Meditation for Self-healing

At plant-based4health.com we embrace holistic healing practices that address the whole person: physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual. In addition to adopting a whole-food, plant-based diet and regular exercise, we recommend developing a practice of meditation.

The Power of  Meditation for a Healthy Immune System
An emerging body of research shows a strong connection between mental health and chronic diseases. Developing a regular meditation practice not only supports your emotional well-being and ability to handle stress, but also strengthens your immune system and increases longevity.

When under chronic stress, your body releases the hormone cortisol which impairs immune function. Research has shown that meditation lowers cortisol levels, increases oscillation frequencies of our cells, and increases the activity and effectiveness of our immune system to fight cancer and other diseases.

What is meditation?
Meditation is about “taking a time out”, slowing down and training your awareness to experience a different perspective. You don’t need to spirtually inclined or practice a specific technique a specific way in order to reep the benefits. It’s not about how you meditate, but that you do meditate regularly. Find a technique that works for you and incorporate into your life.

How to get started
There are many different types of meditation: sitting in silence (described below), walking, Primordial Sound (PSM), Mantra, Transcendental, Mindfulness and guided visualizations (see suggestions under “Try Meditating Now”). Some people find attending a meditation group or class as a great way to get started. There are tons of resources online. Open yourself to experimentation.

Starting a regular meditation practice doesn’t have to require a lot of time – only 10-15 minutes a day provides positive effects.  The more you do it, the easier it gets and the more you experience the benefits in your daily life. Over time, you’ll feel less stressed, healthier, more energized, and happier.

Example of a sitting meditation:

  • Sit or lay down in a comfortable position (preferably in a quiet room).
  • Close your eyes and begin breathing in through your nose and out through your mouth.
  • Begin to relax your jaw, neck and shoulders.
  • Try not to pay attention to your thoughts. As they come in, simply acknowledge them without judgment and return your focus to your breath.
  • Start with just 5 minutes a day.

Learn to Meditate

Soul Healing Studio, co-founded by Mary Gospe, offers meditation classes via Zoom and private sessions for energy healing and spiritual transformation.

Benefits of Meditation

Well-being

One of the first things you’ll notice when taking up meditation is a sense of calmness. Sitting in silence and focusing on your breathing relaxes you, pumps oxygen into your cells and decreases stress-related symptoms such as anxiety, high blood pressure and rapid heart rate. A happier mood and stronger sense of self impacts all aspects of your life. Meditation can help you make better decisions, improve your concentration, increase your creativity and enable you to bounce back more quickly from negative situations.

Healing

Caroline Cory’s OMniumn Healing Method uses guided meditations and tools such as asking and intending, light, geometry, and sound to help you heal yourself. By raising your vibration, aligning your energy with your higher self, and releasing negative trapped emotions, misaligned belief systems and unhealthy patterns, you release the root cause of illness and disease. 

“The OMnium Method is a revolutionary healing technique that allows the spontaneous alignment of the physical cells and the human energy field with the Universal-Source frequency and provides an instant and permanent cellular reprogramming. This method essentially REPROGRAMS THE DNA, which then recalibrates your entire physical being to your original Universal Self.”

Visit Caroline’s YouTube page for many free healing meditions.

 

Anti-aging

In their book, Super Genes, authors Dr. Deepak Chopra and Rudolph E. Tanzi, Ph.D. describe a study conducted in 2014 by the Chopra Center in which 64 healthy women were invited to stay at a resort for one week. One group just relaxed and vacationed while the other relaxed and learned to meditate. Both groups showed improvements in mental health and lower stress and immune response (including lower inflammation). The meditation group showed a lower propensity for viral infections, a suppression of genes for injury and wound repair, and they also experienced a “dramatic increase in the anti-aging activity of telomerase.” Telomerase is an enzyme that builds telomeres, which are like caps at the end of each chromosome. You have 46 strands of DNA coiled into chromosomes in each of your cells. These telomeres, which keep your DNA from unraveling and fraying, shorten each time your cells divide. If you can slow down the rate that telomeres shorten, you can slow down the aging process. The original study on telomeres by Dr. Dean Ornish and Dr. Elizabeth Blackburn showed that 3 months on a whole food plant-based diet, regular exercise and stress reduction significantly boosts telomerase activity. Add in a daily meditation practice and the anti-aging effect is magnified!

 

Try Meditating Now!

Here are some meditations you may want to try:

7 Minute Meditation - Connecting to Source Energy

by Mary Gospe

Guided Healing Meditation

by Mary Gospe, music by Vito Gregoli

Two of our favorite guided meditation creators on InsightTimer are: Lisa Young and Wendy von Oech.

More suggestions:

Sources: