I love to meditate. In fact I consider walking my dog Sam a meditation practice. It helps quiet and relax my ever racing mind. I also practice a sitting meditation, just listening to my breathing, or repeating a mantra or saying. Lately I've repeated the words "Peace" on the inhale and "release" on the exhale. I do this for about 15 minutes every morning. I've discovered meditation podcasts on Itunes and those are wonderful for a change of meditation pace.
Recently the American Heart Association released the results of study of 201 African American men and women who were asked to make some lifestyle changes or begin a meditation practice. The meditators had a 47% reduction in deaths , heart attacks and strokes. I happen to be an African American female and I know that's big news since cardiovascular disease and stokes are a big killer in our community. Of course meditation can benefit you whatever your ethnicity, but you have to do it to receive the benefits.
On a earlier post I described a rain meditation. But there are so many different types, it's best to check out a few and find the one that resonates with you and stick with it for awhile. Sometimes people think that meditation is against their religion, but I counter that all the great religions have meditation rituals. You can meditate on the aspects of God such as love, joy,peace and faith. Those are big ideas that no one religion can claim. But meditation can just be done simply for the sake of health, stress relief, and peace of mind with no religious labels at all. Right now I am reading a book called Commit to Sit: Tools for Cultivating a Meditation Practice. This book is great and it gives all kinds of different meditation techniques. Whatever method you choose, you can't go wrong taking a few minutes out of your day to relax and quiet your mind.
Sunday, November 29, 2009
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