Meditation is good for personal development and feeling of calm and peace. Regular meditation has been known to greatly reduce depression.  If you haven’t done meditation before you need to build up slowly, and find a way of meditating which suits you personally. Feelings of emotional discomfort can accompany meditation; it may bring blocked issues to the forefront of your mind, which you may find a need to heal. The conscious mind is the tip of the iceberg, the unconscious mind lies beneath this, and beneath that lies the level of consciousness of which we are all joined, the universal consciousness.

There are different levels of the mind, caused by the different brainwaves explained below.

Beta (13- 40 cycles per second)
Beta is associated with our waking activity. During a day we experience all the brainwave patterns with a predominance of Beta.

Alpha (8-13 cycles per second)
The first pattern discovered in 1908 by an Austrian Psychiatrist named Hans Berger. Alpha pattern appears when in wakefulness where there is a relaxed and effortless alertness. Light meditation and day dreaming. It is recommended practicing your creative visualization and auto-suggestion technique in alpha state.

Theta (4-7 cycles per second)
Associated with creativity, dreams and Extra-sensory perception for the student the theta state is something to learn to go at will.

To obtain these different levels you have to quiet the mind by concentrating on a mantra or your breathing. The times you feel most resistant to meditating is the time your body will need it the most. Meditation puts you in contact with the things that are buried in the unconscious mind. The reason we bring our subconscious painful memories to the surface is because they are affecting our lives today. Just because we do not remember them does not mean they are not influencing our lives. Many of the beliefs upon which we run our lives rest on decisions we made as a child. Meditation can help you work through and overcome fears that stop us being our true selves. Meditation also helps you find that place within where you feel calm and peaceful at all times, even when life is tough. You will feel happier, be able to make changes when you want to, accept and be in the present and plan for you future.

Research – Benefits to the body

Improved Health
A study of health insurance statistics of 2000 people practising meditation consistently over a five year period revealed that their rate of hospitalisation was less than half of the other groups with comparable age, gender, profession, and insurance terms. Meditators also had fewer incidents of illness in 17 medical treatment categories. Some of the results were quite outstanding; 87% less admissions for cardiovascular disease, 55% less cancer, 87% less for diseases of the nervous system, 73% less for nose throat and lung problems. Psychosomatic Medicine 1987.

Lower Blood Pressure
At the Harvard Medical School Dr. Herbert Benson found that meditators develop what he calls the “relaxation response” to difficult or dangerous situations. This is a much healthier response than the very common “fight or flight” reaction. He also observed that during meditation the heart rate decreases on average by three beats a minute, and that the rate of breathing also decreases. The blood pressure of those who have hypertension is reduced during meditation. Dr.Benson found that all the traditional methods of meditation evoke this response. He also found that four basic elements are needed. They are in a quiet environment, an object for the attention to dwell on, a comfortable posture and, above all a non-discriminatory attitude towards meditation. This is exactly what the Buddha taught two thousand five hundred years ago.

Reduced Anxiety
A study conducted at Stanford University reported a reduced level of anxiety among the participants who meditated. Journal of Clinical Psychology (1989)

Decreased Stress
A study of meditators showed a reduction in plasma cortisol, a stress hormone, during and after meditation. Hormones and Behaviour (1978)

Deep Rest
A scientific measure of deep rest is the amount of basal skin resistance and lower respiration rates. Experiments comparing meditation to resting with eyes closed have shown that meditation is significantly more effective. Similarly meditation also reduces the amount of lactate (a root cause of anxiety, panic attacks and high blood pressure). American Psychologist (1987)

Reversal of the Aging Process
A study group of long-term meditators (practising meditation for five years or more) were physiologically twelve years younger than their chronological age, as measured by reduction of blood pressure, and better near-point vision and auditory discrimination. Short-term meditators were physiologically five years younger than their chronological age. The study controlled for the effects of diet and exercise. International Journal of Neuroscience 1982.

Increased Perception and Memory
College students instructed in meditation displayed significant improvements in performance over a two-week period on a perceptual and short-term memory test involving the identification of familiar letter sequences presented rapidly. They were compared with subjects randomly assigned to a routine of twice-daily rest with eyes closed, and with subjects who made o change in their daily routine. Memory and Cognition (1982)

In a basic Energy Healing session you will be encouraged to relax and go to the Alpha level, where  the mind, body and spirit work together, the result is a balance of thought, awareness and well-being that is unmatched. It is in this state that healing can occur on multiple levels. This includes our seven chakras.

Please contact me to find out more information on meditation or to book a session.