Anyone can live a disease-free life by including mindful practices in their lifestyle. People need to be conscious about the things happening in the present moment and this practice is known as mindfulness. Meditation and yoga are some of the same practices that can help people build healthier habits, which eventually take them towards healthy living. Patients suffering from diabetes, hypertension, hormonal imbalance, metabolic issues, depression, and stress disorder can get most of the benefits if they start practicing meditation and yoga.

The Roots of Meditation

Meditation is extremely popular in the West, but its roots belong to India. The oldest documented evidence is the wall art present in the Indian subcontinent from approx 5000 to 3500 BCE. These carved images show people seated in meditative postures with half-closed eyes.

In the Hindu Vedas, the oldest written mention of meditation is from 1500 BCE, but that was the time when Vedas made it to paper. So, it is understood that Vedas had been memorized and passed down for centuries by meditation gurus long before they were finally written down. The Brihad Aranyaka Upanishad (14th century BCE) includes almost 70 generations of meditation gurus and students who had lived in that time.

Meditation can be defined as an engagement of a person in which he/she just is in the moment. Some people explain it as a training of mind to achieve calmness and positive emotions.

For many, meditation is to sit still, focus on breathing, and experience the inside world. However, this spiritual practice is not confined to this method. There are many ways to practice meditation and every person has his/her own way to do it. For instance- a singer may meditate while humming a piece of music, a writer may do it by jotting something, a housewife may do it while watering the plants and the list goes on. It is more about ‘just being in the moment’ than reflection.

Meditation can be an answer to your chronic illnesses!

Today, with the fast-paced lifestyle, stress levels are at their peak. People are getting more chronic illnesses due to this stress. However, meditation can rescue them by calming their mind and reducing their stress levels along with the symptoms of anxiety and depression.

“Meditation is a natural anti-depressant that works better than any medicine!” – Ankita (Founder of Yogymummy)

When a patient with hypertension condition practices meditation along with yoga, the combo can help keep blood pressure in check and benefit the heart. It may also reduce the risk of heart disease in the practitioner.

Chronic back pain can be fixed with proper posture exercises and mindful practices. The higher the inflammation in the body you have, the more painful it will become. Having medicines for such inflammation is never a good idea because it will give you temporary relief. For treatment, you need to look at the root cause of the issue and get it treated with a correct set of exercises and diet.

Cancer patients have faith in meditation. There is some evidence-based research that suggests that meditation can make changes to the DNA. A 2014 study found that the telomeres – the protein caps found at the end of DNA strands protecting chromosomes of breast cancer patients stayed the same length over the three-month study period. These patients used to practice meditation on a regular basis. Other participants who didn’t practice meditation had shorter telomeres over the same time period.

Meditation can enhance sleep. Meditation promotes calmness and stillness and this is why it can help you with insomnia. You can even quit sleeping pills by combining meditation with other cognitive behavioral therapies.

IBS patients can enhance their gut by practicing mindful meditation. The abdominal pain, diarrhea, and fatigue-like conditions can result in stress and to break this cycle, meditation comes into the mainstream.

Yoga and meditation are a beautiful combination to enhance the quality of life and decrease medication consumption. You can find a reliable yoga guru who has sound knowledge about the topics and can give you a meditative experience like never before.