Hi Jamie,

thank you for your questions. I’ll try to answer them all to my best abilities.

– Yes, meditation is sort of like a muscle, so you need to train it. It is a skill that you need to maintain. If you have a busy mind or have ADD, then it can be hard to get started. The key to meditation is to calm your mind down, but that is very hard to do when thoughts keep racing through your mind. I used to have a very busy mind, I over-analyzed everything. So, when I tried to meditate, it was very hard and frustrating, because I couldn’t relax. This was before I met my mentor who taught me all about meditation.

Luckily, I found some solutions:
1) Binaural beats: You can buy dvd’s or mp3’s that you listen to during meditation. You have to listen to them with headphones, because they play a different frequency in each ear and this way your mind relaxes automatically (there is a science behind this, but I can’t explain it that well 🙂 ). I tried those for a while and they worked great. But they do not work for everyone. On about 20% of people they have no effect. And these programs can be expensive (hundreds of dollars). There are also cheap ones, but they didn’t work at all for me.
These programs helped me with starting to meditate, so in that regard, they are good. But I don’t recommend using them for too long, because I felt that after a while they held me back. When I started meditating without these sounds, I could meditate much deeper and longer.

2) Mantras’s: I prefer this method, because it is more ‘natural’. The theory behind mantra’s is this: everything is energy, you are energy, your thoughts are energy and your words are energy. Mantra’s are phrases that have been used for ages by millions of people, so there is a lot of energy connected to them. ‘Om Nama Shivaya’ or ‘Om nama Shakti’ are two examples of ancient mantras. You just keep repeating (or singing) them in your head. There is no scientific proof that these words contain thousands of years of energy, but I recommend you try it for yourself. Pick one mantra and try to meditate at least ten minutes, twice a day for about a week. I have meditated many times with these mantra’s and I can tell you from personal experience that it is a very powerful (and calming) experience.

– Meditation will reduce physical and mental stress, worry, negativity and anxiety. These will be replaced with inner peace and happiness. It can also drastically reduce your pain (read this).

– The connection between your mind and body: I regularly do meditation retreats with a meditation master. He often demands that we do a one week apple juice diet and sometimes even a three day fast before we go on the retreat. This way, our body is completely cleansed. When I do this I feel a much greater connection between my body and mind. What I am trying to say is that if you want your body to utilize the full potential of your mind, it is important to also look at how you treat your body. Exercise and eating healthy can give your meditation experience a major boost. Try to eat a lot of raw fruits and vegetables and cut down (drastically) on processed foods, soda’s and, if possible, meat.
The cleaner your body, the bigger the effect your mind will have on your healing process.

When you say you can heal yourself with your mind, a lot of people will think you are crazy. When you take a homeopathic approach to your healing process, these same people will tell you homeopathy doesn’t work, that it is nothing more than the placebo effect.
But what is the placebo effect? You take a sugar pill, thinking it is an aspirin and your headache goes away. You are so convinced your headache will go away, that you don’t even need the aspirin anymore. So, basically, you have healed yourself with your mind. Think about it, that is really what it is.

Your condition is obviously a lot more serious than a simple headache. I am not claiming you can heal yourself completely with your mind, but I also won’t claim you can’t. What I am certain of is that through meditation you can have a huge positive impact on your state of mind, your level of pain, and the effect your condition has on your life. Even if your condition does not change at all. The key is daily meditation. Do not skip a day and try to do it twice a day. Start out slow and build from there. Try to add 5 minutes to your meditations every week. It won’t be long before you start noticing positive changes in yourself and your life!

I hope that answers your questions? If not, or if you have more, feel free to let me know!

Guy

PS: Here are some links you might find helpful:
Meditation and ADHD
Meditation and social isolation
Benefits of meditation in healing processes

• This reply was modified 12 years, 10 months ago by Guy.