Medical Experts Claim That Meditation is the Key to a Healthy Life

Medical experts believe transcendental meditation could be used to treat high blood pressure and psychological problems

More than five decades after the relaxation therapy became popular, two studies have found that it worked significantly better than good diet and exercise in tackling the stresses of modern life.

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It's something that alot of people here have known for a very very very long time and use in there every day life’s but it's great to know that the scientific world is actually starting to agree as well...Finally.

The article goes o to talk about how we don't need to use prescription drugs but instead meditation and the power of the mind is more than enough to improve out mental and of course out physical well being.

Those who practised TM showed a 48 per cent reduction in depressive symptoms compared with those given dietary and exercise advice.

[edit on 10-4-2010 by Rising Against]

Trust me, it goes both ways. Meditation expands awareness, not only internal but external as well. I actually become much more anxious for a couple of years after practicing meditation. You go from experiencing a grain of sand to the whole of the cosmos, and if you don't keep to the absoulte center in consciousness, you'll lose it, man. I think those who aren't ready for the processing requirements will actually regress than progress. Overall, meditation has been a life saver, but the transitional phase was incredibly tough.

reply to post by unityemissions

I guess it depends on the individual's psychological make-up to begin with. Up until 2002, I was severely depressive (my mum told me that I was abnormally sad even as a toddler). I can look back on my life and describe it this way:
Good days - feeling like dog poo.
Bad days - feeling like elephant poo.
I went through all the usual modalities, drugs (anti-depressants), therapy, you name it. I read up on the subject, experimented with different things. Nothing worked.
One day I stumbled upon a Chinese meditation technique called Zhan Zhuang. For those who never heard of it, it's a type of Qigong where you stand still with your arms in different positions. It's not easy to begin with, but if you persist, it takes you into a profound state of meditation and all sorts of amazing things start to happen. For me, the most amazing thing was that after practising regularly for several months, my depression started to lift, up to the point, in August 2002, where it just went away altogether. I haven't had a single episode since, even during the times where I had to stop my practice for long periods of time.
I didn't experience any anxious transitions whatsoever. It was more like being a dirt-encrusted window that would get cleaner bit by bit, until it got pristine.
Now, I wake up everyday with a sense of peace and abiding joy and if sometimes I feel down, it's the normal reaction to life's up and down cycles. It's light and short, nothing like the feeling of being buried under a ton of bricks that used to be with me all the time.
I would expect different people to have completely different reactions to meditation. I'm sure you must have heard of cases where someone would meditate obsessively and end up completely psychotic. I remember hearing about something like that happening at a zen retreat.
Meditation is very beneficial, but like everything else involving the mind, it must be handled with care.
All the best.

reply to post by jeanvaljean


I also meditate and know how beneficial it is, glad to hear that worked, works for you, modern medicine has a long way to go or should I say start looking back to what has worked for thousands of years.

reply to post by Aquarius1


I agree. I'll never forget the day when I went to my GP to tell him that the SSRI's he had me on were freaking the hell out of me by distorting my sense of space and distance (I'd narrowly avoided being run over because the cars didn't make any sense in relation to the road). He said "Oh? Let's see..." Then he pulled out a catalogue and started running his finger down a list; as far as I can tell, his choice of another drug was completely random. I asked him to phase me out of the one I was on and told him that I'd rather be depressed than take any of these things ever again, thank you very much.

Originally posted by unityemissions
Trust me, it goes both ways. Meditation expands awareness, not only internal but external as well. I actually become much more anxious for a couple of years after practicing meditation. You go from experiencing a grain of sand to the whole of the cosmos, and if you don't keep to the absoulte center in consciousness, you'll lose it, man. I think those who aren't ready for the processing requirements will actually regress than progress. Overall, meditation has been a life saver, but the transitional phase was incredibly tough.

Same here, transitional phase was hard, it´s like it brings all old fears and problems on suface. I had several anxiety attacs an terrible sleepless nights during first month after I stared regular meditation (chanting sanskrit mantras), but I continued and it was the best decicion I´ve made :-). It has changed me for better and in a way I never thought when I first stared to chant. But it´s of course different with everyone, it´s important to keep calm and centered.
I started with Gayatri mantra, which is very powerful and maybe not good idea to start with. There are some safer and calmer mantras. If anyone is interested in mantra meditation and sharing experiences, feel free to contact me :-)

I guess maybe that would explain the paranoia and anxiety I have went through here in my first month of meditation. It's almost led me off it...but I find anytime I'm having one of these anxiety attacks, I can just as easily meditate and concentrate on a happy thing...reversing the process.

It works both ways I guess you could say.