A lot of research has been done on the relationship between mindfulness meditation and health, and the results are clear. Mindfulness meditation reduces stress and can increase both physical and mental health and reduce pain. So what is mindfulness meditation?

Mindfulness is looking at yourself and your actions (both internal and external) with curiosity and without judgement. The curiosity comes from observing what you are doing thinking or feeling and being curious about it; wondering why you may be acting that way. Lack of judgement means not judging yourself as right or wrong, especially the latter, for your actions.

Mindfulness meditation is usually done by focusing on something, usually your breath, but sometimes a sound like a mantra you repeat to yourself, and returning to that focus whenever you start to focus on something else. So if you are meditating by focusing on your breath, you return to that focus without judgement whenever you start to focus on a thought or an emotion, or something outside yourself like a sound. The power of the meditation lies in becoming aware of when you cease to focus on the breath, or your mantra, and immediately returning to that focus.

Some people think that they can’t meditate because they keep losing the focus on the breath. But losing the focus and them immediately returning to it, is meditation. By training yourself to immediately return to the breath whenever you cease to focus on it, however attractive or unattractive your thoughts or emotions may be, you will get better at focusing, and at letting go of things that have previously troubled you.

Not judging yourself is also important. Stress arises because of judgement of ourselves or another. When you can just observe whatever comes up without judging it, you will find that thoughts and emotions are often fleeting. They move though you like clouds moving across the sky. They have no inherent meaning beyond the meaning you give to them.

With practice you will find that the peacefulness you feel during meditation will extend into the time that you are not meditating. Things that used to cause stress, no longer do so, and you can let go of stressful thoughts or feelings more easily. Because both physical and mental illness is caused or maintained by stress, you will find that you become physically and mentally stronger, and illnesses improve or disappear.

While meditation has not been shown to shorten periods of depression, it does lengthen the periods between bouts of depression, so people become depressed less frequently. Those with social phobia, who find it difficult or impossible to interact with others without stress, generally improve with meditation. This is because those with social phobia usually judge themselves harshly. By learning not to judge themselves while meditating, these people find that self-judgement tends to disappear in social situations as well.

A positive change is usually seen after meditating for 30 minutes a day for three months. So if you have a lot of stress or a physical or mental illnesss, why not give meditation a try. It has no undesirable side effects and will likely enhance your life.

Start practicing mindfulness meditation today and watch your physical and mental health improve. I guarantee that you will be hooked on this practice and will not want to stop.

Learning to relax to reduce stress is the second step towards healing anything that ails you.   About 80 percent of illnesses are the result of the long-standing physiological changes caused by chronic stress.  Deep relaxation can help heal illness by reversing the physiological changes and teaching the body to react differently to situations seen as stressful.

Stress is caused by activation of the autonomic nervous system through the body’s flight-or-flight response.  This helps in a true emergency when fighting or fleeing the danger are the only sensible options. However, because the fight-or-flight response is activated by any situation see as stressful, including those where fighting or fleeing are not sensible options, the body ends up being flooded by stress hormones much of the time.  Consequently, it never gets a chance to return to the state of equilibrium known as homeostasis.  Constant stress increases blood pressure, blood sugar and abdominal fat storage, and decreases thyroid function, immunity, bone density and muscle tissue.  Over time these changes can lead to conditions such as hypertension, heart disease, stroke, metabolic syndrome, diabetes, hypothyroidism, cancer, auto-immune disease, and irritable bowel syndrome – to name but a few.

In homeostasis,  all body systems are working normally, and fostering health and healing by releasing chemicals that counteract those released by stress.   There are a number of techniques that can be used bring forth the relaxation response that indicates the body’s return to a state of equilibrium.  Not surprisingly, the level of relaxation required to make these deep changes does not come from activities, such as reading a book or watching television, that we normally see as relaxing.  Special deep relaxation techniques are required.

One of the simplest techniques was developed by Dr. Herbert Benson, a physician at Harvard Medical School, who observed that people practicing transcendental meditation (TM) reduced the activity of their autonomic nervous system.  Dr. Benson called the reduced autonomic activity ‘the relaxation response’ and gave this name to the simplified form of TM  he developed.  The Relaxation Response technique involves sitting quietly once or twice a day for 15 to 20 minutes and repeating a calming word or phrase in your mind.  Words such as ‘one’ or ‘peace,’ or phrases that express your religious or philosophical beliefs such as ‘In God I trust’ are best.  When distracting thoughts arise, just return to your chosen word or phrase.

Other forms of meditation will also achieve the same results as will almost any regular activity that quiets and focuses the mind.  Yoga, chanting, and repetitive prayer are some other examples of activities that also elicit the relaxation response.  The key to success in bringing about homeostasis and staying in, or returning quickly to, that state during a potentially stressful situation is to practice your chosen activity at least once a day for about 20 minutes.  Just as you would not expect to build muscle by only exercising once a week, you cannot train your body to choose the relaxation response over the fight-and-flight response by practicing infrequently or irregularly.

Learning to relax in a way that will reduce physiological stress is one of the most helpful steps you can take to create health and healing.