Having a relaxed body and mind is a great perk for a small investment of your time. According to earlier theories of genetics, our DNA sequence is fixed, determined by heredity and chance, and there is nothing we can do to change or improve ourselves beyond a very limited scope. Bodies are programmed and eventually become vulnerable to diseases that are encoded into our DNA. The best we can do is to try to alleviate symptoms, as the idea of curing chronic diseases is nothing more than a pipe dream.

More recent discoveries have shown, however, that our genetic expression is constantly changing in response to our inner and outer environment. For example, one of the pioneers of epigenetics, the molecular biologist Dr. Bruce Lipton, author of the book The Biology of Belief, explains that the membrane in a cell is actually perceiving the environment and, according to what is perceived, sending signals to the nucleus of the cell to ‘tell’ the DNA to express itself in a certain way. He ran experiments that showed that it was not the DNA sequence alone that determined the fate of the cells, but also the environment in which they were placed, which played more than a modest role in shaping the cell’s destiny. This is one of the postulates of epigenetics.

What Does This Mean For Your Health?
Today’s healthcare models are slowly shifting, as a result of this more flexible worldview. Earlier, patients were generally treated as passive recipients of medicine. Scientists focused on trying to identify and isolate specific genes and chemical pathways that they believed were the cause of a disease and then focused on developing drug therapies to target and alter a single or a few molecular pathways that were made available for use.

There is still a need for drug therapies, as they save lives, but the inclusion of the epigenetic/neuro plasticity model of disease has led to much more active patient participation. Under this integrative model, diseases are the culmination of many stressors being placed on an individual, reaching a stimulation threshold beyond which clinical symptoms begin to appear. The mind-body complex has an innate intelligence and can often heal itself. Health is the normal state of being, not the exception, and diseases can be reversed by removing the causes of stress at all levels – physical, nutritional, environmental, lifestyle and psychological stress - and allowing the body to heal itself.

This means that patients suffering from chronic diseases that were previously considered incurable can now actively participate in their recovery, by addressing all factors that may be causing them stress. They can improve their lives by actively changing their diet and lifestyle, as well as their psychological and emotional patterns.

Having a relaxed body and mind is a great perk for a small investment of your time

The big question is: how do we recognize and eliminate stressors prior to their disease threshold? How do you change a thinking pattern that is turning destructive? What tools, inside the comfort of your home or office, do you possess to help your self?

Evidence-Based Meditation
In addition to healthy lifestyle changes, such as exercising and eating well, one effective way of changing our inner programming is through meditation. Contrary to popular belief, meditation is not concentration or thoughtlessness. Concentration is simply a by-product of meditation. It is a state that develops naturally when our minds are regulated through a sustained practice of meditation. This truism should encourage those who feel overwhelmed when they first close their eyes to meditate because a whirlwind of thoughts prevents concentration. You are not required to concentrate in order to meditate! And you are not required to be thoughtless!

Proper meditation is a continuous unfolding: of more confidence in how we meditate to derive maximum benefit,to appreciating that our subconscious mind has become full of deeply held beliefs, impressions and heaviness, which have never properly been released.

Neuroscience findings point to evidence that beliefs affect the way neurons transmit information in our brains, and that modifying negative thoughts into positive has an impact on how the brain directs our actions and changes our behaviour. In an effective meditation practice, you must have the tools and the know how to remove all the negativity and heaviness that exists inside you, at will, and replace it with positive feelings and healthy self-worth.

Take for example the Heartfulness technique of Cleaning. Negative thoughts lead to habits that drive repetitive behaviour, setting a blue print for future action. The thoughts and actions leave impressions within us that over time distort our view of reality. This technique of Cleaning removes those impressions and the meditator feels rejuvenated at the end of a 30-minute session. A sustained practice continues to yield significant results.

Further more, the results of meditation must be felt not in the future, in weeks, months or years of practice, but as and when you meditate. When you attempt Heartfulness meditation you will feel its benefits in that moment. And by repeating the practice you replicate the results. Like a scientist, go only where the evidence takes you.

Having a relaxed body and mind is a great perk for a small investment of your time. Heartfulness meditation is an extremely streamlined form of Raja Yoga, suited for fast-paced modern lifestyles. It focuses on the purification of the spiritual heart which is supposed to contain all the beliefs and impressions that we hold and which shape the reality we experience. Through the use of Yogic Transmission, a subtle energy used for inner transformation, meditation is dynamic and oriented to producing results.

As the heart is purified and negative beliefs and impressions removed, the meditator's consciousness shifts into more positivity and she or he is able to focus on positive thoughts and attitudes more easily than before and be more discerning in making choices.