Meditation for Healing: Is Meditation actually Beneficial?

Meditation for Healing: Is Meditation actually Beneficial?

The technique of using meditation for healing has been of great interest to brain researchers around the globe. Numerous studies have revealed the relationship between meditation and a healthy brain.

We are living in a world fraught with all kinds of mental and physical diseases among people all over the globe. Have you ever wondered why we are more prone to illness now compared to earlier times? The answer lies in the lifestyle we lead. We are so caught up in our busy lives that we have stopped paying attention to our mind, body, and health, and later when we fall victim to serious illness, we freak out, regret and sometimes retreat ourselves from fighting back.

It becomes really tough once your mind gives up on things that your life gravely depends on.

We have come across people who have battled cancer. What do you think their ultimate secret to conquering such a deadly disease is? One may solely credit the medication process or the doctor who had helped through the journey, however, the true champions behind the scenes are none other than the patients themselves and their unfaltering mental strength.

These brave-hearted souls train their mind in such a way that they start to become resilient to the pains and sufferings they experience during their distressing times.

In simple words, your mind governs the whole “You” and determines the way you face any problem that comes your way. So training your mind is the key to achieving higher consciousness in order to acquire the power, motivation, and strength to deal with any kind of situation in life. There are various ways such as practicing hypnosis, taking psychoactive drugs and so on to heighten one’s awareness but these are most likely to cause harm to your mind and body later. Therefore, it is inevitable that we adopt a natural and harmless way that could not only train our mind but also help gain a foothold in your life. And that natural solution we are talking about here is the time-tested practice of “Meditation”.

Meditation is a set of techniques that help heighten awareness, focus, and concentration. It is a practice that dates back thousands of years, which can also be observed in several religions, cultures, and traditions all over the world. Meditations come in different forms; however, there are two main types:

Concentrative meditation

It is the type of meditation in which one puts his/her full focus on one single thing that can be in the form of a word, phrase, sound or an object or entity. This is the method to train the mind to give attention to one particular thing that is present before you for a specific period of time. This technique helps one acquire the powerful skill of concentration and focus.

Mindfulness meditation

In this type of meditation, the mind is trained to focus on your experiences such as emotions, thoughts, and sensations in the present moment.​ ​Mindfulness meditation​ encourages the mind to become more conscious, open, and centered. This meditation form can encompass breathing techniques, awareness of body and mind, mental imagery and relaxation practice.

Although meditation is a mind-based technique, it transcends the mental benefits and helps with several physical conditions as well. Many a study has shown that the practice is beneficial to people suffering from various mental and physical health issues.

Stress is something, which we all have cultivated involuntarily whenever we have failed to respond to certain challenges and problems in life. Stress grabs many of us naturally due to our careless and strenuous lifestyles, but the impact it has on our body and mind is sometimes extremely hazardous to our well-being. The stress is also one of the main factors associated

with mental disorders like depression,​ ​anxiety​,​ ​insomnia​, and others as well as physical diseases like high blood pressure, heart problems, body pain, cancer and so on.

Stress also arises from pre-existing health conditions and it only aggravates the person’s suffering and pain. You might have noticed when you have minor​ ​back pain​ or muscle cramp, you tend to become more irritated and moody, and those emotions only increase your stress level making you feel worse.

The effect of meditation

The effect of meditation is slightly similar to the “Placebo Effect”, but only that the former is a calming natural process while the latter actually requires medicine to make itself work. If you are not aware of the Placebo effect, it is nothing but a smart treatment theory involving medical prescriptions like pills, shots or any form of medication that do not necessarily have the intended therapeutic value to cure a particular disease, however, meant to work on the psychology of the patient.

In simple words, the placebos are not actually “Real” medicines, and in fact, they are least effective in treating any disease, but their real purpose is to trick the patient’s brain into thinking

that those medicines will assuredly heal his/her disease. This idea may seem utterly illogical, but studies have actually shown that placebo medicines are beneficial to patients suffering from depression, chronic pain, sleep disorders, and irritable bowel syndrome. This is a great example ascertaining that our minds are majorly responsible for most of the mental or physical pains we experience from time to time.

Having compared the Placebo effect with Meditation, it does not necessarily mean these two share the same values and qualities. Meditation, on the contrary, is more like a habit that could mend most of the broken pieces of your life. It is a way of life that will help anyone to sail smoothly on the turbulent sea of his/her life.

Now let us delve deeper into the “Effect of Meditation” and see how it can help several mental and physical conditions. The basic form of meditation requires one to close the eyes and focus on the breath while he/she inhale and exhale. Then the focus slowly moves to the parts of the body and their functions as well. These observations help us to become more aware of our body and its mechanism as well as boosts mental strength by helping to learn how to focus and concentrate.

It may seem like a simple process but it works wonders to our mind, body, and soul. You should keep in mind that only after you examine your body and learn how it works, then only could you start taking steps to take care of your body and prevent it from various illnesses. To put it plainly, meditation is about scanning your inner bodily sensations and feeling it by concentrating on specific areas wherein you visualize them in your mind along with your focus on your breath.

Is Meditation actually beneficial for health?

So the question is how does meditation actually help manage health issues? First, let us determine how our body and mind react to any kind of pain. For example, when we fall and wound ourselves, we do not immediately feel the pain but soon enough the pain ascends and in no time, we find ourselves suffering from the same. If we scientifically look at it, the actual pain is felt when your nerve endings sense the discomfort in the body and then send pain signals to your spinal cord and brain. When the brain receives the pain signals, then only the actual pain is felt in the concerned body part.

The practice of Mindfulness-based stress reduction treatment is applicable to several health issues like​ ​depression​, hypertension, heart diseases, and even cancers. Firstly, we should seriously note that stress is the root cause of many illnesses especially hypertension, heart diseases, and other mental conditions. Stress not only plays a huge role in igniting an illness but also aggravates the pain of an already existing disease. For example, when you are not feeling well, and then you over think about your condition, it dampens down your mental strength making you feel sicker.

Coming to terms with your pain

The method of meditation and its effect on our mind and body to help manage health problem is actually quite simple. The primary purpose of meditation is to come face to face with your pain and the discomfort in your body. It’s about accepting your body and its sufferings as it is, without judging or obsessing over it, and simply coming to terms with all of them. This helps one understand one's situation in the present time and visit the darkest space permitting oneself to acknowledge his/her bodily condition. Once one accepts his/her state, it becomes easier to not stress about it all over again.

Acceptance will further encourage and empower the person to continue the journey with a much stronger mind and heart. As mentioned before, a cancer patient needs to accept his/her

condition to be able to face it daringly. The fear of dying or getting worse is natural, however, one should procure courage from that fear itself. Of course, it will not be an easy start, but meditation will definitely help make the journey a lot easier.

Diverting your focus from your pain

Now we know our brain is the real culprit that makes us feel "the pain". Therefore, what we have to do is, take away the focus of your mind from your pain so that it overlooks or in fact forgets that your body is in pain. These days, there is an increase in the number of hospital pain clinics prescribing mindfulness meditation to deal with multiple diseases such as cancer, diabetes, heart disease, and arthritis. Medical professionals also recommend this mindfulness technique for back pains, chronic fatigue, fibromyalgia, coeliac disease and many more.

According to Harvard Health Publishing, stress reduction expert​ ​Jon Kabat-Zinn​ recommends the body scan mindfulness exercise as the best form of mindfulness meditation for pain conditions.

There are also professional guided meditation sessions to manage several health conditions.

These sessions involve teaching one to embrace oneself and not react to their bodily pains.

These techniques help one to sneak out of those painful feelings giving him/her the key to lock the pains and gain control over it.

The conclusion is, meditation especially Mindfulness-based techniques can help keep your health issues at bay, as well as help you gain a whole new perspective on life. This technique can be “the beacon of light” for many, including you.

Related Article:​ ​The Ultimate Guide: How to do Walking Meditation