Meditation - a psychophysical practice, which is used as in some faiths, as well as in alternative medicine. There are many types of meditation, most of which have their roots in ancient religious and spiritual practices of the East.

The person who meditates, using techniques such as concentration, certain poses and relaxed attitude to the distractions. People meditate for various purposes, such as to achieve inner peace and physical relaxation to improve psychological balance, cope with illness, and improve overall health.

What you need to know about meditation

The term "meditation" refers to a large group practices, among them - a meditation on mantras, meditation on the chakras, transcendental meditation, and many others. Most modern types of meditation began to develop in the Eastern religions. Meditation used the different cultures around the world for thousands of years. Today, many people meditating for the sake of improving their own mental and physical health, without giving it any religious significance.

During meditation, a person, first of all, learning to focus. Some types of meditation involve the awareness of his own thoughts, sensations and feelings, and detached observation of them - without value judgments. Thanks to this man achieves tranquility and physical relaxation, and its activity in normal times become more conscious. Regular meditation can change a person's attitude to his own thoughts and emotions Emotions and culture: how to decipher the emotional code .

Most varieties of meditation require four things:

• Quiet place. Meditation is recommended in a quiet location where there will be a minimum number of distractions. This is especially important for beginners who have not adequately control their attention.
• Easy Pose. Depending on the type of meditation can be practiced sitting, lying or standing. Some people meditate on the move - for example, while walking. It is important that you feel comfortable - is unlikely someone will be able to meditate, if his body is in a very awkward position.
• The object of attention. During meditation, a person should concentrate on any object. This can be mantra any subject respiration and so forth.
• Openness to distractions. That means - you need to be open to anything that distracts you from meditation, rather than trying to displace it out of consciousness. Consideration should be given the mind's eye of thought, sounds or sensations that distract you and then gently back to the object of attention.

In alternative medicine meditation psychophysical used as a drug that acts on the following factors:

• The interaction between the brain and other parts of the body, and behavior.
• Influence of emotional, mental, social, spiritual, and behavioral factors on health.
• Meditation helps with health problems such as anxiety Anxiety - how to distinguish normal from disease? Pain, depression, stress, insomnia, physical and psychological symptoms associated with chronic diseases (eg, heart disease, HIV / AIDS and cancer).

Some types of meditation

Meditation, concentration plays an important role in Buddhism. In the simplest and most common version of a person focuses on the sensations that occur during inhalation and exhalation. He must observe how air enters the nose, lungs, and then - in the diaphragm, and then comes out of the body without giving any assessment of these sensations, but simply recognizing the movement of air in the body. This helps a person in everyday life more fully aware of what he feels and thinks, as well as better control of himself. In general, life regularly meditating person becomes more conscious.

Meditation involves the recitation of mantras, mantras (aloud or silently), and focusing on them. Mantra prevent occurrence of distracting thoughts and feelings.

Meditation on the chakras is based on the theory that each person has seven chakras - the energy centers in the subtle bodies. Such meditation develop the chakras, and along with the functions for which they are responsible.

How meditation affects the body

Some types of meditation affect the autonomic nervous system, which regulates the activity of many organs and muscles, controls functions such as heart rate, sweating, breathing and digestion. There are two broad areas of the autonomic nervous system:

• The sympathetic nervous system helps mobilize the body that need quick action. For example, when a person is under stress, it is responsible for the reaction of "fight or flight": the heart rate and respiration increases, blood vessels constrict, and so on.
• The parasympathetic nervous system decreases heart rate and respiration, dilates blood vessels and stimulates the digestive juices current.

It is assumed that some kind of meditation can reduce the activity of the sympathetic nervous system and stimulate the parasympathetic nervous system.

In addition, many researchers note that meditation greatly improves concentration. Because of the ability to concentrate to a large extent depends on the mood, as well as a person's ability to cope with a variety of daily tasks, meditation can benefit in various spheres of life.

Some data indicate that meditation can relieve the symptoms of asthma, chronic back pain, reduce the frequency and intensity of menopausal hot flushes The treatment of menopausal hot flashes - medication plus a healthy lifestyle , And lower stress levels How to beat stress? Create an oasis .

Risks

For healthy people, meditation is considered to be completely safe. There have been documented cases where people suffering from various mental disorders, after they began to meditate, the symptoms were aggravated, but it is unknown whether the reason for this became exactly meditation. However, people with mental health problems before practice meditation, you should consult a doctor. Those who are certain physical limitations, can not approach certain postures for meditation - they also recommended to seek advice from a doctor.

Every year hundreds of millions of people suffering from depression and other emotional difficulties, need psychological help and they ask for it. In the process of counseling the patient with a psychologist is the source of their problems, and to change their thinking and behavior, thus solving the problem. Nevertheless, many people stop going pretty fast to consult, and give up on the idea of ​​receiving psychological care. When people resort to such help, how effective it is and how to find a qualified professional who will help to cope with psychological problems?

Why do people seek psychological help?

According to approximate data, around a quarter of adults in Western countries suffer from certain forms of depression and anxiety. Generally, people seek professional psychological help in the following cases:

• They are long-term feelings of sadness, helplessness, hopelessness, and can not independently get out of this state;
• Because of the emotional difficulties they become more difficult to cope with their daily activities. For example, they can not concentrate on their studies or work, which entails various problems;
• Their behavior is harmful to themselves or others. For example, a person abuses alcohol, closed in itself, or behaves aggressively;
• Because of the psychological state of a person there are serious problems in relations Seven of problems in relationships and how to solve them   with family members and close friends.

How effective psychological help?

Studies show that professional psychological help to help cope with depression, anxiety Anxiety - how to distinguish normal from disease? As well as the attendant symptoms such as fatigue, nausea, sleep problems Dreams: how to understand our dreams , and so on. In addition, psychological help increase survival rates among patients undergoing heart surgery and cancer patients - it is assumed that this is due to the beneficial effects of therapy on the immune system. All the scientific evidence points to the fact that physical and mental health are closely related, and it is not surprising that psychological help can cope not only with disorders of emotional sphere. It should be noted that high-quality child care psychologist is not less important than for adults.

Find a qualified professional?

Choosing a specialist in psychological care - a very personal thing: psychologists a different approach, which may not be ideal for everyone.

It is best to ask the advice of your family doctor if you have already talked to him about your problems, it will be able to recommend a suitable specialist.

You can consult with relatives or friends who had previously sought psychological help.

Look for information about working in your town psychologists over the internet. Chances are good that you'll find reviews of patients - they can be very helpful when choosing a specialist.

As a rule, the result of this search a person finds more suitable psychologists. Agree with one of them about the meeting, and during the first talk in general terms, tell us about their problems and ask about his experience, the techniques that he uses in the work, and, of course, about the payment. If the psychologist something you do not like (even if you can not explain what it is), refer to a specialist. As a result, you have to find a psychologist that will satisfy you with their experience and techniques with which you can freely and easily communicate.

How to get the most benefit from contact with a psychologist?

There are many forms of psychological help, but they are united by one thing: the psychological help is always - co-operation of the patient to a psychologist, not unilateral action. In other words, the psychologist can give you medicine or cut that is the source of the problem, but it can be with you to find a way to solve a problem. Therefore, going to the consultation, a person must be willing to speak frankly, and perhaps know the unpleasant truth about themselves. Get ready for this in advance, and try not to deny the information that you would prefer not to know.

It is very important to go to counseling regularly, and apply the recommendations that you have developed in collaboration with a psychologist.

Psychological first aid

When there is a problem - whether it is an accident, explosion, fire or flood, all the people - both the victims and witnesses behave in different ways, but always on the scene are those who need immediate psychological assistance. A person who has experienced a strong shock, may behave in unexpected ways - sometimes people become violent against themselves or others, interfere with rescue work or to doctors (often - the best of intentions, for example, trying to talk to a relative of the wounded), and so on. Such people should engage experts to provide emergency psychological assistance, but they are not always in place at the time. In such cases, the aid may reach people who happened to be nearby.

• Hear and be near

Sometimes a person just needs to be heard. To show him that you understand it, you can help a person to regain control of his emotions Emotions and culture: how to decipher the emotional code . If a person is unable to speak, just be there, letting him know he was not alone.

• Put yourself in the place of the person

Words like "everything will be fine" in some situations seem a mockery. You will easily understand that, if you imagine yourself in the place of a man who, for example, got into a major accident, and did not know what happened to his family. Of course, to say that everything is bad, it is not worth it, but to give false hope may be no less dangerous. Needless to give a man to understand that he behaves irrationally, asking rescuers and interfering with their work - try to gently explain that they have to work and take him aside.

• Do not hide information

If you already know something about the incident, share the information with the person you're trying to help. Uncertainty in the most painful emergency.

• Overcome bystander effect

This term (synonym - the effect of extraneous) describes the phenomenon where the witnesses of the incident just watch, but did not provide assistance to victims. Experts say that the more witnesses, the less chance that someone will help before the arrival of doctors and rescuers. However, to overcome the fear and uncertainty in the forces is easier than for many years to regret that you could help someone, but did nothing.

• Remember that your options are limited

If you see that the psychological state of a person does not improve, wait for the arrival of doctors and psychologists, give it to them, and tell us in what condition you found it, and how he behaved after that.