Meditation is becoming increasingly recognized as a valid healing technique, even among conventional medical practitioners. It’s effective for decreasing anxiety, as well as easing the symptoms of a host of medical issues.
Meditation helps you relax, loosening muscles and lessening stress. Lowering stress does wonders for the body; as you may know, stress is at least partially blamed for a host of illnesses.
Its uses extend beyond the medical realm, however. Meditation can create positive mental effects, and produce substantial changes in one’s life. According to alternative health guru Dr. Andrew Weil, meditation can actually change the mind’s structure over time.
This positive change allows you to focus on the things you want to do, rather than the negative thoughts that keep you from achieving your goals and following your dreams. You may not have even been aware of the repeated negative thoughts that affect your moods and self-esteem.
Meditation also improves concentration by blocking out the clutter of racing thoughts and other distractions. It’s hard to achieve goals and make other positive changes in your life when your mind is crowded with insignificant or detrimental thoughts and images.
Meditation can change your thought patterns for the better, enabling you to realize just how much you are really capable of doing. Once you realize just how much you can achieve, the sky is the limit! You will see yourself and the world in a whole new light.
Positive self-image is half the battle. We all have thoughts, even if buried deep in the subconscious, that trigger doubts-often at the most inopportune times. Doubt can stop you from doing your best if you let it influence your actions. Meditation allows you to bypass these negative ideas in favor of positive, life-enhancing ones without undergoing years of therapy.
In fact, according to the world-renowned Mayo Clinic, just a few minutes of meditation can have a positive effect. Meditating means directing your attention to a specific image, phrase, or other manifestation of something you want to achieve. You don’t even need to invent something to focus on; it can be an existing passage, picture, or word.
Its simple nature means meditation is easy and portable. In fact, you can even meditate when you need a shot of confidence-just before a job interview, or giving a presentation in front of a large group. Visualizing a successful outcome and positive experience puts you on the path to making it happen.