Originally published December 18 2005
Many specialists say meditation is the key to managing stress
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor
Florida Today recommends meditation as a practice for dealing with stress, and the practice comes in handy around the holidays, when stress levels shoot up and nervous breakdowns loom.
Oh, cripes, the kids need to be picked up from soccer/basketball/French horn practice, and the post office closes at 5 p.m.
Want to feel better and maybe chase some of that negative inner dialogue away?
Two decades' worth of research suggests meditating -- be it visualization, prayer or shutting yourself off from your surroundings -- can significantly reduce stress levels.
"If you take the time to meditate, you actually create more time in your life," says Cheri Eplett owner of Indialantic's Aquarian Dreams, which specializes in books and CDs about meditation.
Last month, researchers at Massachusetts General Hospital released a study showing areas of the cerebral cortex -- the outer layer of the brain -- were thicker in the participants who regularly meditated.
But he does agree mediation results in relaxation, which has been proven to reduce stress and help people focus better during their waking hours -- and sleep better at night.
"But all modalities of meditation have something in common in that they are about disconnecting yourself from the impulses you are receiving -- the noise and the worries," Niazi says.
Al Rapaport, founder of Melbourne's Open Mind Zen Center says it's such impulses that "make us subject to a monkey mind," he says.
"A lot of people don't meditate because they are under the impression they must clear their mind and think of nothing for 20 minutes," says Andrea de Michaelis, who publishes the Brevard County-based Horizons.
"Once I start the process with the breathing, the cobwebs start to clear.
If a concrete thought or worry crosses my mind I can release the thought by saying the word 'later,' which satisfies the concrete mind that wants to hang on to something.
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