Inner Peace: Is Meditation The Path? - Meditation Life Skills Podcast




Meditation Life Skills Podcast show

Summary: Discover Inner Bliss Guided Meditation Podcast<br> <br> <a href="https://www.meditationlifeskills.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/medium_3680999587.jpg"></a>Throughout history, meditation has been an integral part of many cultures. Records indicate that meditation was practiced in ancient Greece and India more than 5,000 years ago.<br> In the Buddhist religion, inner peace and meditation is an important part of their spiritual practice. Different forms of meditation are practiced in China and Japan, and Christianity, Judaism, and Islam have traditions similar to meditation. The word meditation comes from the Latin ‘meditari’ which means: exercise, turn something over in one’s mind, think, consider. It is defined as “consciously directing your attention to alter your state of mind.”<br> Meditation is one of the proven alternative therapies that in recent years have been classified under the mind-body medicine therapies.<br> It is continuing to gain popularity, as more and more health experts believe that there is more to the connection between mind and body than modern medicine can explain. Meditation has been shown to aid the immune system and improve brain activity, according to researchers.<br> <br> More and more doctors are prescribing meditation as a way to lower blood pressure, improve exercise performance, for people with angina, to help people with asthma to breathe easier, to relieve insomnia, and generally relax everyday stresses of life. Many hospitals now offer meditation classes for their patients because of the health benefits. All promote physiological health, inner peace and well-being.<br> <br> Traditionally meditation has been used for spiritual growth but more recently has become a <a href="https://www.meditationlifeskills.com/how-to-find-peace-in-a-busy-society-and-how-you-can-cope/">valuable tool for managing stress</a> and finding a place of inner peace, relaxation, and tranquility in a demanding fast-paced world. Benefits resulting from meditation include physical and emotional healing; easing stress, fear, and grief; improved breathing; developing intuition; deep relaxation; exploring higher realities; finding inner guidance; unlocking creativity; manifesting change; emotional cleansing and balancing; and deepening concentration and insight.<br> <br> Meditation elicits many descriptive terms: stillness, silence, tranquility, inner peace, quiet, and calm. All counter stress and tension. Lama Surya Das in his book Awakening The Buddha Within says, “Meditation is not just something to do; it’s a method of being and seeing – an unconditional way of living moment by moment.”<br> <br> In other words, learning to live in this moment because this moment is all we have. Henry Winkler is quoted as saying; “A human being’s first responsibility is to shake hands with himself.” Meditation is an opportunity to ‘shake hands with ourselves’ in a safe, simple way and to balance our emotional, mental, physical, inner peace and spiritual well-being.<br> Meditation takes many forms of inner peace in today’s society. All have one thing in common.<br> They use concentration techniques to still the mind and stop thought. Various practices exist such as chanting (Mantra), focusing on energy centers in the body (Chakra Meditation), breathing, mindfulness (Mahamudra), loving kindness, formal sitting (Vipassana), expressive practices (Siddha Yoga), and walking to name some of the styles.<br> <br> Try each style and see what works for you or you may want to alternate between the techniques from time to time. For the purposes of this article, I will discuss Mahamudra and walking meditation.<br> Practical Steps To Begin Meditating<br> 1. Find a place where there are few external distractions. A place where you feel emotionally comfortable, safe, removed from pressure and stress is the optimal location.<br> <br> 2. Wear clothing that is loose and sits or lays in a comfor...