You may meditate for different reasons: relaxation of your body and mind, spiritual connection, or stress release. Meditation has many practical applications in everyday life.
To make the most out of meditation, you should use meditative thoughts to focus on your awareness - that is, mindfulness of what is happening around you, such as your breathing, bodily sensations, and meditative thoughts. Without this awareness or mindfulness, meditation does not seem to have any purpose. Meditation is all about re-focusing your mind on what is important, and discarding what is irrelevant or insignificant. In other words, meditation helps you not only to prioritize but also to change your perspectives regarding events in your life.
Now you can apply meditation to your everyday life. You can bring all the benefits of meditation to your everyday life.
Through the power of meditation, you can find the quiet or stillness between sounds and thoughts and experiences. It is this underlying quietness - so quiet that you can almost hear it - that forms a link between you and your sensations and meditative thoughts. Through this stillness, you become enlightened with respect to your adaptation to cope with the mundane world, such as dealing with attitudes and behaviors, as well as pain and stress; knowing yourself better, such as the reasons for your anger; divine illumination, such as the purpose of your existence. Meditation is essentially a mental training of awareness or mindfulness of breathing, physical sensations, and mental thoughts, and the perception of timelessness with focus on not only the present moment but also what is "real" at the present moment.
By training your awareness or mindfulness only to remain present in whatever activity you are undertaking in real life, you will find yourself right in the center of that activity you are engaging in. In this way, you will be doing your very best, because your mind is not distracted by anything else other than what you are doing at that very present moment. For example, if you are doing dishes, your mind is only on that chore, and nothing else. In addition, by focusing on doing the dishes, you will not find the chore boring and meaningless. Meditation is mind training at its best in that you will be looking at everything in perspective - even washing dishes is part of life, and hence you should derive satisfaction from doing so. Mind training in guided meditation leads to a state of stillness that can be maintained no matter what you are doing, or what is happening around you. This is the power of meditation.
To illustrate, the practical principles of meditation can be applied to the non-meditating part of your everyday living for life, such as walking. While you are walking, let go of the outside world, and focus on your breathing, such as listening to the relaxed sound of your breathing in and breathing out as you are walking. In addition to making your walk slow and purposeful, observe each step that you are making: notice the physical sensation of your feet, as well as the way your arms are swinging back and forth and brushing against your body. If unwanted thoughts come up in your mind, re-focus your awareness or mindfulness on your breathing and physical sensations. Keep on walking with your meditative thoughts.
Meditation is an excellent mind training to focus on what you are doing. Surely, you can apply meditation to your everyday life by turning any everyday activity, irrespective of its insignificance, into meditative nature to enhance your mindfulness and clarity of mind. Guided meditation can enhance your mind power to transform your life: your senses come to life; you see how things change from moment to moment, so you have a better understanding of what is important and what is "real" in your life; most importantly, you find it easier to let go of things you found difficult to let go in the past.
Friday, January 1, 2010
Saturday, December 12, 2009
Aging and Migraines
Aging is a fact of life. Getting older means increasing frailty and susceptibility to illness, but it can also be a boon to migraineurs (people who experience migraine headaches). Only 2-10% of the elderly population experiences migraines (as opposed to up to 28% of adults under 65), and elderly women are still more likely to have them than their male counterparts.
Migraines can happen at any age, but they peak around age 40. The frequency of migraine attacks after 40 decreases for most people. Many migraineurs who have suffered with this condition for years experience a reduction in the frequency and severity of attacks after age 55.
About two thirds of migraineurs stop having attacks altogether by age 65. Patients over 65 who still have migraines report drastically decreased severity, duration, and frequency in their attacks. They are also less likely to experience the gastrointestinal upset that accompanies migraine in younger people.
The downside to all this good news is that adults over 65 who suffer from migraines are more likely than younger patients to experience disability because of their affliction. Many physicians are uncomfortable with treating senior citizens for migraines because therapeutic methods used on younger people are often not tested for safety in an older patient.
Additional conditions and the medications used to treat them complicate the problem. Seniors are more likely to be on one or more prescription drugs and each new medication increases the risk of adverse drug reactions. This possibility makes some doctors reluctant to offer senior migraineurs pharmaceutical assistance.
The onset of migraines after age 50 is very rare and should be investigated with a doctor to rule out the possibility of secondary causes. Late onset does not rule out migraine (only one third of senior headaches are due to secondary conditions) but it makes it less likely.
MYou may have heard some of the myths concerning migraine headache and the people who suffer from them. What follows are the eight most common myths about migraines...as well as the facts.
Myth: Having migraines is a sign that you have psychological problems.
Fact: Migraine is a biological disorder, not a psychological symptom. Some people with mental health problems may have migraines, but migraine is not the cause or the result of these problems.
Myth: A particular type of person tends to get migraine: hypersensitive, uptight, perfectionist, compulsive.
Fact: Researchers who have intensively studied the personality makeup of migraine sufferers have found no evidence of a "migraine personality."
Myth: You bring migraines on yourself. It's all in your head.
Fact: Migraine is a genuine medical disorder -- as real as heart disease, high blood pressure, or diabetes.
Myth: There isn't much you can do about migraines; you just have to learn to live with them.
Fact: Migraine cannot be cured, but in most cases it can be controlled by avoiding identified triggers and treating with medicines available over-the-counter, or those your doctor may prescribe.
Myth: Migraine is so awful, it's got to be a sign of something terribly wrong.
Fact: All of the manifestations of migraine are a temporary response to a biochemical chain of events in the central nervous system. When the biochemical balance returns to normal, the symptoms subside.
Myth: Migraine is just another excuse to leave work early or to miss work altogether.
Fact: Migraine sufferers have a legitimate medical reason to take time off from work for treatment and recovery because the migraine condition has real biological causes and should be recognized as a medical condition.
Myth: Migraines are due to allergies.
Fact: Coincidence is the only link between allergies and migraines. Allergies and headaches are common occurrences. Because some people have both, they assume there is a causal connection.
Myth: The more medication you take for a migraine, the better you'll feel.
Fact: Exceeding the recommended dose of any medication won't provide more relief. Instead, it may create more serious problems.
To learn about this and many other factors dealing with Canadian Seniors, go to www.Canadian-Seniors.com
Migraines can happen at any age, but they peak around age 40. The frequency of migraine attacks after 40 decreases for most people. Many migraineurs who have suffered with this condition for years experience a reduction in the frequency and severity of attacks after age 55.
About two thirds of migraineurs stop having attacks altogether by age 65. Patients over 65 who still have migraines report drastically decreased severity, duration, and frequency in their attacks. They are also less likely to experience the gastrointestinal upset that accompanies migraine in younger people.
The downside to all this good news is that adults over 65 who suffer from migraines are more likely than younger patients to experience disability because of their affliction. Many physicians are uncomfortable with treating senior citizens for migraines because therapeutic methods used on younger people are often not tested for safety in an older patient.
Additional conditions and the medications used to treat them complicate the problem. Seniors are more likely to be on one or more prescription drugs and each new medication increases the risk of adverse drug reactions. This possibility makes some doctors reluctant to offer senior migraineurs pharmaceutical assistance.
The onset of migraines after age 50 is very rare and should be investigated with a doctor to rule out the possibility of secondary causes. Late onset does not rule out migraine (only one third of senior headaches are due to secondary conditions) but it makes it less likely.
MYou may have heard some of the myths concerning migraine headache and the people who suffer from them. What follows are the eight most common myths about migraines...as well as the facts.
Myth: Having migraines is a sign that you have psychological problems.
Fact: Migraine is a biological disorder, not a psychological symptom. Some people with mental health problems may have migraines, but migraine is not the cause or the result of these problems.
Myth: A particular type of person tends to get migraine: hypersensitive, uptight, perfectionist, compulsive.
Fact: Researchers who have intensively studied the personality makeup of migraine sufferers have found no evidence of a "migraine personality."
Myth: You bring migraines on yourself. It's all in your head.
Fact: Migraine is a genuine medical disorder -- as real as heart disease, high blood pressure, or diabetes.
Myth: There isn't much you can do about migraines; you just have to learn to live with them.
Fact: Migraine cannot be cured, but in most cases it can be controlled by avoiding identified triggers and treating with medicines available over-the-counter, or those your doctor may prescribe.
Myth: Migraine is so awful, it's got to be a sign of something terribly wrong.
Fact: All of the manifestations of migraine are a temporary response to a biochemical chain of events in the central nervous system. When the biochemical balance returns to normal, the symptoms subside.
Myth: Migraine is just another excuse to leave work early or to miss work altogether.
Fact: Migraine sufferers have a legitimate medical reason to take time off from work for treatment and recovery because the migraine condition has real biological causes and should be recognized as a medical condition.
Myth: Migraines are due to allergies.
Fact: Coincidence is the only link between allergies and migraines. Allergies and headaches are common occurrences. Because some people have both, they assume there is a causal connection.
Myth: The more medication you take for a migraine, the better you'll feel.
Fact: Exceeding the recommended dose of any medication won't provide more relief. Instead, it may create more serious problems.
To learn about this and many other factors dealing with Canadian Seniors, go to www.Canadian-Seniors.com
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