Chillin' Out SpirituallyBy Christian de la Huerta March 8, 2005.
|
The medical benefits of meditation have long been established by experts such as Dr. Herbert Benson, author of The Relaxation Response. Scientific research has proven meditation to be helpful in lowering the body's heart rate, respiration rate, and galvanic skin response -- all connected to our levels of stress or relaxation. People who meditate regularly enjoy added physical benefits: the reduction of stress has a rejuvenating effect and often results in improved overall health. Studies have also shown reduced levels of anxiety, depression, and anger among those who meditate regularly. In addition, brain wave measurements during meditation indicate increased levels of alertness and comprehension, and an increased ability in focusing. Other outcomes are more difficult to measure, but many meditators attest to an increased ability to handle life's challenges with equanimity, as well as heightened productivity, creativity, clarity of thought, and general well-being.
One of the first goals of meditation is to learn how to quiet the mind, temporarily releasing its thinking, analytic, and problem-solving functions. Instead of allowing it to continue to run amuck while compulsively rehashing the past or hallucinating and projecting (making stuff up) about the future, meditators strive to anchor the mind's attention in the present moment. Besides providing a peaceful and relaxing respite from its constant preoccupations and machinations, a quieted mind yields other boons: increased clarity of thinking, as well as occasional insights, brilliant ideas, or unexpected solutions to problems.
For countless years people in the East have been using their breath consciously for health, purification, and as a means of accessing expanded states of consciousness. Rebirthing (which on this website we refer to as Cosmic Breathwork), as well as other conscious breathing techniques such as Holotropic Breathing, also have profoundly healing effects at all levels. The process often generates a sense of centering, focusing, and spiritual reconnection. Moreover, this yogic breathing technique is highly effective in healing traumatic experiences from our past -- negatively charged and emotionally confrontational experiences which are usually suppressed or repressed, but which still have an influence on our present behavior. An excellent tool for self-discovery and self-healing, Rebirthing creates an opening through which we may actually experience our spiritual essence. The process often results in a deeper sense of self as well as increased compassion toward self and others. The added bonus is that it can be extremely pleasurable, even ecstatic. It also causes a high meditative state and deep levels of relaxation, without our having to do anything except lie down and breathe.
Communing with nature is another way of going within, of slowing down the maddening pace of the rat race and reconnecting with our spiritual essence. Spending time alone in beautiful natural settings can certainly prove to be a very relaxing experience. There is definite magic -- spiritual magic -- available when we spend time alone in nature. The Hawaiians have a name for that mystical feeling that is so evident on the islands: mana -- spiritual essence or divine energy. For those of us living in busy and often chaotic urban settings, lesbian author Ruth Baetz' Wild Communion offers easy-to-follow exercises for learning to commune with nature during our lunch breaks, and at city parks, playgrounds, and other unexpected settings.
Chanting is yet another way to reach heightened states of awareness and profound levels of peace and relaxation. There are many chanting tapes available for purchase, which may be used to learn the process. Chanting works best when done for a substantial period of time, perhaps one or two hours. Singing ability is not a prerequisite; chanting is about singing from the heart and soul, about allowing our innate feelings of devotion to surface.
Other forms of spiritual practice involve movement and can also have both meditative and relaxing effects. These include yoga, Tai-Chi, Qi Gong, walking the labyrinth, and ritual or ecstatic dancing. Many ancient and Indigenous cultures used (and continue to use) music and dancing as vehicles to the divine. Anyone who has been dancing at a gay club has probably had a sense of dancing's potential for transcendent states, for it often invokes an experience of tribal ritual. The constant, rhythmic beat, the theatrical interplay of music, lighting, decor, and the amorphously sensual mass of bodies moving, gyrating, prancing, touching, and cavorting in seemingly wild abandon, can actually induce a trance state or transcendent experience. The work of experts such as Gabrielle Roth, author of Sweat Your Prayers, teaches practitioners how to attain ecstatic, healing, and transformative states naturally through movement, without the potentially compromising and dangerous effects of chemicals.
So as you explore ways to chill out this spring, why not check out some of these potentially life-changing methodologies? If you choose to embark on this exciting adventure of the inner realms, your life will surely begin to change in profound and very positive ways. Try it. You'll be glad you did. At the very least you may discover effective ways to relax and feel centered, peaceful, reconnected, and re-energized.
