Meditation for Mind-body Healing

Most of us can remember getting so absorbed in a suspenseful movie or masterful novel that the rest of the world dropped away and we were completely identified with the plot and characters. It is just as easy to get caught up in our own stories and emotions – becoming so identified with a mood that it completely colors our worldview. We may even start to believe that the core of who we are is an angry, sad, or fearful person. Our emotions get in the driver’s seat, and our ability to be fully present, creative, and responsive is compromised.

Emotional distress expresses itself in the body, demanding our attention and refusing to be rational. Feelings are so named because we feel them in our body – a churning in our stomach, a tightening of our jaw, a strangling sensation in our throat. If we’re unable to release or express emotions in a healthy way, the discomfort in our body can become chronic and can contribute to the development of disease. For example, several major medical studies have found that stored resentment or hostility is a greater risk factor for heart disease than high cholesterol, smoking, or obesity.

Meditation is one of the best ways to loosen the grip of sticky emotions and connect to our true self. Meditation brings us home to the peace of present-moment awareness and gives us an experience of profound relaxation that dissolves fatigue and long-standing stresses and – as countless studies have shown – promotes both physical and emotional healing.

How Does Meditation Work?

We are all engaged in a continuous internal dialogue in which the meaning and emotional associations of one thought trigger the next, usually without our being consciously aware of the process. Buddhist psychology describes this process as samskara, which can be seen as grooves in the mind that make flow thoughts in the same direction. Your personal samskara is created from the memories of your past and can force you to react in the same limited way over and over again. Most people build up their identify on the basis of samskara without even realizing they are doing this.

In meditation you disrupt the unconscious progression of thoughts and emotions by focusing on a new object of attention. In the practice of Primordial Sound Meditation, that “object of attention” is a mantra that you repeat silently to yourself. A mantra is pure sound, with no meaning or emotional charge to trigger associations. It allows the mind to detach from its usual preoccupations and experience the spaciousness and calm within. The more you practice meditation, the more you are able to experience expanded states of pure awareness. In the silence of awareness, the mind lets go of old patterns of thinking and feeling and learns to heal itself.

If you’d like to heal your body, calm your mind, and nurture your spirit, we invite you to join us for the Perfect Health program, the only wellness program in the world that combines a renowned medical staff, a time-honored detoxification process, and daily foundational teachings in meditation, yoga, and Ayurveda. In The Chopra Center’s nurturing, safe environment, you will be guided in the proven steps to restoring your balance and regaining your sense of joy and wellbeing.

To learn more, please call 888.736.6895 or request more information about Perfect Health here.