Proven Self-Healing Meditations to Practice Every Day
Despite all the advancements in the world, there is nothing as sophisticated ever built as the human body. The world of medicine has progressed for years, and yet, there is nothing that beats the natural healing capacity of the body. Your body is designed essentially with a built-in code that informs it how to protect itself against all kinds of threats including DNA abnormalities, harmful bacteria, and other germs, a wide range of toxins, tumors, etc. However, under special circumstances, the natural defense of the body against these threats fall short primarily because it is blocked from working optimally.
It is understandable to question the factors which cause such a hindrance in the normal functioning of the immune system. The answer lies in the nervous system of the human body. We have been blessed with two different control centers, each of which has its own importance under specific circumstances. The sympathetic nervous system is what controls the “Fight or Flight” response that keeps us on alert against the imminent threats. The parasympathetic nervous system is in charge of the natural relaxation response of the body. It is the latter that is particularly significant for optimal functioning of the body’s self-healing capabilities.
There is no argument over the fact that the role of the sympathetic system is remarkable in keeping us protected against the possible hardships. It won’t be wrong to state that it was the fight or flight response that enabled the earliest of our kinds to keep themselves protected from an unexpected animal attack by keeping the men on red alert. But what could be the ramifications if the stress response stayed activated permanently for the most part? You know how they say that anything in excess can be hazardous, even if it’s as essential as water? The same principle applies here. The sympathetic response is useful for the body under certain circumstances. But if your body fails to recognize when to switch it off, it can end up causing damage to the body itself. This damage translates into disrupting the natural healing abilities of the human body.
Why Does The Stress Response Keep Permanently On?
We are undoubtedly living in a high-stress environment. Regardless of what walk of life do you belong, excessive stress is a fact for all of us. For the human mind, an unexpected animal attack is not the only threat against which it has to protect the body. The stress that we experience from day to day basis, including the complications of the relationships, financial concerns, losing a job, being in debt, etc. is all construed by the human brain as a threat. Consider the proportion of each of your days that you spend worrying about such issues. Under such circumstances, the brain does what it does best; activate the stress response or the fight or flight response that is in control of the sympathetic nervous system. Since all of our days revolve around such troubles that have occurred in the past, happening to us now, or imminent in the future, it is justified for the brain to keep the stress response activated at all times, leaving none of it for the natural relaxation response of the human body to be activated and play its role in self-healing and protecting the body optimally on all fronts.
What’s The Solution To This Problem?
When the physical body is not performing well in terms of strength or stamina, the solution is to eat healthy and work out in order to make it stronger and better. The same solution is applicable for restoring the optimal functioning of the human brain as well. The work out regime for mental health is known as “Meditation”.
Meditation or a wide range of mindfulness practices are effective in giving charge to the parasympathetic component of the nervous system in an attempt to activate the natural relaxation response of the body. It helps you deal with the challenge of everyday stress in a fashion that enables you to keep a check on the over-performing sympathetic system, making it less prominent, and therefore, deactivating the stress response.
Remember that meditation is not a single activity but a group of practices which are tried and tested for coping with the stress, anxiety, and other common mental disorders. While there are several types of meditation, each with a whole list of exercises that you can adopt, we have tried to keep it simple for you by mentioning the top 4 proven self-healing daily meditations to practice every day.
- Use Your Breath In Your Favor
Isn’t it amazing to know that something as simple as breathing can help you deal with the everyday stress and activate the natural relaxation response of the body? All you have to do is make a few tiny modifications to the way you breathe. Before starting with this first exercise, however, make sure that you are away from the unnecessary noise and disruptions which may hinder your attention. Then take a comfortable seating position. You may prefer to lie on the floor if you want. Now close your close and start to pull air into your lungs slowly. Feel your body being filled with the air. Hold the air in for a couple of seconds and then begin to push it out of your lungs slowly. Remember “SLOWLY” is the keyword here. You are breathing all the time anyway. What you are doing differently here is taking a slow, deep breath. Repeat the exercise for a few minutes. Then in a very calm and peaceful manner, open your eyes and observe how relaxed does your mind and body feel now.
- Desensitize Your Brain For Negativity
As mentioned earlier, the root cause of a better part of the stress that we experience every day is the vicious cycle of negative thoughts and emotions. It could be the embarrassment of the past, the panic of the future, the lack of confidence, insufficient self-awareness, personal guilt, and the list goes on. Another proven self-healing daily meditation to practice every day is [restrict] the use of a personal mantra. A good example of a personal mantra when the mind starts to play its games with you would be “I can handle this”, “I’m good at ….”, “I’m thankful for …”, “I’ve got this” etc. Isolating yourself from the noise, closing your eyes, and repeating your personal mantra in your head in a calm and peaceful manner helps to desensitize your brain for negativity and fill it up with positive, inspiring thoughts which restore your mood, confidence, self-awareness, productivity, creativity, and essentially unlocks your true potential at all fronts. Eventually, it helps you achieve a state of coordination between your mind and body that puts them on ease and gives a chance to the parasympathetic nervous system or the relaxation response to take over.
- Go To Your Happy Place
Let’s face it: all of us have a happy place. For some it may be their favorite pizza joint, for others, it could be a small hut in the middle of the fairy meadows, and others still may find it in the arms of their loved ones. Nonetheless, it exists for all of us. Since the self-healing capacity of the human body takes a blow when it is under constant stress, a simple solution to restore the ability would be to remove the stress. This can be achieved conveniently by going to one’s happy place. For this purpose, lie on the floor and get comfortable. Close your eyes and start focusing on your breath, much like in the first exercise mentioned in this article. You will, of course, face retaliation from your mind which will try to wander in the unnecessary thoughts. It’s okay, keep your calm, and gently push the troubling thoughts aside while bringing your happy place into focus. Think about the place, person, or thing that makes you happy. Try to get a feel of it inside your head. If it’s a place, what does it look like? What are you doing there? Do you feel the breeze? Are you with someone? Keep your focus on the details. It’s a simple mind trick that removes your focus from the worrying thoughts and puts it entirely into something that makes you happy. The result, as you guessed it, is a reduction in the stress levels that eventually make it possible for the relaxation response to come into action and summon the self-healing capability of the human body.
Conclusion
Keeping yourself physically and mentally healthy is all a matter of how optimally is the self-healing ability of your body is functioning. The better you can cope with the stress of every day, the more will this ability come into play. Since it relies completely on the activation of the natural relaxation response, meditation and mindfulness practices are highly effective in getting the job done. These are time-efficient exercises which are extremely simple to follow and yet offer enormous benefits in keeping you calm and peaceful. Honestly, you don’t have to take anything for granted. Just give it a go and what you’ll feel will be all the persuasion that you need. [/restrict]
