Pandurang R. Gaonkar
Though medical science has grown in leaps and bounds the roots of healing are still very much in use. Now-a-days, more and more doctors are prescribing meditation and Yoga Pranayama as ways to lower blood pressure, improve exercise performance in people with angina, help asthmatics breathe easier, relieve insomnia and generally ease the everyday stresses of life. Meditation is a safe and simple way to balance a person’s physical, emotional and mental states. The concept of meditation works on the principle that when the mind is calm and focussed on the present, it is neither reacting to memories from the past nor being preoccupied with plans for the future, two major sources of chronic stress known to impact health.
There are several techniques of meditation and they all have one thing in common: focus on quietening the busy mind. The concept is not to remove stimulation but rather to direct concentration to one healing element - one sound, one word, one image, or one’s breath.
All meditation can be broadly classified into concentrative meditation and mindful meditation. Concentrative meditation focuses attention on a breath, and image or a sound in order to still the mind and allow greater awareness and clarity to emerge. The simplest form of concentrative meditation is to sit quietly and focus attention on the breath and one’s state of mind.
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