Ayurveda and Meditation

Ayurveda and Creating Peace Within

Most of us search for an inner peace which is spoken about throughout literature in every cultural tradition known to man. This inner peace is a development that comes with practice and discipline but it is quite simple to cultivate if one is only willing to try. A good way to begin to partake in this cultivating of the spirit can come through the practice of meditation. Meditation practice is recommended at both the beginning of your day and also at the close of the day. It must be remembered that meditation does not require you to adhere to strict principles of how it should be done. Rather, meditation should be approached as a child approaches things: with a relaxed and playful attitude. Meditation can be practiced in a number of ways and the most important thing to keep in mind that what you are actually practicing is concentrating your attention on one point. Ayurveda teaches that one of the most simple methods of achieving this is by following some simple steps. First of all it is very important that you sit in a comfortable position (legs crossed, sitting relaxed position, lotus position or others) and with your back straight. Now you can begin to take deep breaths and focus your attention on your breathing. Place all of your attention on inhaling and exhaling the air. Thoughts will come and go and it is important to let them go. If you start to think you have to always remember to come back to the breath and to bring back your focus and all of your attention back to the air that you are breathing. At first, this will happen but with practice and time you will find that meditation is actually quite simple. You can begin with this simple meditation or you can also choose to meditate in many other ways. Some prefer to meditate on a specific word or set of words by repeating these words. This is the process of meditation through mantra. The mantras are words along with particular vibrations that allow you to focus your attention in one place. The repetition of said word or words focuses your attention upon these words and in a similar process as the one previously discussed you are able to focus all of your attention to one place. You can also choose to lie down while performing these meditation exercises however be careful not to fall asleep.
Furthermore, meditation allows you to focus your attention in one place and to really give your mind some much needed rest. If you spend most of your time in thoughts (which most of us do) then you can understand why it would be good to take a break every once in a while. If you are working a job they require you to take breaks so that you can give your system the much needed rest. In the same way your mind needs to rest and meditation is an excellent way of doing this. There are many other meditation techniques that you can learn. Simply go to youtube and type in the words meditation. You will find many guided meditations and methods to meditate. Begin your practice today! There are many health benefits for those who practice meditation.