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Discover the Benefits of Yoga Meditation Practice
What’s more valuable to you – a trained body of a trained mind? Most people would think about this for half and conclude that physical appearance, through training the body is more important to them. In Hatha Yoga, we can easily see the number of students who seek physical control through asana practice.
Not everyone feels asana is the “holy grail” of Yoga, but physical strength is still an attraction. However, for a physical to pursue mastery of mental control, one must feel that his or her mental health concerns along fine. If this were so, why are so many people suffering from chronic stress, anxiety, panic disorder, depression, and a variety of mental disorders?
Meditation may not solve all the ills of humanity mental experiences, but it can certainly help. Many Western doctors recommend meditation as a complementary therapy. Many social workers, psychiatrists and psychologists also recommend yoga for the mind to stabilize.
The most common reason why yoga students want to learn meditation for the mind to relax when needed. Easing the mind and body of negative nervous energy is the result of a complete Hatha yoga practice. In other words, physical exercises (asanas), alone will not achieve optimum results for holistic health.
Asanas will help clear negative energy from the body and mind, to a limited point. This is why Maharishi Patanjali mentions eight limbs in the Yoga Sutras. He called Yoga as a way of life and higher levels of concentrated meditation. He does mention asana, but it is only one of the eight limbs.
The last four of the eight limbs – Pratyahara, Dharana, Dhyana and Samadhi, engage in meditation and preparing for. Therefore, the value and benefits of daily practice, far beyond the skin surface.
What are the benefits of meditation? Meditation is the most natural methods of today to the mind under control. Prescription drugs, alcohol and illicit drugs are often used or misused for the purpose of relaxing the mind. Based on the cost of chemical addictions, people will pay a high price in many ways, their mind to relax. Meditation has no negative side effects.
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How to Choose a Meditation
Meditation techniques are not all the same!
The first step is to recognize that not all the same meditation technique. The practice of meditation involved a variety of thoughts in different ways. Vipassna, also commonly (and perhaps loosely) known as mindfulness meditation, emphasizing a balanced observation and, in a more philosophical, contemplating impermanence, sometimes focusing on the interconnection between mind and body. Zen Buddhist practices tend to use concentration, is directed on the breath or try to understand a Zen koan. Transcendental Meditation technique is easy to use attention to experience the subtle state of thought and ‘beyond’ by using special mantra. Centering Prayer Christian use the word worship to stimulate open to God. And this is just a small example of the various practices that are commonly lumped together as’ meditation. “
Different techniques have different objectives, using various procedures and naturally produce different results. In between these various techniques to determine best practices may be appropriate for your goals, start by asking yourself what you want out of meditation, and how much you’re willing to give it time. Some programs emphasize meditation or regular exercise twice a day from time to time to obtain maximum benefit and grow into a higher stage of personal growth, while other practices intended to increase the occasional inspirational or to relax when you’re stressed.
Another question to ask yourself: if you want to practice meditation that comes with philosophy, religion or way of life? Many practices, such as the practice of Buddhism and Taoism, which is woven into a conceptual world view that is the tricky part of the practice-whether it approaches that contemplate the cosmos and the human mind as an inseparable element of a single order, or a world view that seeks to get beyond the dogma of all and see the world like really is, it’s still another world view mental conceived. Other practices, such as forms of mindfulness meditation is now popular in the West, or the Transcendental Meditation technique, which is secular in nature and can be done without holding any religious philosophy, or a particular way of life.
Are you looking to achieve inspiration and insight during meditation experience? Reflections that fall into this category are contemplative techniques. They promised more in-depth understanding of the topic being considered and helpful way to understand the various intelligence thinking. This type of meditation can be fun and emotional lift, especially if there is no attempt or mind control involved. Often these practices are carried out with the guidance of an instructor, a CD or from a book.
Scientific approach:
Are you looking for specific health benefits, such as anxiety reduction or low blood pressure? Although proponents of meditation practice that most health benefit claims, these claims often cite the benefits of scientific research is actually done on other forms of meditation, rather than on practices that are being promoted. However, research has clearly shown that not all give the same meditation [1] If you choose a specific meditation for health benefits., Review of research used and verify that certain benefits have been on that particular meditation technique and not on some other practices. When you look into the research, make sure the research is peer-reviewed and published in leading scientific journals or academic. If a study showing certain benefits-such as relaxation or a decrease in anxiety-repeated by several other research studies that practice the same, then the science more interesting.
When it comes to reducing stress and anxiety, scientists have again found that all meditation practices are not as effective. The practice of employing concentrations have been found to actually increase anxiety, and similar meta-study found that meditation techniques are at least more effective than placebo for reducing anxiety. [2]
Need meditation to lower your blood pressure? Transcendental Meditation technique is the only mind / body practice that has been shown in independent clinical trials and meta-analysis for high blood pressure was significantly lower in patients with hypertension. [3] To determine whether a particular form of meditation have scientific evidence that supports specific benefits, you can do a search on PubMed or through Google’s academic search engine, Google Scholar. There are more than a thousand peer-reviewed studies on various forms of meditation, with the Transcendental Meditation technique and practice of mindfulness meditation into the most extensively studied, respectively.
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Hormones – Mind-Body Health & Anti Aging
The mind-body connection posits that a well mind provides for a well body and vice versa. So when it comes to aging and brain health, one must also take into consideration the state of one’s hormones.
What are Hormones?
Hormones are the body’s messengers that transport important information from the brain to the glands and from the glands onto the cells and from the cells back to the brain. They serve to rejuvenate, regenerate and restore our bodies. Hormones are considered optimum from the age of 25 – 30 years. This is the same period, generally, in which our bodies are at their strongest and healthiest.
What Causes Aging?
Hormone levels progressively decrease during our lifetimes causing the changes in our bodies and minds that we call aging. The human body was never designed to live as long as we’re living today. Thanks to advances in medical care and sanitation, we have drastically increased life spans. However, the glands that produce our hormones do not regenerate and continue to decline, producing fewer hormones with each passing year.
Associated with this process is the onset of overt diseases, changes in mood, dysfunctional memory, decreased ability to learn, decrease in hair growth and graying, decreased quality of facial skin, decreased lean body mass with an increase in percent body fat, infections, cancer, decreased wound healing, diminished sex drive and many other aspects that represent our quality of life and youthfulness.
The Need for Hormone Replacement
It has become increasingly important for both men and women to keep their hormones balanced to protect against these age-related ravages and to enjoy an overall sense of well being. Diet and exercise alone will not be as effective unless a person’s hormones are balanced correctly. For optimal safety, only hormones that are low should be replaced and retesting of hormone levels should be done regularly.
Bio-identical hormones are manufactured in the lab to have the same molecular structure as the hormones made by your own body. They could also be called human-identical hormones.
Bio-Identical vs Synthetic
Bio-identical (also called bio-equivalent) hormones get their start in nature and are found in soy beans, wild yams, red clover and black cohash. The human body can recognize these bio-identical hormones and can use them just as it would as if produced by the ovaries, testes, or adrenal glands. Most side-effects experienced with bio-identical hormones are associated with either an incorrect dosing or an imbalance in the selection of the hormones.
By contrast, synthetic hormones are intentionally different. Drug companies cannot patent a bio-identical structure, so instead, they invent synthetic hormones that are patentable (such as Premarin, Prempro and Provera, the most widely used examples). Synthetic hormones are not easily recognized by the body even though they may produce similar effects. Because they are hundreds of times more potent than the hormones that our body makes, they are often associated with significant side effects.
Though bio-identical hormones have been around for years, many practitioners are unfamiliar with them. There are several branded versions now available for use in the kind of hormone replacement therapy (“HRT”) typical of synthetic hormones. This is generally a one-size-fits-all dosage regime.
The greatest success, however, is with an individualized approach. Laboratory tests of hormone levels should be done (a “hormone panel”) to determine the state of a patient’s levels. If and when warranted, a precise dosage is prescribed of bioidentical estrogen, progesterone, testosterone or DHEA that is made up at a compounding pharmacy. Each patient is then monitored carefully through regular follow-up hormone panels to ensure symptom relief at the lowest possible dosage.
In the initial stages, a hormone panel might be taken every three months. That way, the doctor has the opportunity to fine tune the final prescription to address any personal goals. Whether this might mean an increase in mental acuity, improvement in depression and moods, increase in sexual drive, or improved physical ability; slight variations in the dosage, or dosage form, can often provide the sought after results. Once balance is restored, a panel may be taken only once a year.
HRT: Pills vs Topical Creams
It would seem reasonable that the easiest way to take hormones is by swallowing a pill. Unfortunately, once the hormones are absorbed by the blood they go directly to the liver where some of the hormones are inactivated.
Topically applied hormones are absorbed directly from the skin right into the blood where they immediately start working. Eventually, all chemicals end up in the liver being inactivated and/or converted to other substances. Another benefit of using topical creams is that dosage can be easily adjusted by increasing or decreasing the number of applications per day.
An important aspect to Compounded Bio-Identical Hormones is whether-or-not they have been tested for bio-availability. That is, once applied to the skin, the component hormones are easily absorbed from the cream, through the skin, and into the blood. Each component hormone and blended preparation of hormones have been tested extensively during the Federal Application and Patent application process. Each customized preparation is designed based upon laboratory testing and the personal goals of the patient.
Summation
Bio-identical hormones are better and safer than synthetic hormones. Our body can metabolize bio-identical hormones as it was designed to do, thereby minimizing side effects. Compounded bio-identical hormones can be matched individually to each woman’s (or man’s) needs, something that’s not possible with mass-produced products. Synthetic hormones, on the other hand, are quite strong and often produce intolerable side effects. And many European medical studies suggest that bio-identical hormones are indeed safer than synthetic versions.
It should be noted that the original studies on the effectiveness and health risks associated with HRT were based solely on synthetic/equine-based hormones.