Peace and Healing Through Meditation

Article by Vipasana

Meditation on breathing is the best way to achieve peace and healing. Every human being longs for peace and happiness in life. Breath meditation or concentrating on your breathing through breathing exercises brings healing to your mind and body without much effort. This is because of the fact that your breathing is closely linked to your body, mind and the universe.

One of the important unceasing activities of every living human being is breathing. You breathe in oxygen and it mixes with blood in the heart. Through the heart it reaches every cell in the body, activating and infusing more life and energy into it. The more air you breathe in the more the cells in your body get rejuvenated. Breath meditation is the art of focusing on your inhaling and exhaling. Your physical health is determined by the way you breathe and the amount of oxygen your take in. Since your breathing is seldom affected by the diseases of the body, it is possible to restore your physical health through the right method of meditation.

Since there is a close link between your breathing and mind, you can control your mind through breath meditation. The Buddha likened the human mind to a monkey that jumps from one tree to another. When you concentrate on your breathing you get rid of all the negative thoughts. You will get trained gradually to think what you want to think. This concentration is achieved by single-minded focus on your inhaling and exhaling. The restless mind gradually becomes completely calm and peaceful through this kind of meditation.

Ancient Indian sages understood the air that we breathe in during breath meditation as cosmic energy. According to Christian scriptures, the air that we inhale or life-breath is given to human beings by the creator God at the time of creation. Therefore the air you breathe in is cosmic energy or divine energy/life. It is the same energy/life that is present in every living being at varying degrees. Thus focusing on breathing mysteriously connects you to all the living beings around you and the whole universe. You will begin to develop a positive and peaceful attitude to the world around you.

The peace and healing that comes through breath meditation can be experienced by practising it. Various practitioners of meditation on breathing teach different methods. However, most benefits of meditation can be experienced by following the basic simple method given below:a) Choose a calm, quiet and airy place for meditation.b) Practise meditation with an empty stomach.c) Sit erect, resting both hands on your thighs and close your eyes.d) Breathe in and breathe out as deeply as possible, slowly in a relaxed manner, filling the lungs to the maximum. Three to five inhaling and exhaling in a minute are more beneficial. Begin with 3 minutes breath meditation at a stretch daily and increase the duration to 15 minutes within a week and to 30 minutes within two weeks. Practise daily 30 minutes each in the morning and evening.

When you begin to practice breath meditation you will feel relaxed, calm and focused. This will lead to healing of ailments in your body and mind. You will be at peace with yourself and other living beings around you. All the negative energy in you will go out and you will begin to be filled with cosmic or divine energy/life. Do you want to experience the miraculous effect of concentrating on breathing? Try it

About the Author

I am a researcher and practitioner of meditation.