The cardiologist was shocked when he saw the lab results. My 'bad' cholesterol level - the LDL - was a dangerously high 285. He said we should immediately pursue an aggressive therapy and he prescribed 80 mg of Lipitor. The drug worked very well; in a couple of weeks my LDL levels had dropped below 70 mg/dL. Until that time everything was fine. Then as I continued to take the medication, I started to suffer several side-effects. When I talked to my doctor he said, "The benefit to you is greater than the risk of side-effects." But I was feeling worse physically. I started to experience general weakness, muscle fatigue, liver problems, , and terrible stomach pains. I now disagreed with my doctor. The benefit was not better than the side-effects.
This continued until one day when I met with a long lost friend. We had spent not five minutes chatting when he introduced me to the concept of meditation. Only in five minutes! He convinced me the meditation would change my life as it had his. My curiosity was piqued. I enrolled in a meditation course at Chopra Center University and started to meditate daily. Within three months later I decided to stop taking Lipitor and started to heal myself. I learned that meditation is the practice of creating a gap between thoughts in order to feel each present moment.
When I practice meditation, my heart rate and breathing slows down, my blood pressure normalizes, I use oxygen more efficiently and reduce or eliminate stress. Stress-induced illness and worrying about the past and future are replaced with enjoying the present.
As I increased my knowledge in meditation, I learned many scientist, authors, performance artist have practiced meditation throughout the years. These include but are not limited to the following: Albert Einstein, Benjamin Franklin, Francis Bacon, Thomas Edison, Isaac Newton, Richard Gere, Oprah Winfrey, Angelina Jolie, Al Gore, Gwyneth Paltrow, Tina Turner, Julia Roberts, Clint Eastwood, Hugh Jackman, Steven Seagal, Paul McCartney, Harrison Ford and Oliver Stone.
The roots of meditating travel back to ancient times. The earliest written records reveal that meditation originated from ancient India, Hindu traditions of Vedantism (one of the main philosophical school of Hinduism) around 1500 BCE (George, Jeffrey and Lating 199). Today, there are many different forms of meditation are available - transcendental meditation, yoga, tai-chi, qi-gong, zazen - to name a few. All these meditative forms promote a peaceful mind, perfect health, improved balance, greater energy and total enlightenment for the individual.
The positive advantages by meditating practices are neither extraordinary nor unusual. Much research has been conducted to verify the positive results of meditation of some form. For example, the benefits of meditation have recently been accepted by the American medical community. Harvard Medical School's publications Harvard Mental Health Letter'and Harvard Heart Letter emphasize the proven scientific benefits of practicing meditation for heart disease, blood pressure, blood sugar control, depression, behavioral disorders, psoriasis, IBS (irritable bowel syndrome), fibromyalgia and RA (rheumatoid arthritis). And the question is, could it work for hip labral tears?
The Harvard Heart Letter points out a scientific study funded by the National Institutes of Health in which it found that "clearing the mind for 20 minutes twice each day may help lower blood pressure and improve the body's ability to control blood sugar" (Harvard Heart Letter 6). In this study, there were two comparative groups. The first group involved 52 men and women with stable heart disease who learned Transcendental Meditation and practiced it for four months. The second group contained 51 people with similar heart disease who took classes on controlling heart disease but did not meditate. At the end of four months the results revealed that the group of individuals who practiced meditation achieved greater improvements in blood pressure and blood sugar control.
Additionally, each mediator demonstrated a lower activation of his/her body's stress system than that of the individual not meditating. Because this was a National Health Institute funded study published in the Archives of Internal Medicine (one of the most prestigious medical journals in internal medicine) and because the Harvard Heart Letter confirms the importance of the results, the reliability of the data was highly convincing.
In addition, the world renown Mayo Clinic endorses practicing meditation for its potential health benefits (MayoClinic.com). They define meditation as "a simple fast way to reduce stress." Recent clinical research has seen the relationship between athletic injuries and psychological factors as essentially stress-related. Thus Mayo Clinic's definition of meditation should be a mantra for those who want to diminish the stress from their lives. More important than their statement, Mayo Clinic encourages a meditation practice for its patients as an integral part of their Complementary and Integrative Medicine Program.
Mayo Clinic confirms that there are simple and inexpensive ways to manage and control several disorders. Meditation is included in these. (MayoClinic.com) The clinic's current practice and strong advocacy for meditation provides additional solid evidence for countless health benefits of meditation. Isn't it a cheap, effective and safe way to manage your health problems?
Fortunately, today more people are discovering the potential benefits of meditation in order to create more healthy and peaceful lives for themselves. While meditation brings stillness and tranquility to your mind, it offers an internal balance and opens your mind to new ideas.
Once you learn it, you can practice meditation anywhere. I remember many times closing doors in order to meditate for 15 minutes in the office.
In my opinion, in preventing and managing hip labral tears, meditation can be very helpful as a complementary practice. Meditation may also help to accelerate the recovery period of a possible hip replacement surgery.
Isn't it worth to try to enjoy self-healing and rejuvenation? I believe perfect health can be achieved merely with a peaceful mind. As Buddha beautifully said, "Peace comes from within. Do not seek without." Simply meditate for yourself, keep diseases out.
a guest post by
Life_TYrunner
Please find the assigned claim token Technorati code CU8K2AFB27DV
Sources:
1. 'A mantra for heart disease' 2006, Harvard Heart Letter, 17,2,p.6, Academic Search Premier, EBSCO host, viewed 20 April 2012
2. Goerge, S., M. Jeffrey, and M. Lating. "Chapter 11 Meditation." A Clinical Guide to the Treatment of the Human Stress Response. 2nd ed. Springer, 2002. 199-200. Print.
3. James M. Hoffman, Edward Li, Fred Doloresco, Linda Matusiak, Robert J. Hunkler, Nilay D. Shah, Lee C. Vermeulen, and Glen T. Schumock. Projecting Future Drug Expenditures-2012. American Journal of Health-System Pharmacy:Vol 69 Mar 1, 2012
4. Mayo Clinic Staff. "Meditation: A Simple, Fast Way to Reduce Stress." Mayo Clinic. Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research. Web. 20 Apr. 2012.
