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"Meditation is a way of developing an advanced state of relaxation and awareness in your mind and body. Although it is a component of many of the world’s religions, it is not a form of praying. Rather meditation has a healing effect on the body. "Some of the benefits of meditation to answer the question "why meditate?" are:
There are different types of meditation sitting positions you can use, which include:
When you learn to meditate, remember that each of these positions requires that you keep your spine straight. In all but the chair position, you have your legs bent. In the seiza posture, you allow your buttocks to rest on your feet. The other four types of meditation positions require you to sit on a small cushion and fold your legs so that one leg or foot is resting on the other leg. Of these positions, the Burmese position is the easiest for those asking "what is meditation all about?" because you simply place one foot on the calf of the opposite leg. The Full Lotus position is the hardest because you have to place the lower part of each leg on the thigh of the other. When you learn to meditate, try to empty your mind to bring your mind and body to a place of total relaxation. You focus on your breathing by counting the times you inhale and exhale. When you first start, you will probably be only able to maintain the position for ten minutes at a time, but as you gain more practice, you will easily be able to do this for 25 or 30 minutes. You should make sure that your spine is straight when you meditate to allow the natural flow of energy through the body. You hold your arms close to your body with one hand resting on the other so that your thumbs are just barely touching. You can have your eyes closed, half-closed, wide open or looking downward. Many people like to close their eyes when they first learn to meditate so that they can avoid any distractions that are within their view. Some like to hum or chant while meditating to increase their concentration as the concentrate on counting their breaths. When you asked yourself "what is meditation," you probably didn’t realize the idea is to try to clear your mind of thought completely. Thoughts will come to mind, but you should acknowledge them and then try to get them out of the way. When you take the approach of counting your breaths, then this consumes your thoughts making it easier to clear your conscious mind. As you meditate you will free your mind and body of its stresses that can cause illnesses and make you susceptible to various diseases. It helps to increase the blood flow to the brain and other parts of the body bringing them the nutrients they need to work properly. Many people report that they have a renewed sense of concentration that they bring to their daily activities as a result of types of meditation that center around meditating in the mornings. It is widely practiced in alternative medicine for lowering high blood pressure, slowing the activity of the heart, helping to build self-confidence and enhancing the immune system.
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