a step further, because it not only rejuvenates, but it also helps relax the heart and mind, thereby paving a smoother path towards a healthy life. Again, there are many different kinds of meditative practices out there and it is all about finding the right one for you.
Happy meditation!
Varsha
December 12th, 2008 at 9:43 pm
Yoga (Application) which was based on the control of the body physically and implied that a perfect control over the body and the senses led to knowledge of the ultimate reality. A detailed anatomical knowledge of the human body was necessary to the advancement of yoga and therefore those practising yoga had to keep in touch with medical knowledge. (Romila Thapar, A History of India, volume one).
I suggest : Mind and brain are two distinct things. Brain is anatomical entity whereas mind is functional entity. Mind can be defined as the function of autonomic nervous system (ANS). It is claimed that mind can be brought under conscious control through the practice of meditation. But how? ANS is largely under hypothalamic control which is situated very close to optic chiasma (sixth chakra or ajna chakra). Protracted practice of concentration to meditate at this region brings functions of ANS say mind under one’s conscious control. ANS is further divided into parasympathetic nervous system (PSNS) and sympathetic nervous system (SNS). PSNS dominates during meditative calm and SNS dominates during stress.
Protracted practice of meditation under qualified guidance will help to manage all sort of psychological problems.
Anirudh Kumar Satsangi
December 16th, 2008 at 3:49 am
Thank you for sharing your insights into the benefits of meditation – I like the way you refer to the “quieting of the heart and mind” and appreciate your point that this is essential for the vata disturbed mind.