by Amelia Robinson

Created on: November 10, 2009   Last Updated: November 13, 2009

Design a Custom Meditation Plan

Be happier, healthier, more relaxed, more intelligent and more prosperous, not to mention longer-living, through meditation. We've all heard the claims, right? Usually it's from someone trying to sell us a guide to their tried and true meditation program or claiming these are the benefits of their particular religion or pseudo-religion.

The fact is, meditation does provide all these benefits and more. Scientific studies using magnetic resonance imaging have verified that meditation creates slower, more beneficial brain waves and in turn very beneficial brain chemicals that encourage calm, concentration, health and longevity. But you don't need to change your religion or spend hard-earned cash to use meditation to improve your life. You can meditate in any way you like and - surprise! - get the same fabulous results.

With a regular daily meditation of any type, you will experience increased energy and less illness, clearer focus and sharper mental capabilities, more sense of satisfaction with life and more sense of connected-ness to the world around you as well as a deeper sense of spirituality in line with your own religious beliefs.

Meditation is any period of mental calm and stillness that allows your brain to produce alpha waves, and eventually delta and theta waves, instead of the beta brainwaves that we produce during our normal daily functioning. The alpha waves move at a slower frequency and help us to relax, focus and rejuvenate. In very deep meditation, brainwaves actually slow to delta and theta waves, the type of brain activity experienced as we fall asleep and remain deep asleep. It is also the state in which religious masters through the ages have attained visions and transcendence. The goal of meditation is to create these types of brain waves in a waking state, allowing us to relax, focus and release fear to better achieve all we attempt in life.

There are many ways to achieve this and the guidelines below should give you some ideas of how flexible your practice can be. There are really only two musts in meditation. You must control the breath to a slow, deep rhythmic pattern and you must slow the beta waves by letting go the busy, stressful thoughts that run through your mind constantly.

Preparing for Meditation

There are only two things you need for successful meditation: a time and a place.

Find a room in your house where you can be completely alone and spared distractions like telephone and television as

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