Medicate or Meditate?

By Toni Greene, Owner

Happy Hour Yoga Center

. http://happyhouryoga-reiki.vpweb.com

More Complementary & Integrative Healthcare Articles

Medicate or Meditate?

Meditation can help prevent the need for medication for certain physical and mental issues. To meditate, we must upgrade our thinking and understand what drives our actions. Your body, like a vehicle, can be upgraded through self-awareness and meditation.

How Does One Upgrade Oneself?

By knowing oneself. Meditation fosters self-awareness. The body is your vehicle, and the mind is a crucial part of it. Thoughts influence emotions, which in turn affect the body, especially the organs. To upgrade the mind is to upgrade the body, as they control your thoughts, emotions, and actions.

Anxiety and depression often stem from our imaginations. Our thoughts dictate our emotions, causing reactions to present situations. Through meditation, we can control our thinking and imagination, allowing us to respond more calmly to the present moment. Situations are interpreted by our mind, affecting our emotions, actions, and reactions.

Ask yourself: “What am I thinking?” and “Why am I thinking this?” Our imagination often drives our emotions, leading to anxiety and depression. While we can’t change the past, we can shape our future by living in the present. The Bhagavad Gita states, “When we think about yesterday, it brings tears. When we think about the future, it brings fears. When you live in the present moment, it brings awareness, happiness, and cheer.”

Focus on the now. What are you feeling and thinking at this moment? What emotions are tied to your awareness? Which organ is being affected? Emotions result from your thoughts. So, should you meditate or medicate?

Meditation can reduce the need for medication. While medication benefits many, spending 10 to 20 minutes meditating daily, morning and night, enhances awareness and control over thoughts, feelings, and emotions. Meditation helps manage medication reliance. Both meditation and medication impact the body, mind, and soul.

Meditation calms the mind, increases security within oneself, and raises awareness of words, actions, and deeds. It can mitigate or better control the need for medication. Engage in meditation practices like prayer, listening to uplifting music, or focusing on your breath. The quality of your breathing influences your thoughts and reactions.

The beauty of thoughts is their flexibility; you can change them with focused breathing, controlling your thoughts, feelings, and emotions in the past, present, and future. Meditation grounds you in the here and now, bringing awareness to your words, actions, and thoughts.

To calm the mind with meditation, use mantras, prayers, affirmations, hymns, chanting, or spiritual singing. These techniques lead to peace, calm, and tranquility, fostering a sense of safety within yourself. Upgrade yourself to ensure your body and mind perform optimally. Your thoughts shape your life—what are you thinking, eating, saying, and doing?

A Simple Meditation Technique

Try this one-minute yogic breath: Inhale for a count of 20, hold for a count of 20, exhale for a count of 20, and repeat as needed.