HEALING THE BODY AND THE SPIRIT

MEDITATION

Most of us limit our definitions of health to two categories – health and illness.  These terms focus specifically on the state of our body, which is a limited definition in the eyes of alternative medicine practitioners.

To those who practice natural healing and alternative medicine, there are several different aspects of your life that need to be in balance in order to help you maintain your ideal state of wellness.

• Physical health
• Mental health
• Spiritual health

We realize that we need to exercise more and stress less in order to stay fit and healthy, but what have you done for your soul lately?

Cultivating spirituality isn't just about following a specific religion or set of rules, but rather learning more about who we are and what we believe when all is quiet and still.

This is where meditation can step in.

By not stepping on any spiritual practices you may already have, meditation can help you cultivate a sense of spiritual well-being as well as inner peace.

Many people have scoffed at meditation, thinking it's a practice of sitting cross legged and chanting to themselves.  This is far from the truth.  When you take a deeper look into this many thousand of years old practice, you will find that meditation is actually quite simple – and easy to do anywhere.

Meditation involves the training of your mind to release the excessive thoughts we all hold inside.

Right now, you're probably not just reading this book, but also thinking about what your next meal is going to be, how you're going to plan your next vacation, etc. 

Our minds are always working overtime, which is causing a strain on our bodies.

We know that doing too much is stressful for our bodies, but when it comes to our busy minds, we don't seem to apply the same knowledge.  With meditation, you will be able to quiet things down in your brain and help it get a much needed rest in order to process things that are happening and that have happened.

This allows us to learn from our experiences and to retain memories more easily as well.

In terms of medicine, meditation allows the body to rest so that it can relax and repair any damage that we may have caused.  Your body's cells will be able to turnover more easily, which allows us to have brighter skin and even a stronger immune system.

By teaching our brains to slow down and to be quiet, we are teaching our bodies to run at a lower speed.  This lessens the damage that our busy lives might be doing to us and it can help us maintain perspective, even when it seems like we're overwhelmed.

Meditation has been linked to:

• Lower blood pressure
• Lessened anxiety
• Slower heartbeat
• Less muscular tension
• Fewer illnesses

And these benefits have been proven by science again and again.

In order to start your own meditation practice, it will help to keep in mind that only ten minutes a day will help you reap the benefits.  So you don't have to worry about meditation taking up a lot of your time.

Here are the steps to creating your own meditation practice:

• Find a quiet place where you will not be disturbed.

• Wear loose fitting clothing that doesn't restrict you in any way.

• Find a place where you can sit upright without becoming fatigued – it's generally not a good idea to lay down as many people can fall asleep in doing that.

• Close your eyes and breathe normally.

• Sit like this for a few minutes until you settle into your body.

• Once you are calm, try to let go of any thoughts you have in your mind.

• If any new thoughts enter in (and they will), just dismiss them from your mind and try to focus on your breathing.

• Some people find that counting their breaths in and out helps them keep their attention away from new thoughts.

• Or you can choose a one syllable word to repeat with each breath.

• Continue this for as long as you can.

• Once you are done, slowly open up your eyes and come back to the room.

At first, you will have troubles letting go of your thoughts.  Think of this process as any other workout you might do.

You can't simply lift 100 pounds at once, you need to slowly build up your strength until your muscles are ready.  You might want to approach meditation in the same fashion.

Start by doing just five minutes a day, then ten, then fifteen, etc.

Each time, it will become easier to mediate and to let go of intrusive thoughts.

But meditation isn't limited to being quiet and keeping your mind still by simply focusing on your breathing.  You can also help quiet your mind by creating another place upon which to focus your thoughts.

Here are some ideas:

• Walking meditation  Focus on each step, what it feels like, what the moment is like.  In doing so, you will make your mind still.  Move slowly with each step, pushing off with the ball of your feet and rolling to the heel.

• Think about the present  Stop every few hours to notice the world around you.  Just look around you and think about nothing but what is happening right then.  Don't worry about the future or the past, just focus on the right now.

• Shower meditation  When you're in the shower, focus on the water and how it feels as it hits your skin.  Think only about the process of showering and cleansing yourself.  Allow yourself to focus on each movement you make, how it makes you feel, etc.

• Slow down everything  For one day or even one hour, make sure to do everything more slowly than you usually do.  This will cause you to slow down and take notice of everything around you.  In addition, you will slow your mind down at the same time.

• Attend a meditation class Many community centers are now offering free or low cost classes in meditation that you can take.  These can help you learn more about how to settle your mind in a supportive setting.

• Purchase or borrow a guided meditation CD  For some people, they need more guidance when it comes to meditation.  You might need to be guided into a more relaxed state and that's what these CDs do.  By giving you things to think about and visualize, you can slowly learn to settle your thoughts.

• Direct your attention to a picture or an object  If you still find that your mind is wandering, it can help you to have a focus point.  Some people like to look at the flickering flame of a candle or at a picture to help them concentrate.  In time, you might not even need that item – you can simply picture it in your mind when your thoughts return.

Whatever helps you clear your mind can be considered a part of your meditation practice.  And since the effects of meditation are cumulative, you can slowly add more minutes of meditation to your day in order to reap all the benefits.

 
REIKI

One of the more common New Age treatments that you may have heard of is Reiki. 

But while many people have heard of it, fewer people have a clear understanding of what Reiki does and how Reiki works. 

Reiki's history is a bit vague, but the overwhelmingly agreed upon story is that a man named Mikao Usui developed the practice in Japan in the late 19th century.

The process involves the channeling of healing energy through one person and into the patient.  Usui is said to have undergone a strict fasting and meditation regimen after which he was given this healing power.

Because the healing powers are not coming from the person directly, Reiki does not deplete the practitioner who is practicing.  This allows the person to continue to do Reiki treatment after Reiki treatment – so long as they can access the source of the healing.

Where is the source of the healing then?

Depending on who you ask, Reiki's energy seems to come from something called the universal life force.  Some like to call it chi, while others just call it by the name of their chosen deity.  In any case, it is the energy that is all around us and just waiting to be harnessed for a good use.

A practitioner of Reiki undergoes an extensive training process in which he or she receives an attunement.  Easily put, this is a process in which they learn to access the universal life energy and then transfer that energy into the patient.

With a clear intention in mind, the Reiki practitioner will lay their hands on the client and focus the energy into the client's body.  In doing so, it is thought that the body then receives the healing energy in whatever manner will help it best.

The client's body then uses that energy to heal itself.

The practitioner is no more than a conduit of the healing energy, but since so many of us are far removed from the idea that we can heal ourselves, they help to arrange the healing we need by acting as the go between – the middleman, if you will.

Within a Reiki session, you will be asked to lay down on a table (in most cases).  If you have troubles lying down, Reiki can also be done on someone who is sitting up or standing.

At that point, the Reiki practitioner may say a few things to themselves in order to attune themselves to the energy they will be using in the session.  As a client, you may be asked to specify a certain complaint in order to facilitate the Reiki session.

If you don't have any complaints, that's okay too.  It is thought that the healing energy goes to wherever it is needed.

The Reiki practitioner will then lay their hands on several parts of the body, generally starting at the head and the neck.  They will not be massaging these areas, but rather they will be placing their hands there in order to direct the energy.

You might feel heat radiating from their hands as they do this.

You can remain completely clothed during this process, though you might want a blanket over you as the body can become cold when this amount of energy is coursing through your veins.

The process takes as long as the practitioner feels is necessary, though for most people, it's no longer than an hour.

At the end of the session, you might talk with the Reiki practitioner about the feelings you had and they might share with you any visions they had as they were touching certain parts of your body.

Some Reiki practitioners are so tuned into the client that they can talk about problems they sensed in the energy as well as messages that they felt the energy might have been trying to relay to the client.

When the session is over, you might feel lightheaded and tired.  It will help if you drink a few glasses of water to help you settle back into your body before you get up to leave.

It may take a few hours before you begin to feel like yourself again, but this is completely normal. 

Over the next few days, some clients will experience shifts in their energy – sometimes resulting in colds or other illnesses.  As your body realigns itself, it is thought that it may be weaker for a while before becoming stronger than ever.

Reiki has a number of benefits and conditions it can help:

• Stress reduction
• Relaxation
• Detoxification of the body
• Improved sleep
• Lower heart rate
• Lower blood pressure
• Pain relief
• Restores energy to the body
• Improves immune system function
• Helps assist with difficult decisions or memories

By helping the body with energy, Reiki is thought to be able to affect not only the physical body, but also the emotional and spiritual bodies.

Reiki practitioners can have three different levels of expertise:

• First degree  After the students receive their first attunement and learn the basic hand positions, they need to practice Reiki on a certain number of people before they can move up to the next level of practice.
• Second degree  The student then learns the symbols associated with Reiki energy that can aid in distance treatment.  Another attunement is given at this stage.
• Third degree  At this stage, another attunement is given and the student is now considered a master level Reiki practitioner.  They can teach others to perform Reiki as well as attune others.

There are many benefits to Reiki as an alternative medicine practice:

• No side effects
• Can work for all ages
• Can be done over great distances
• Can be focused on a certain ailing part of the body
• Works on children
• Works on pets and animals
• Can also be done on food before it is prepared
• Anyone can learn
• Those who learn Reiki can perform it on themselves
• Group treatments are possible

You can find a local Reiki practitioner by looking in your local yellow pages or by talking to the sales clerk at a New Age retailer.  Check the credentials of the practitioner before you make an appointment to be sure that they are well-trained.

You might also be able to find Reiki healers online who are willing to do long distance treatments.  Be wary of these as they can also be scam artists who just want your money.

Reiki needs to be repeated on a regular basis for the maximum benefits or it may just be a one time thing if you had a specific problem that needed ot be addressed.

YOGA

Many people don't realize that their weekly yoga class is not only helping to reshape their bodies, but also to reshape their health.

This meditative practice of positioning your body allows for proper alignment, which can help in a number of ways:

• Reduced anxiety
• Reduced aches and pains
• Improved concentration
• Better complexion
• Healthier weight
• More muscle tone
• Fewer headaches
• Better balance
• Higher bone density
• Quieter mind

Yoga was developed many thousands of years ago around the area of India.  Developed as a spiritual practice, yoga was thought to help the practitioner become closer to spiritual enlightenment.

In fact, in the Bhagavad Gita, there are three different types of yoga: the yoga of knowledge, devotion, and action.  By balancing these areas of your life, it was thought that not only would your health be at its highest levels, but that your mind would be in tune with the energy of the world.

But what does this mean in modern times?

It's no secret that yoga is used to help people stay flexible and in shape, but it can also help with health related matters.

When you practice yoga, you are learning to first control your mind.

By focusing only on the postures you are doing, you can not think about the long To Do list that you have or what you're making for dinner.  You can only think about staying in the position and trying to bend deeper and for longer with each session you attend.

In doing so, yoga becomes an extended type of meditation.

You clear your mind in order to make room for the posture to become a part of you. 

In longer yoga routines, you need to flow in and out of each pose gracefully and slowly.  Your muscles tense and you have to push from one pose to the next.

Since your mind is focused on the move you are doing as well as transitioning into the next movement, you are quiet in your mind and completely focused on the present.

This meditation allows your mind to still as your body becomes the center of attention.  When this happens, the cells in your body can relax and begin to focus more on cellular repair and healing.

Not only are you engaging your meditative mind, but you are also adding breathing to your poses as well.

Most yoga types will teach that you need to breathe in and out with certain movements so that your body can relax and fall into the posture.  Not only does this help with your meditation, but it also helps to oxygenate your blood cells so that you have more energy.

The breathing helps your body learn to take in more air with each breath, which helps you in your everyday life.

Instead of keeping your chest tight and your breath shallow – as so many of us do – you learn to expand your chest and breathe deeply into your belly.  This allows you to maximize each inhalation.

Yoga also helps you with your mental difficulties by constantly challenging you and asking for more of you. 

Each time you learn a new pose, you need to figure out how your body can handle this pose.  It's not just about being the most flexible; it's about listening to your body and moving in the way that is most natural to it.

While it would be great to learn how to bend yourself into a pretzel – it's not necessary.

All you need to do is to push yourself a little further with each yoga class or workout.  The only person you need to 'beat' is yourself.

You can find yoga classes at nearly every gym and community center in the country.  There are also many good yoga books and DVDs available for purchase.  Try out a few different kinds of yoga before you settle on the one that suits your temperament.

Some of the yoga types include:

• Bikram yoga  Also known as hot yoga.  This yoga is done in a room that's very hot with the idea that if your muscles are warmed up more, you will be able to deepen each pose more as well as sweat out any toxins.  Intermediate levels and Advanced levels only.

• Hatha yoga  This is a slow moving yoga that is perfect for beginners to the yoga scene.  Each pose is slow and deliberate, helping you learn the form before you speed up.

• Ashtanga yoga  One of the more athletic types of yoga.  You will find yourself doing long series of poses which will get your heart rate up and help you burn fat.  Beginners who are already in shape and Intermediate levels.

• Vinyasa  The focus on the breathing in this type of yoga helps with anxiety and muscle tension reduction. All levels.

• Iyengar  In this form of yoga, you will need to hold poses for long periods of time.  This requires some muscle stamina and endurance.  All levels.

It will help if you take a few different kinds of yoga when you're first testing out what yoga can do for you.  Or you can watch a few classes to see if that type might be a good match for your fitness level and temperament.

Yoga is something that you can practice on your own, but every practice should begin with basic instruction.   Many poses can be dangerous if you don't know how to do them properly, so you want to learn the basics before launching into your own personal yoga plan.