Meditation, an exercise recommended for everyone, but especially those with hectic, stressful lifestyles, is defined as an engagement in contemplation, especially of a spiritual or devotional nature. Meditation has been shown to relieve stress and promote overall good health, by simply reflecting upon our day, and finding happiness within ourselves. This and other mind exercises help us to keep our minds fit and functioning at top performance levels. But up until the last twenty years, meditation was something the western world knew little about. Is it necessary for our health? Or have we just come up with a new fad, to fill up the empty hours of our day?
Our mind has varying levels of operation, known as brainwaves. As we pass through the different stages of our day, we enter various stages of brain wave activity. The brain uses this tool as one way to allow us time to rest our busy mind, and cope with all the pieces of information we’ve received, a way to kind of “mind file” for the day.
Modern alternative medicine and holistic healers believe in the power of the energy that flows through our bodies; this energy radiates from our minds as well. It is believed to be the chief form of transportation for our body’s nervous system to carry out communication. Breathing techniques, music, aromas, and candle therapy are all ways we utilize the opportunities to reflect on our day, allow our mind to rest, and replenish itself for further use. But are these methods keeping us mentally fit? Yes, it does help to keep us mentally fit. The great benefit in meditation, however, is the mind’s ability to transform itself into a vehicle for higher awareness. Meditation is a way for us to become aware of the fact that there is more to our being than just our physical activity. We have so much more potential locked away in our mind, resources that we never tap into until we have the chance to quiet the mind, quiet our surroundings and open the door to the possibilities we don’t examine on a day-to-day basis.
In our meditative state, thoughts that never have the opportunity to be heard during the bustle of the day are afforded the opportunity to come forward and be heard. Every step that we take is a step in some direction for our life. The opportunity to set our own destiny, develop our manifestation of what we believe our life should be, is the opportunity meditation provides. Every action we’ve ever taken started as a thought. The thought was then brought into reality by our action on that thought. So are we able to produce new thoughts and new possibilities, in this time of quiet reflection?
It is in these small moments of creativity and higher conscious operation that our mind heals itself from the stresses of everyday activities and maintains a real level of healthy operation. Our mind is like our body, we don’t have to look unhealthy to be unhealthy, and sooner or later, the illnesses show.
