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Meditation Also Gave Me Something Else
I'm passionate about meditation and its benefits, anyone who knows me can attest to that. It's so much part of my makeup that I really can't imagine living my life without it and I give it a plug whenever an opportunity arises.
Some of the...
Meditation - Transcend Your Limitations
Many believe that the mind is divided into three parts: the conscious, the sub-conscious, and the super conscious. Our conscious mind is usually cluttered with distractions and noise, our sub-conscious holds suppressed past experiences, fears, and...
Sole Work – Walking the Spiritual Path
For the past several years I have struggled with getting (and staying) fit. Ok I admit it, the struggle has been longer than just a few years. As a kid, instead of playing nicely with the girls, I fought with the neighborhood boys. I attempted to...
Stop Relationship Stress and Create Your Own Health Remedies
Human beings need relationships. Your relationships, past, present, personal or professional, represent a major source of stress in your life. Chronic stress causes breakdown of your immune system. This leads to many emotional and physical disorders...
Stress Management
How do you deal with stress? Some people go for a long walk, while others take solace in talking over a stressful situation with friends. Stress is all around us and no matter how hard we try, there will always be stressful events that find their...
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Stress
Stress is everywhere. From taking a test to dealing with a cranky customer service representative, dealing with the loss of a loved one, stress is impossible to avoid. It can be acute, such as the stress that occurs in the face of immediate danger, or it can be chronic when a person is dealing with a long-term stressful situation.
The Three Stages of Stress
An endocrinologist named Dr. Hans Selye outlined a three stage model of the body's response to stress. He called his model the General Adaptation Syndrome. Understanding these three stages will give you a better idea as to the symptoms that occur with stress and how to manage them.
General Adaptation Syndrome:
1. Alarm
2. Resistance or Adaptation
3. Exhaustion
The Alarm Stage:
This is the "fight or flight" reaction to a particular stress. It may occur as a response to imminent danger, or it may be the first stressful reaction you feel upon hearing stressful news, such as the loss of a loved one. In this stage, your body physical reacts to the stress by releasing adrenaline to increase your heat and breathing rate and help you move quicker in a dangerous situation. A hormone called corticotropin is also released by the anterior pituitary gland to help the body prepare for danger. Other physical responses to stress include butterflies in your stomach, a rise in blood pressure, dilation in the eyes, dry mouth, tensing of muscles, and difficulty concentrating.
The Resistance or Adaptation Stage:
During this stage, your body is still on alert for imminent danger. If this stage of stress becomes prolonged, such as when dealing with a long-term stressful situation, your body will become taxed by the physical responses. Over time, your immune system may become compromised, leaving you more susceptible to illness. It only takes a few days in the resistance and adaptation stage for the immune system to become weakened.
The Exhaustion Stage:
The final stage in the General Adaptation Syndrome is the exhaustion stage where your body readjusts to normal. Additional hormones, called cortisols, are released to help relieve the damaging effects of stress. They are continually released until your body's chemistry comes back into balance. These hormones ultimately suppress the immune system and have the potential to worsen biological and psychological diseases and disorders.
Diseases and Stress
Scientists have found a direct link between stress and the development of many physical illnesses and diseases. Emotional stress can weaken the immune and in the same regard, the reduction of stress can help to strengthen the immune system.
Clinical studies have shown that the body's response to stress can produce the same arteriosclerosis risk that results from smoking or high cholesterol levels. This drastically increases the risk for heart disease and
stroke. Stress has also been linked to the development and progression of cancer as it reduces the body's natural ability to seek out and destroy malignant cells. Mental stress also makes it more difficult to withstand the exhausting treatments often required to treat cancer, such as chemotherapy and radiation. Other diseases that have are associated with stress include type II diabetes, ulcers, respiratory dysfunction, infections, and depression.
Types of Stress
Stressors can be either external or internal. External stressors such as traffic jams, a death in the family, or a financial hardship, are often out of our direct control. Internal stressors on the other hand develop through our own personality traits and emotions. It is our ability to handle these internal and external stressors that determines the amount of stress we feel we have. Chemical substances such as alcohol, caffeine, nicotine, sugar, additives, drugs, and environmental toxins, put a further strain on the body and are further sources of stress.
Recognizing Stress
Physical signs of stress include dryness in the throat and mouth, tightened muscles in the neck shoulders and back, chronic neck and back pain, headaches or migraines, digestive disorders, shaking, muscle tics, sleep disorders, and fatigue. Mental symptoms of stress include difficulty concentrating, depression, pessimism, anxiety, or feelings of hopelessness. Tobacco, alcohol, and drug use can also be signs of stress.
Are You Stressed?
Does stress affect your daily life? Do you think you may need help in relieving stress and it's detrimental effects on you body? Ask yourself the following questions:
1. Do you become easily overwhelmed by the amount of tasks you need to accomplish every day?
2. Do you tend to blow up or lose control several times throughout the day, even when the situation does not require such as drastic response?
3. Are you constantly exhausted and unable to get a good night's sleep?
4. Do you feel that you always have something to worry about, even things that are completely out of your control?
If you have answered yes to any or all of the questions, it may be time to get help. Fortunately, there are several techniques that you can use to reduce the amount of stress in your life. Relaxation techniques, meditation, yoga, pilates, exercise, dietary changes, and group discussions can all help you relieve stress, restore your overall health, and boost your immune system.
For more information on Dr. Group, stress, depression and anxiety please visit our website at http://www.stress-anxiety-depression.org.
About the Author
Dr. Group, the founder/CEO and clinical director for the Global Healing Center, heads a research and development team producing advanced, new, natural health protocols and products. To learn more visit http://www.ghchealth.com.
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| Learning Meditation Home Page |
| Introduction to the basics of meditation and the reduction of stress. |
| www.learningmeditation.com |
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| Meditation Room |
| Choose freely and feel free to perform more than one meditation. ... Allow some time for your meditation. These meditations last from 3 - 10 minutes. ... |
| www.learningmeditation.com |
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| Meditation - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia |
| An introduction to different traditions, forms, techniques, and benefits. Includes links to other resources. |
| en.wikipedia.org |
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| World Wide Online Meditation Center |
| Contains colorful, clear, concise meditation instruction on a variety of meditation methods from various spiritual teachings, plus tranquil meditation tapes ... |
| www.meditationcenter.com |
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| The Transcendental Meditation (TM) Program - Official website. How ... |
| Meditation validated by over 600 scientific studies. The best meditation against stress. Online video! Personal instruction and lifetime follow-up. |
| www.tm.org |
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| Vipassana Meditation Website |
| Homepage of the organization which offers Vipassana Meditation courses as taught by SN Goenka. |
| www.dhamma.org |
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| Welcome to Meditation Mount |
| Meditation training programs and group meditation as a service to humanity. Worldwide organization based in Ojai, California. |
| www.meditation.com |
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| Guided meditations on mindfulness, peace, the 23rd Psalm, the way ... |
| Come into the present moment with this 10-minute mindfulness meditation narrated by ... Experience a flow of positive energy with this meditation on peace ... |
| www.beliefnet.com |
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| Meditation Station Presented By The Meditation Society Of America |
| Meditation Society of America's web site. Dedicated to sharing meditation techniques and concepts from all traditions. |
| www.meditationsociety.com |
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| Wildmind | Learn Meditation Online |
| Wildmind provides a complete guide to simple meditation techniques. |
| www.wildmind.org |
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| Meditation |
| An article By Dr Tom J. Chalko explaining the process and stressing the need for a spiritual teacher. |
| www.thiaoouba.com |
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| Free Learn to Meditate, online meditation - Meditation Australia. |
| Details of activities, events, and classes in Wollongong University, Australia. Also offer a free online Meditation course. |
| meditation.org.au |
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| Meditation, Home, what is meditation, types of meditation ... |
| Meditation Meditation is an alternative therapy. It can be broadly classified under the mind-body medicine. More and more doctors are prescribing meditation ... |
| 1stholistic.com |
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| Sivananda Yoga - Meditation |
| Introduction to the Official Web site of the Internationa Sivananda Yoga Vedanta Centers. Lots of information on Jnana Yoga, Bhakti Yoga, Raja Yoga, ... |
| www.sivananda.org |
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| Stress Reducers: Articles index |
| yellow arrow button, Choose a Virtual Meditation Slide Show for Your ... yellow arrow button, Meditation and Relaxation: 20 Minutes A Day Can Make A ... |
| www.selfhelpmagazine.com |
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| Zen Mountain Monastery: Zen Meditation Instructions |
| Detailed instructions from Zen Mountain Monastery on how to practice Zen meditation. |
| www.mro.org |
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| Meditation and concentration |
| meditation concentration ability. ... Online fire meditation use it and develop concentration ability; Online flash meditation look at the screen and ajust ... |
| www.ababasoft.com |
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| Siddha Yoga path - Gurumayi - Swami Muktananda founder |
| Under the guidance and teachings of Gurumayi Chidvilasananda, Siddha Yoga meditation students embrace the spiritual practices of yoga. |
| www.siddhayoga.org |
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| Meditation Handbook |
| Survey of seven meditation techniques for beginners. |
| home.att.net |
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| Healing Music|Meditation Music|Self Help products |
| Healing Products offers healing music for your Mind, Body & Soul at low prices. Use sound and music to heal and relax. |
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