More Complementary & Integrative Healthcare Articles
Meditation As an Alternative Method
Alternative methods for healing are becoming more and more popular in today's society. As Americans are stepping away from believing that every ailment has to be solved with a pill we are able to look toward self-healing. This is not to dismiss the fact that we must follow doctors' orders, but more Americans are becoming more in tune with their bodies and realizing that their bodies have the capability to tell them what is wrong, and at times to even restore itself.
Mind-body medicine is all about listening to that miraculously made creation called our body. We are learning to investigate our own symptoms from the signals our bodies give us for every situation. We are learning what it's like again to love ourselves in our skin. And one of the easiest ways to get in tune with self is through meditation.
Meditation allows our bodies to disconnect and truly relax. Studies have shown that when we meditate an immediate structural change in our brains take effect. Through meditation we learn to relax which causes our bodies to slow down, thus decreasing activity and allowing the four lobes of our brain to take a break and get some rest.
When both our body and brain rests it results in improved functioning for our entire body and we begin to see transformation in areas such as
Improved immune systems
Decreased tension (headaches, muscle and joint pain)
Increased energy levels
Noted transformations that take place in our mental self-care include
Decreased anxiety
Increased happiness
Improved emotional stability
Now, when we put it all together, we find that relaxation through meditation impacts the total body in positive ways. As we bring our self-care to full circle, starting in the brain, moving to the heart on down into the endocrine and immune systems.
Try alternative methods for just a week, starting with committing only 10 minutes of your day to relaxing. Not falling asleep, but just relaxing. By just committing to this for one week, you will begin to feel a difference in your body. And believe it or not, because your body knows what's good for it, this will be easier than you think.
For those wishing to lose weight, meditation will also help there as you release stress you will find that you are able to shed more of those unwanted pounds.
As you enter into this new state of mind, relax and prepare for true structural changes. Through alternative methods such as meditation, the new medicine, your body can be healed. So listen to it.
