by J. Lang Wood

Created on: February 09, 2009   Last Updated: February 19, 2009

An increasing number of scientific studies find that meditation not only reduces stress, but improves general health and helps fight illness. But meditation can do so much more than that. Meditation allows us to open gateways in the mind that allows better understanding of ourselves and our relationships with others. The meditative states itself opens the pathways of the brain where we can see our unhealthy attachment to ideas and concepts about ourselves and others, increases our understanding of what motivates others, and allows us to rethink our reactions.

Relationship Help Through Meditation

While UNC graduate students, Dr. James Carson and his wife Kimberly did a study on the effects of mindfulness meditation on couples' relationships. They found not only did the meditation exercise reduce stress and related problems within the relationship by 50%, but it also increased satisfaction with each other by 50%. It was also noted that these effects of meditation lasted months beyond the time that the study was being done. www.news-medical.net/?id=7660

What Meditation Isn't

There's a lot of misinformation in the pop culture about meditation, like how it's very difficult to do, how you can only do it under certain conditions, and how it takes great effort to achieve a meditative state. The truth is, meditation is fairly easy. You do not need a special room or special environment in which to do it. You can do it anytime and anywhere. And once you get a little training in meditative practice, you can continue it entirely on your own.

What Meditation Is

What is meditation? It's a quieted state of mind. It's a deliberate state of self-awareness, and it's a method by which we can become not simply victims of conditions around us, but controllers of our own thoughts, actions, and destinies. It is a holistic practice, that is to say, it affects many parts of our lives by simply doing a single thing. With meditation we can change ourselves, and thereby change the conditions around us. It is not magic. It is not witchcraft. It is simply using our own mental and emotional faculties in a different way, at a different pace, in order to use them more effectively.

How To Meditate

I will describe meditation a bit here, though it's always good to get basic training in the method by an accomplished meditation leader. First, you sit comfortably. It's best to find a quiet room or area where there are not too many noisy distractions, at first. One of the simplest methods of meditation is

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