Healing Meditation Can Help You Self-Regulate, Increase Self-Awareness And Feel Better Mind, Body and Spirit
The West is finally starting to catch up with what Eastern yoga and meditation practitioners have known for thousands of years. As the field of neuroscience continues to grow, more and more scientific research is being conducted, proving the benefits of mindful meditation in empowering our ability to heal ourselves. And, as the study and practice of mindfulness expands, people of all walks of life are learning that healing meditation offers an effective path to cultivating wellness. There seems to be a rising movement to take wellness into our own hands, and by shifting from medication to mindfulness, we can take a holistic approach to mind, body, spirit healing.
Ancient wisdom and modern neuroscience
The power of mindfulness in healing has been shared through ancient teachings in texts like the Upanishads, which says,
“As in the human body, so is the cosmic body. As is the human mind, so is the cosmic mind. As is the microcosm, so is the macrocosm. As is the atom, so is the Universe.”
Much more recently—throughout the last 25 years—modern neuroscience research has proven that various forms and traditions of mindfulness meditation really do promote healing. In his article “Harness Your Mind’s Power to Heal and Transform”, Dr. Deepak Chopra, MD says, “The fifty trillion cells in your body are constantly talking to each other as they keep your heart beating, digest your food, eliminate toxins, protect you from infection and disease, and carry out the countless other functions that keep you alive. While these processes may seem out of your conscious control, hundreds of studies have shown that nothing holds more power over the body than the mind.” He continues, “Your body is directly influenced as these molecules course through the bloodstream, delivering the energetic effect of whatever your brain is thinking and feeling.”
To add more evidence, in the review, “The Neuroscience of Mindfulness Meditation,” the authors took a look at the current state of neuroscience research on mindfulness meditation. Although Western scientific research on meditation is still in its infancy, the authors notes that:
“Research over the past two decades broadly supports the claim that mindfulness meditation—practiced widely for the reduction of stress and promotion of health—exerts beneficial effects on physical and mental health, and cognitive performance. Recent neuroimaging studies have begun to uncover the brain areas and networks that mediate these positive effects.”
There is much emerging evidence and research pointing to mindfulness meditation being the stimulus for neuroplastic shifts in the structure and function of certain brain regions involved in the regulation of attention, emotion and self-awareness. The ability to self-regulate is an important key to our health and a primary benefit of mindfulness meditation.
So, what exactly is healing meditation?
Healing meditations are designed to help create balance in our body and our mind. There are many different types of meditation, and the first step is to discover and uncover what a healing meditation looks like for you specifically, and to follow that impulse.
The power of all healing meditations begins within. For some people, a quiet walk in silent reflection on a favorite mountain trail might be what promotes healing. For other people, healing might come through sitting on a cushion in reflection, lighting sage for clearing, repeating affirmations, listening to a guided meditation or chanting ancient mantras.
What I have found in my own healing, as well as with many of my Body Current clients, is that the most important quality of a healing meditation is how it relates to us personally. Self-awareness and thoughtful inquiry allows us to fine tune our intention and attention around a healing vision. We can then access and apply healing to ourselves and our lives through our meditation. With earnestness and sincerity, we begin to cultivate a strong healing environment each and every time we return to our healing meditation practice. We create new patterns and pathways of healing and wellbeing breath by breath.
“If a person’s basic state of mind is serene and calm, then it is possible for this inner peace to overwhelm a painful physical experience.” -The Dalai Lama
Tools for your wellbeing and healing
Being curious and trying new tools for our wellbeing and healing can be a first place to start. Here is a powerful blog practice you can try today: Embodying the Elements: Sensory Practice in Awareness
As a thank you for being part of our blog community, I have a special 5-minute sound healing guided meditation for you called “Fluidity + Flow” from our SoMAntra double CD when you sign up to keep in touch with me on my website.
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About the author:
Shanti Medina, CYT CPT is the founder of Energize training systems and Body Current® therapeutics. She shares her Body Current modality as a bridge between ancient wisdom and modern neuroscience with simple body-centered templates and tools to reveal our inherent true nature. Much of Shanti’s inherent wisdom in regulating the nervous system was imprinted as a young child living through her own trauma. Her own healing has inspired the root of her unique approach in coaching women’s wellness and wholeness as well as training elite athletes and top business owners.
Shanti has been gathering women together in sacred circles of celebration for over 15 years. Her Stirring the Shakti retreats and events inspire women to transform the mundane into magic, celebrate the simply sacred, empower true nature, and fuel the fire of purpose and passion.
Shanti enjoys supporting her clients in living a life of well-being, optimized performance and wild inspiration through simple practices of embodied self-realization. She has enjoyed being part of a variety of 500HR Yoga Teacher Trainings and as faculty at Kripalu Center for Yoga and Health and the Neurosculpting Institute. To schedule a private session or to find out more about Shanti’s upcoming events and retreats visit www.EnergizeShanti.com
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