Meditation's Healing Powers for Holistic Health

One alternative treatment for holistic health that can reduce anxiety, boost the immune system and ease pain is the practice of meditation. Drs. Herbert Benson and R. Keith Wallace made names for themselves in such popular publications as Time Magazine when they documented these and other beneficial effects of transcendental meditation in the early 1970’s. Their findings, which were originally published in the American Journal of Physiology, included a decreased heart rate, positive changes in hormone levels and an increase in the brain’s cerebral cortex’s alpha ways.

Since the Harvard doctors’ early research, many more studies have been conducted related to the natural health benefits of meditation. The National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute has been so convinced of meditation’s powerful effects as a natural cure that the practice of it is one of the top three recommendations as a natural remedy for high blood pressure (along with exercise and salt restriction).

Looking for some healing meditation tips? Sit with feet flat on the floor and hands in your lap, palms facing down, back straight and shoulders relaxed. For those looking to use meditation as a natural remedy for high blood pressure, make sure to place the tip of your tongue behind your bottom teeth.

Next, focus your mind approximately one-and-a-half inches below the naval at the place called the Dantian, or energy field. As you inhale visualize your breath as it moves all the way down to the Dantian. The belly expands as you breathe in and then naturally sinks back in as you breathe out.

Continue this meditation technique for as long as it feels comfortable focusing on your breath and not the daily list of stressors that might normally dominate your brain’s thoughts such as your grocery list or a fight with your spouse.