When we are out of balance our brains and bodies react to all the stimulus around us all of the time, it is only through meditative practices that we can begin to filter out the thoughts and feelings that do not serve us, and begin to truly hear our hearts desires. It is only when we listen to our hearts and begin to do what we truly love that we can be in perfect health.
Most of us in the west, have been brought up to believe that the brain rules the body and that our thoughts are almost tangible, hence why many people hold on to them for so long. We are taught that if we have bad thoughts, we must be a bad, that if we are saddened and moved to tears by our thoughts, we must be weak and that if we think differently to others, that we are mad.
It is only when we listen to our hearts and begin to do what we truly love that we can be in perfect health.
The truth is we are not in control of our thoughts, and my first question to anyone who insists that we are is this — what are you going to think next? No, really, try it! Clear your mind for a second and try and guess what will appear next. Did you guess right? Congratulations if you did. Although you may be from another planet.
The fact that we cannot second guess our own mind confirms that in reality we have no control over our thoughts. So, what are we all doing judging each others on that which we cannot know ourselves?
The ancient Chinese believed that all thought forms where an etherial representation of our physical state. All thoughts are formed in the gut, which sends the signals to the brain (which is viewed more as a filter for, rather than a producer of, thoughts). It is up to the individual to decipher the messages. This is known as the Gut-Brain axis and has been an integral part of Chinese medicine theory for thousands of years. In western medical terms, this is known as the Enteric system which was discovered around 50 years ago and there is much more research to be done.
The better we become at clearing away the clutter, the sooner we can begin to see the real issues and tackle them on a much deeper, restorative level.
Nowadays it is imperative that we take up some kind of daily meditation practice to ensure good mental health; to enable us to put down people at work when we walk out of the door and to deal with all the constant wants and needs of an increasingly stressed and ever developing society.
In addition, our bodies and minds have to deal with very high levels of physical energetic stress caused by wifi signals and some of the highest Schumann frequencies ever recorded.
The better we become at clearing away the clutter, the sooner we can begin to see the real issues and tackle them on a much deeper, restorative level.
Meditation has been practiced by billions of people, over thousands of years, yet in modern western culture it is a relatively new concept which is gaining more and more scientific approval, not just as a tool within spiritual practice but as a tool for stress management.
But why?
Well, many people have herd of the fight or flight response (or war and peace as i like to call it, in Chinese medicine this is described in the terms yin and yang. The fight response being yang and the flight response being yin.
However, when we put this into simple medical terms it is much easier to understand why meditation is such an incredible tool for all healing journeys. 85–90% of all disease is caused by sympathetic nervous system disorders or fight (yang) response; where as only 10–15% of all disease is caused by parasympathetic nervous system disorders or flight (yin) response.
Stress causes us to go into fight (yang) mode. If we are under stress for a lengthy amount of time, our bodies find it difficult to switch back over to flight (yin) mode naturally — resulting in our physical bodies being constantly stressed. This occurs even to the point of grinding our teeth whilst we are fast asleep to try and relieve some pressure.
Meditation takes us back to flight mode (yin mode), within just five minutes, and with continued practice, can train us to be able to stay calm even in the most stressful situations.
The best thing about meditation is it’s something that anyone can do. you dont have to renounce all your wordly posessions and go live in a cave to reap the rewards. You can just start by taking some deep breaths.
The best thing about meditation is it’s something that anyone can do
Inhale to the count of 2
Exhale to the count of 4
See if you can concentrate on just counting your breaths for a couple of minutes. Don’t worry if your thoughts come into your mind and distract you, just go back into it when you catch yourself thinking about something random.