| Meditation has long been ignored as a therapeutic | | | | How To Learn |
| device in the West, but is now gaining favor as an | | | | If you want to learn meditation to improve the |
| effective treatment for a variety of conditions. | | | | overall quality of your life or as an anecdote for a |
| This article will help you to understand the possible | | | | particular condition or problem, you have several |
| benefits of meditation and how you can access | | | | options: |
| them. | | | | 1. Reading articles and books on meditation |
| The art of meditation is a complex process, not | | | | 2. Watching instructional DVDs |
| easy to study or understand. Yet it is a practice | | | | 3. Taking meditation (or possibly) yoga classes |
| that can be helpful in a number of ways. | | | | 4. Working with a private instructor, teacher or |
| Rewards And Benefits | | | | coach |
| Meditators experience a special state of | | | | 5. Engaging in counseling or therapy with a |
| consciousness -- different from ordinary | | | | properly trained therapist |
| consciousness -- where they feel an exalted | | | | Meditation is worthwhile even if you have no |
| sense of well being, understanding, joy and | | | | special goal in mind. It is a restful and restorative |
| serenity. They report a deepening awareness of | | | | experience that makes you feel so good, and one |
| life's beauty and a powerful and intense sense of | | | | that can deepen your spiritual life. |
| unity with all life. | | | | Yet, meditation can be difficult for some people |
| It takes years of disciplined practice to achieve | | | | to learn because it involves sitting still and doing |
| the greatest rewards (some of which are difficult | | | | something they are not used to doing -- quieting |
| to put into words), but it's possible to start | | | | the busy, noisy mind and moving into the silence |
| reaping benefits when just starting out. | | | | of inner spaces. |
| Meditation may be helpful for those who have | | | | Case Example |
| difficulty concentrating, breaking stubborn habits, | | | | Once I worked with an elderly client, a physician |
| or learning to relax. In addition, meditation may | | | | who had traveled the world, and showed her how |
| help with anxiety, depression, stress, trauma, | | | | to reach an inner state of tranquility and calm |
| chronic pain, anger and hostility, obsessive | | | | through hypnotherapy and meditation . . . and she |
| thoughts and low self esteem. And there are | | | | told me that, of all her life experiences, none had |
| many other applications under study. | | | | made her feel more deeply relaxed or more at |
| Mediation can be used as a therapeutic tool to | | | | peace. |
| help a client succeed in reaching therapeutic goals. | | | | It was a joy to watch her move into the |
| Mindfulness meditation, for instance, has helped | | | | mysterious reaches of this fascinating inner |
| some clients to decrease depression. | | | | experience, and to embark on an incredibly |
| Mindfulness therapy is a combination of cognitive | | | | rewarding journey at such an advanced age. |
| therapy and mindfulness, and helps in reducing | | | | And that's what makes meditation so wonderful. |
| depression. It is not the mood that harms us, but | | | | Once you have the experience of entering a |
| the way we react to it. So, in mindfulness-based | | | | profoundly beautiful, enjoyable and blissful state of |
| meditation we focus on altering our habitual | | | | consciousness, you won't regret it . . . one so |
| reactions. | | | | special it eludes description. |
| Or, meditation can be used as a general method | | | | Get busy meditating, and you'll soon find out why |
| of self-help, enhancing one's inner horizons and | | | | meditation is a wonderful therapeutic method . . . |
| leading to greater awareness and wisdom. | | | | and truly therapy for the soul. |