“Whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things” Philippians 4:8
Mindfulness Meditation
Meditation is one of the number one practices our experts recommend to detox and heal body , mind and spirit.
In short, your body is a healing machine. One of its most primary jobs, every day, despite your current age, health, weight, stress level, and everything you throw at it, is it just wants to replace bad cells with healthy cells.
The truth is simple: many people act out in ways that don’t support our best health goals. We sometimes try to comfort ourselves by eating food loaded with sugar and fat, drinking, or smoking, or even numbing ourselves with TV.
Focusing your mind on a place of calm lowers your stress level and reduces the cravings to act out harmfully.
Further, weight gain is often the outcome of hormonal imbalances in the body, directly related to stress, and being a healthy weight with low stress hormones is vital to your personal goals, body, and soul.
Reducing stress through focused mindfulness or meditation will help decrease levels of stress hormones, which will lower the triggers to overeat, drink, smoke, worry, and check out in front of the TV.
Meditation is widely recognized as providing powerful health benefits, such as reducing blood pressure, lowering cortisol, leveling out blood sugar, improving mental health, and providing an enhanced sense of well-being.
In Eastern traditions (Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, Daoism) meditation is usually practiced with the purpose of transcending the mind and attaining enlightenment.
On the other hand, in the Christian tradition, the goal of contemplative practices is, one may say, moral purification and deeper understanding of the Bible; or a closer intimacy with God/Christ, for the mystic stream of the tradition.
There are three different types of contemporary Christian meditation:
Contemplative Prayer — which usually involves the silent repetition of sacred words or sentences, with focus and devotion
Contemplative Reading — or simply “contemplation”, which involves thinking deeply about the teachings and events in the Bible.
“Sitting with God” — a silent meditation, usually preceded by contemplation or reading, in which we focus all our mind, heart and soul on the presence of God
An overview of the long history of Christian meditation:
During the 2nd century A.D., a group of early Christian monks… retreated from the world to live in solitude and simplicity and to establish intimacy with God.
For more than 1000 years after this, meditation increasingly became an important part of Christian prayer and practice.
In the 16th century, Spanish mystics Saint Theresa of Avila and Saint John of the Cross championed meditation…
In the 1960s, Roy Masters developed a new variation which he called “Be Still and Know.”
“When contemplative prayer or contemplative reading deepens, you may find yourself in a place of silent contemplation… “being one with the Lord” … or being consumed in God’s love…
This state of silent surrender can also be consciously practiced, by focusing all your mind, heart and soul on the thought of God, and in the feeling of the immanent presence of God. This in itself is a practice of meditation… where everything else is cast aside, and only God is thought of and felt.”
We should also remember to ‘Be still and know that I am God.’ (Psalm 46:10)
How often do we allow people to simply absorb or receive, to soak in a holy moment?
How often do we allow ourselves, for that matter, simply to sit in the presence of God and receive a blessing?
We need to rest in or soak up the very love of God we want to share.”
