Perhaps you think the statement that meditation doesn’t work is harsh or untrue. However, if you have ever tried to enter a state of meditation then you know just how impossible it seems to be!

Much research, in the scientific field, points to the fact that meditation can; make you healthier (both emotionally and physically), make you look younger, bolster the immune system, help you recover faster after operations, reduce stress, help you to live longer, remove past emotional issues and alter negative beliefs.

So how can I say that meditation does not work?

I can say this not because meditation never works but, unfortunately, because meditation does not work for the vast majority of us! Why is this?

Well the answer to the question “why does mediation not work?” is simple!

Meditation doesn’t work for most of us because they haven’t spent many, many years learning how to do it and practising it! If you have ever tried to meditate then you know just how difficult it can be. Just relaxing your body can prove to be a challenge. You get itchy, want to move about and feel restless. If you were successful in the initial stages of meditation and managed to relax yourself completely, you then must still the mind or remain focused on on ethought for the duration. It just seems like a constant uphill struggle.

So, is there a way to gain all the benefits of meditation without the drawbacks? The answer is a “Yes”!

Through a process called brain entrainment, that uses binaural beats, you can easily enter into a state of meditation easily and within minutes.

In Germany, in 1839, an Associate Professor, at the University of Berlin, made a discovery that was to have tremendous impact on us today. When a tone is sent to one ear and another tone that is almost the same, but differs slightly in frequency, is sent to the other ear a strange thing happens. The two tones, when mixed together in the brain, create the illusion of binaural beats. These beats force the brain to produce brainwaves at very specific frequencies.

Although binaural beats were discovered by Heinrich Wilhelm Dove the effect that they have on the brain wasn’t understood until the late 1970s by Gerald Oster. Oster learned that when these binaural beats are used in specific ways different brain states can be induced.

The significance of how these binaural beats work becomes really interesting when we look at some experiments that were conducted using very experienced meditators and EEG machines which measure brainwave activity. It was found that during deep states of meditation these people displayed Alpha, Theta and even Delta brainwaves. All brainwave states have an affect on the body. There are specific physical states assosiated with specific brainwaves.

Oster found that using binaural beats he could induce the Alpha, Theta and Delta brainwaves states at will! When binaural beats, that were created at an aplha frequency, were played the listener began to display alpha brainwaves. The same was true for Theta and Delta. As these brainwave states are induced, through binaural beats, the corresponding physical state is also induced.

Therefore, through the use of binaural beats, it is now possible to duplicate the mental and physical effects of deep meditation. To take advantage of the power of meditation all you need to do is sit or lie down, close your eyes, pop on your headphones and turn on your binaural beats recording!

So, if you are one of the majority of people who cannot make meditation work, then simply use some binaural beats and save yourself at least a decade of practise!

Article Source: http://www.a1-articledirectory.com

If you want a more indepth explanation of meditation and binaural beats be sure to visit Meditation and Binaural Beats.

Technorati Tags: Emotional Issues, Immune System, Mediation, Negative Beliefs, Simple Meditation, Stress, Trie

Major religious traditions have known for millennia that meditation can improve health. While some medical practitioners are still skeptical about its usefulness this is largely because they are not aware of the amount of evidence there is in the medical literature. Meditation not only changes the electrical activity of the brain but impacts on both the hormonal cascades and the immune system.

When I first started as a researcher I was told in no uncertain terms that there was no evidence that stress contributed to ill health. Now it is known that stress suppresses the immune system through multiple processes including encouraging the white blood cells to die off. They call this stress induced “apoptosis of lymphocytes and development of immune supression by means of glucocorticoid pathways”. Please bear with me and put up with some big words. I have found that most doctors and many ordinary people won’t believe it is effective without these convoluted expressions.

Researchers have also been able to show how meditation can increase the relaxation response and undo many negative effects of stress. It always makes me smile when a statement such as this is blithely disregarded by my medical colleagues. However, if I quote from a paper and say how stress activates the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis, or that “cortisol is also a powerful immunosuppressant and this may undermine the capacity of NK (natural killer) and cytotoxic T-cells to eradicate tumor cells” then I can have a more productive conversation with them.

In addition to these biological effects meditation has been shown in research to reduce negative moods of depression, anxiety, anger, irritability and confusion in patients with cancer.

Most people feel much better after becoming regular meditators. They come to a greater sense of peace about their situation and their lives, have a greater sense of trust in the world, and improved coping capabilities. And each of these emotions not only make you feel better, but they have a positive flow on effect to your hormones and immune system.

One of the issues surrounding self care in cancer is the hope and expectation that some special pill, potion or magic herb, or in this case, meditation might be the cancer equivalent of antibiotic use in tonsillitis. Unfortunately there are no promises for recovery from cancer – not even from medicine and chemotherapy. Chemotherapy contributes an average to only just over 2% to the 5-year survival rate. This means that many survivors are recovering as a result of their own innate immunity.

Therefore anything that might increase one’s innate immunity and anything that can upregulate the cancer fighting cells should be considered. The wonderful aspect of natural cancer treatment is that there are no bad negative side effects.

Meditation is just one of these upregulators of the immune system. Meditation need not cost any money. It can be undertaken in a great many environments without additional resources and in my opinion it should be in the front line of any self care. Look out for other upregulators of the immune system, such as good social support, enough Vitamin D3, bright colored fruits and vegetables and exercise. With cancer, and indeed with any chronic or terminal illness you need every possible assistance to improve your chances of improved short and long term outcomes.

Major religious traditions have known for millennia that meditation can improve health. While some medical practitioners are still skeptical about its usefulness this is largely because they are not aware of the amount of evidence there is in the medical literature. Meditation not only changes the electrical activity of the brain but impacts on both the hormonal cascades and the immune system.

When I first started as a researcher I was told in no uncertain terms that there was no evidence that stress contributed to ill health. Now it is known that stress suppresses the immune system through multiple processes including encouraging the white blood cells to die off. They call this stress induced “apoptosis of lymphocytes and development of immune supression by means of glucocorticoid pathways”. Please bear with me and put up with some big words. I have found that most doctors and many ordinary people won’t believe it is effective without these convoluted expressions.

Researchers have also been able to show how meditation can increase the relaxation response and undo many negative effects of stress. It always makes me smile when a statement such as this is blithely disregarded by my medical colleagues. However, if I quote from a paper and say how stress activates the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis, or that “cortisol is also a powerful immunosuppressant and this may undermine the capacity of NK (natural killer) and cytotoxic T-cells to eradicate tumor cells” then I can have a more productive conversation with them.

In addition to these biological effects meditation has been shown in research to reduce negative moods of depression, anxiety, anger, irritability and confusion in patients with cancer.

Most people feel much better after becoming regular meditators. They come to a greater sense of peace about their situation and their lives, have a greater sense of trust in the world, and improved coping capabilities. And each of these emotions not only make you feel better, but they have a positive flow on effect to your hormones and immune system.

One of the issues surrounding self care in cancer is the hope and expectation that some special pill, potion or magic herb, or in this case, meditation might be the cancer equivalent of antibiotic use in tonsillitis. Unfortunately there are no promises for recovery from cancer – not even from medicine and chemotherapy. Chemotherapy contributes an average to only just over 2% to the 5-year survival rate. This means that many survivors are recovering as a result of their own innate immunity.

Therefore anything that might increase one’s innate immunity and anything that can upregulate the cancer fighting cells should be considered. The wonderful aspect of natural cancer treatment is that there are no bad negative side effects.

Meditation is just one of these upregulators of the immune system. Meditation need not cost any money. It can be undertaken in a great many environments without additional resources and in my opinion it should be in the front line of any self care. Look out for other upregulators of the immune system, such as good social support, enough Vitamin D3, bright colored fruits and vegetables and exercise. With cancer, and indeed with any chronic or terminal illness you need every possible assistance to improve your chances of improved short and long term outcomes.

Article Source: http://www.articlewarehouse.com

Dr Harriet Denz-Penhey is an internationally recognized health researcher who has done groundbreaking research into patient self care in serious illness. The web site www.cancerremedies.org discusses aspects of natural cancer treatment and remedies for good general health.

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