How Does The Bible Describe Meditation?

Everyone is susceptible to feeling worry. It happens whenever we set our minds to think of all the negative possibilities our current, past, or future situations may bring. We consume our time thinking of things that bother us. There are those who advice against worrying too much, as it is a waste of physical and mental energy. Some even explain that worry takes up the spiritual energy that should have been used for better purposes.

If anyone knows how to worry then for sure he or she should also know how to meditate. In this sense, mediation is just the exact opposite of worrying. But this time someone has just to shift his thinking from the negative side into the positive side. One of the possible positive sides is reflecting on the word of God. In Christianity, this is how the Bible describes the process of meditation.

The dictionary defines meditation as the devotional exercise leading to contemplation. It means that during meditation, someone has the passion and full eagerness to reflect on something. The Bible describes this as reflecting on the promises of God. It is the act of diligence and perseverance to seek God’s word in a certain routine someone has made. Many Christians today use the word meditating every time they have their quiet time with God. In Christian practice, the Bible serves as the source of thoughts to meditate upon, as it contains the good message of God, the Creator.

The process of meditation to be at peace with God is done not only by Christians today but also prominent characters in the Bible such as David, Moses, Abraham, and even Jesus Christ.
David, one of the authors of the longest books in the Bible which is Psalms, is known as the “Man after God’s own heart.” David’s reflections and meditations are made apparent in the many chapters of his book. Moses, one of God’s chosen few to redeem the people of Israel, meditates deeply enough to audibly hear God’s voice. Abraham, as the “Father of All Nations” received God’s promise by his sole meditation with God. Jesus Christ used the word of God in rebuking the temptation the devil plotted against Him during the time of His fasting in the Gospels.

Indeed the Bible describes meditation by means of solemnly focusing on the word of God. The Bible documents the great transformations meditation brings to the lives of those faithful people wh
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o strongly adhere to God’s word. Moses is a leader, David is a king, Abraham is a patriarch, while Jesus is the Savior. The Bible declares a promise that anyone who meditates on the word of God will receive an extraordinary transformation in his or her life.

The Bible is only one sacred scripture that exists in the belief systems of the world today. In other forms of religion, their own sacred scriptures define a significant meaning of meditation to its followers. This only comes to show that meditation may be universal, as it can exist in many forms, and can be viewed by varying perspectives. All the more should the practice be embraced, as it teaches values beyond that of life on earth.

By: Ace Smith

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Ace Smith is a prolific writer touching base on topics like Technology, Travel, Health and others. For more information you can drop by his web sites that deals with: Credit & Finance , Africa and Jewelry.

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Effects Of Meditation On The Body’s Hormones

The human body is an extremely efficient machine. It is fueled by various substances, and is allowed to operate by means of complex systems aimed at specific purposes. The body has the ability to grow, repair damages, defend itself from possible infections, and maintain the normal functioning of all systems. Hormones play a vital role in the regulation of the human body.

meditation has already been considered as a complementary and alternative form of medicine. Many medical institutions have recognized its potential to treat both physical and mental ailments. At present, investigations on the healing and therapeutic ability of meditation are in full swing. Even more developments are brought out as the years progress.

Meditation has been established as having beneficial effects to patients with cardiovascular disease. Patients with high cholesterol levels and high blood pressure have been tested with various meditative methods, and results were promising. Even in the field of respiratory medicine, meditation has aided patients with asthma. All the more has meditation helped in the realm of psychology and behavior. The practice has shown to help alleviate the symptoms of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), Alzheimer’s disease, phobias, trauma, and depression.

Many of the explanations as to why meditation is successful in treating patients is based on its effects in the body’s hormone levels. Because the hormones are determinants of many physiological processes, scientists have attempted to quantify their levels in persons who meditate and compare them to those who don’t.

For example, take into consideration the hormone cortisol. In medicine, this is also commonly known as the stress hormone. High levels of this in the blood can be activated by several factors, including that of cardiovascular disease and diet. When cortisol levels go up, a person manifests the symptoms of stress, which are fatigue, lack of sleep, sudden weight loss, and in many cases, depression. Meditation has been shown to lower the cortisol in the blood, allowing stressed patients to become more relaxed and have the ability to think more clearly.

Another hormone that has been closely investigated is melatonin. Melatonin is primarily responsible for maintaining the biological clock of the human bod
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y. If there are low levels of melatonin, a person loses track of the normal body rhythms associated with time, such as sleep. Melatonin treatments are often administered to patients with insomnia and other sleep disorders. It has been found out that meditation helps increase levels of melatonin in the blood, so patients are able to relax better and get more sleep.

In certain yoga practices, there are specific meditation techniques that are aimed at hormone production. One such hormone is testosterone, which is responsible for reproductive and sexual functioning in males. There are types of meditation that allow the increase of testosterone levels, which contribute to vitality and longevity for many men.

Serotonin is also another important hormone, as it controls behavior and can influence the mood of a person. Meditation has been shown to regulate the levels of serotonin in the body. Low levels of serotonin can possibly lead to depression, migraine, and insomnia.

By: Ace Smith

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Ace Smith is a prolific writer touching base on topics like Technology, Travel,Health and others. For more information you can drop by his web sites that deals with: Sex Diseases , Money with Blog and Cell Phone / Telecom News.

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The divine fruits of meditation
 by: Dr. Roberto A. Bonomi

The best way to achieve the Sreyokarma or the liberating karma is through the meditation. And meditating will lead us to the path of soul’s happiness that’s etern and sacred.

As a result of the meditation the mind will withraw from the sensorial world and will reach joy, happiness and truth and will not be disturbed any more by sorrow and greed.

Meditation should be practiced with enthusiasm faith and care, following estrictly the established disciplines.

Some think that the benefits of the meditation are that they will be able to easily satisfy their mundane wishes.

But that is a great mistake, because the meditation and the repetition of the name of God are ment to acquire an undivided attention in God, to freedom us fom the sensorial bonds therefore reaching happiness in God.

We mustn’t practice meditation with the idea of obtaining earth’s fruits, we must meditate looking towards inside of us, until we become able to contemplate the souls blessedness.

Do not pay attention to the time that it takes to reach the objective, just practice with faith and persistence until God’s grace falls over you.

Three forms exist of following the meditation’s path:

The Satvic where you consider that the repetition of God’s name and the meditation are duties that you have to do. That our life in earth is an illusion and you only wish and do good to everyone loving them, and not even do it for the fruits.

The Rajasic where every step that you give, you give it because of the fruits that that will provide you. (With this actitude you will gradually loose the desire of practicing meditation)

The Tamasic where you only remember God when you are in danger or suffering, and as soon as you get rid of the problems you forget God. (Those that are in this path will never be able to purify their minds).

Meditating will allow you to get reed of the ignorance, layer after layer, but in order to achieve that you must be equipped with good habits, discipline, and high ideals.

When we develop the interest and pleasure of meditating, then we achieve a will and a strength, bigger than the effort of meditating.

Sathya the truth is so comforting, that when we reach it, there isn’t any more a meditation, a meditator or an object of the meditation, because they all become One.

The atmic blessedness is the goal and the fruit of the meditation. The human being that reaches that becomes pure, free from suffering and divine.

Then he will find happiness within himself, because the meditation will help him discover within himself the fountain of blessedness, he will be able to submerge himself into his inherent divine state, and become a Mahatma (a great soul).

From there on he will be free and realized, and will live in blessedness and peace. That’s the fruit of meditation!

Written by Dr. Roberto A. Bonomi

You will find many articles about meditation like this one, at Dr. Bonomi’s web site: http://www.rb-meditation.com

This article may be reprinted provided no changes are made and this resource box is included in full.

About The Author

Dr. Roberto A. Bonomi

You can find many articles about meditation like this one at Dr. Bonomi’s web site: www.rb-meditation.com This article may be reprinted provided no changes are made, and this resource box is included in full.

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Meditation And Brainwave Entrainment

So much has been written about meditation, but not so much has been written about brainwave entrainment. In fact, most people probably never even heard of the term “brainwave entrainment”. In this article I hope to reveal how meditation and brainwave entrainment compliment each other and are inseparable. I also point out that brainwave entrainment can be used as a shortcut to meditation.

Meditation Defined

Although there are various definitions for meditation one of the main definitions for meditation is stillness of mind, letting go of stormy and distracting thoughts and emotions, and for a time remaining focused inwardly. Those who are intellectually inclined use meditation to clear their mind and to focus on just one thought, perhaps a thought about how to solve a certain problem, or entertaining the thought of a new idea. Those who are spiritually inclined use meditation for stilling their mind so they can focus all their energy and aspiration on the divine within. But we are barely scratching the surface in defining meditation in such simple terms.

Meditation and Brainwaves

Scientifically speaking meditation basically alters one’s brainwaves. Different brainwave states are associated with different benefits and experiences. For example when your mind is racing, stressed, unable to relax or be still, perhaps caught in emotional turmoil, arguing, hating, bitter, screaming, or confused, racing a zillion miles a second etc., you are probably plugged into a brainwave state at the beta or even gamma levels. Most of us live our waking day to day lives at the beta level. Even if we are generally a calm person we can still be at a beta level if we are unable to intellectually relax or take a mental break. If we feel we always need to be preoccupied with something we are probably living too much at the beta live, and in the long run this can potentially cause premature aging, stress, health problems, emotional issues, and so on. Healthy beta is ok. But our brain can be too beta wired which is not good.

Meditation helps train the brain to be more synchronized and balanced. Periods of regular meditation practice help bring the brain from a gamma or beta level to a more relaxed alpha level, or even deeper to a theta level, and ultimately in very deep, intens
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e meditation you can reach the delta level. Delta is a very life-giving, rejuvenating state of mind, but few reach it often enough, not even when they sleep.

Following is a brief description of the beta, alpha, theta, and delta brainwave states:

Beta waves (13 to 40 Hz ) – Beta is identified with active, busy or anxious thinking and active concentration.

Alpha waves (8 to 12 Hz ) – When we begin to relax or begin to get drowsy, but are still awake and conscious, when we are day dreaming, we are at the alpha level.

Theta waves (4 to 8 Hz) – When we are asleep and have dreams, and experience rapid eye movement (REM), and have hallucinations, and even when we experience deep meditation, we are at the theta level. When we lucid dream (this is when you are conscious while you are dreaming) we are at the theta level.

Delta waves (0 to 4 Hz) – Delta waves are usually associated with deep, slow brain activity found in deep sleep. Delta waves are experienced predominantly in newborn infants, as well as in healthy adults in deep rejuvenating sleep, or in very deep states of brain enhancing, emotional cleansing, bodily renewing meditation.

The Difference Between Meditation and Sleep

By now you are probably thinking to yourself: “What is the point in meditating since I enter the alpha, theta, and sometimes delta levels every time I sleep? If I sleep 6 – 8 hours a night then am I not basically receiving the same benefits I would receive if I were doing 6 – 8 hours of meditation a day for my entire life?”

The main point here is deep, dreamless sleep at the delta level. Most people don’t sleep deep enough where the benefits of deep rejuvenating sleep take place. But if you take even only a “power nap” for an hour or two and enter a deep, dreamless sleep at the delta level at that time, when you wake up and come out of it there is a new sense of life, energy, awareness, well-being in you. In deep rejuvenating meditation you enter that same level, except that you are awake instead on unconscious. When you can enter that deep rejuvenating state of consciousness while remaining fully aware then you can carry over that state of mind in your day to day life and become the essence of who you are deep in your inner most being. It takes practice and daily trips to that deep place within.

In a nutshell meditation in this context is a fourth state of consciousness that is unique because it consists of high awareness with very low mental or physiological function. Meditation is an awareness of our inner spirit, as well as closeness to our spirit. Everyone comes “pre-wired” with the capacity for this type of meditative restful awareness. Alas few ever reach it during normal sleep. But daily meditation can help your sleep become deeper.

When reaching deep delta levels during sleep we feel so much refreshed and rejuvenated when we wake up. When we fall into deep sleep, the ego disappears as does all out mental programming and brainwashed mindset, we are closer to our pristine innocence. The closer we are to “home” so to speak the more recharged and healthy we are in our day to day life.

This clearly proves that the secret of attaining freshness and peace lies within, not outside. The goal of meditation is to become conscious while you are passing through dream and deep sleep states of your mind, and remaining conscious when you are in your spirit so to speak. And then the ultimate goal (practice makes perfect) is the carrying over of that awareness into your day to day life and maintaining it by intuitive living. This is when an entire life makeover takes place of which religious rules of conduct and morals and ethical living are all but cheap imitations of something that is natural and spontaneous due to the actual experience of “seeing God” in the depths of one’s being. But that is another subject.

Brainwave Entrainment: A Shortcut To Meditation

The primary emphasis in this art
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icle relates to a shortcut method for getting to that deep inward state where the physical, mental, emotional and spiritual benefits of meditation naturally follow. This is where “brainwave entrainment” comes in.

What Is Brainwave Entrainment?

Brainwave entrainment is a scientifically proven leading edge in brain/mind technology. Professionals in the areas of psychology, neurology, medical health and self-help are beginning to utilize the power of brainwave entrainment in their work with patients and clients. Advances in the effectiveness of brainwave entrainment have been significant and gaining ground.

Wikipedia defines brainwave entrainment this way:

“Brainwave synchronization or “brainwave entrainment,” is any practice that aims to cause brainwave frequency to fall into step with a periodic stimulus having a frequency corresponding to the intended brain-state (for example, to induce sleep). It depends upon a “frequency following” response, a naturally occurring phenomenon where the human brain has a tendency to change its dominant EEG frequency towards the frequency of a dominant external stimulus. Such a stimulus may be aural, as in the case of binaural beats, monaural beats, and isochronic tones, or else visual, as with a dream-machine, a combination of the two with a mind machine, or even electromagnetic radiation.”

Over the centuries and even today many people use different methods in an attempt to enter a deep state of meditation. Some use breathing techniques. Some use chanting, others use dance, instruments, music, devotional exercises and so much more. All these are different methods used for basically entraining the brain and lowering the brainwave frequencies to a state of mind at the alpha, theta or delta levels.

Also used by some for entering deep states of meditation are brainwave mp3’s or cd’s which are embedded with binaural beats, monaural beats, or isochronic tones. It has been scientifically documented that periods of regular brainwave entrainment by means of listening to cd’s or mp3’s embedded with binaural betas, monaural beats, or isochronic tones can lead to an increase in overall emotional calmness, relaxation, deep inner peace, intelligence, creativity, focus and mental clarity also improving memory, raising IQ and creating a rise in energy, and reduction in stress levels. These are the same benefits one experiences during meditation.

All this info I shared may sound complicated and complex in some cases. The fact is that you no more need to understand exactly how this process works than you need to know how the engines on an airplane work to get you from one destination to another. What you really need to know is that brainwave entrainment is highly effective and easily fits into your daily routine. Just 20 minutes to an hour a day listening to brainwave entrainment mp3’s or cd’s you begin to reap the rewards.

Affordable High Quality Brainwave Mp3’s & CD’s (With Free Samples)

If you want to learn more about meditation and brainwave entrainment, and also listen to mp3 samples embedded with binaural beats, monaural beats and isochronic tones, please click on any of the links in the Author’s resource box below. Thank you for taking time to read this article.

By: Edward Crivello

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Edward Crivello specializes in creating affordable high quality mp3’s and cd’s consisting of a blend of soothing nature sounds, ambient soundscapes, and new age music embedded with binaural beats and isochronic tones for brainwave entrainment. Experience the benefits of 1000
et="_blank">meditation in a fraction of the time.

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Meeting Jesus In Meditation
 by: Anthony Keith Whitehead

There are many approaches to prayer. Not least because there are many different needs. But the greatest of all our needs is to get nearer to Jesus. The most powerful form of prayer for this purpose is arguably Christian meditation.

This article discusses some of the special aspects of Christian meditation

Sources Of The Benefits Of Christian Meditation Meditation has a very long history in Christianity and has taken various forms. But meditation on Scripture, and not least the gospels, is a kind which has great power.

How does the power come about?. From three sources: which work together to bring us closer to God:

1. From the Holy Spirit, of course. But this kind of prayer makes a very special kind of requirement on us and on the Spirit, and that is expressed in terms of

2. Faith. Obviously, the very act of prayer, any prayer, involves some kind of faith. But the degree of faith which this form of prayer demands can be quite different than in other forms of prayer.

3. Consistency. To really get into this kind of prayer one needs a daily commitment which is kept consistently. It is often said that “grace builds on nature” and that is very true. In this case it is true because we need to become habitually open to the way in which the Spirit works within us. We shall not achieve that unless we become habitual in our habits of prayer.

Essentials Of Christian Meditation

Christian meditation on the Bible is essentially straightforward in terms of what we do and the procedure we follow. However, there are many questions and issues which arise from the process. Too many to consider in a short article such as this. The subject receives an in-depth treatment in the book “The Keys To Meditation” by Keith & Iris Whitehead. But here we can indicate some of the essentials and some important benefits.

This kind of meditation should not be confused in any ways with types derived from Eastern religions, such as Hinduism. It is quite different and essentially Christian. Very often it is associated with Ignatius of Loyola because, after his conversion, he developed a particularly clear method of approach.

This involves reading Scripture in a particular way. At its essence is explicitly allowing the Holy Spirit to reveal to us the nature and meaning of what, after all, he himself has written over the centuries.

The Subject Matter

For a Christian, the most important part of Scripture is the New Testament. While, we can meditate on the Old Testament, the former is, at least, the best place to start. Sometimes we meditate on the gospels; sometimes on the letters or Acts or Revelations. In the latter cases the approach is somewhat different in important respects to meditating on the gospels. However, it is meditation on the gospels which can bring us repeatedly face-to-face with Jesus in real and dynamic ways.

Some Of The Benefits Of Christian Meditation

The reality of meeting with Jesus in this way is a principle benefit. But it must not be either over-emphasised nor under-emphasised. The first is a danger because the actual experience of meditation will vary considerably from day-to-day or as between prayer periods on the same day. Few people with considerable experience in meditation would deny the reality of this meeting.

But some with limited experience may tend to overstress these encounters. They get carried away with what the Holy Spirit is providing for them over a particular period of time. But the Spirit deals with us in very different ways at different times.

On the other hand, these experiences are real, of great value and bring many blessings and should not be ignored. Certainly, we should avoid becoming “hucked” on them. That is a real possibility and must not be allowed to happen. People like John of the Cross have warned repeatedly about such dangers.

Allowing Freedom For The Holy Spirit To Work

Moreover, we need to allow the Spirit to balance the graces he is giving us. This requires mixing meditation periods on the gospels with other periods on, say, the letters of the New Testament, or the Psalms are a good source for beginning to meditate on the Old Testament.

One of the greatest benefits which a Christian has in his relationship with God is the very fact that God dwells within him. For example, Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians 2:12 that we have not received the spirit of the world, but we have received the Spirit who is from God. The reason for this is so that we may understand what God has freely given us.

When we do understand that, we understand that he needs to be given both the freedom and opportunity to work within us to the maximum possible degree. Only in that way shall we continue in the process of becoming like Jesus. That, after all, is what our lives are about.

About The Author

Anthony Keith Whitehead

Web Site: http://www.christianword.co.uk

email: akw@christianword.co.uk

Experience: Over twenty years in Christian healing, teaching and writing.

Qualifications: B.A., M.Phil., Cambridge University Certificate in Religious Studies.

Conditions of use: This article may be reproduced on condition that it is unaltered and that all this information is included.

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