What meditation really is

Meditation is a technic practice by everybody, from buddhist, to student, to athlete, to spiritual practioner and to medical patient. The meditation technic are numerous and the scientific community have studied it and found many benefit to a regular meditation practice. Better attention, better grade for student, increase memory and decrease stress level, are among many of the benefit found in those studies.

But meditation is more than sitting in a lotus position and being aware of our tought. Meditation is a permanent state of consciousness, it is an awarness of every tought, at every moment. It is being in the present moment. In this video, Sogyal Rinpoche, a buddhist monk is explaining, what is really meditation.

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How to manage stress for student?

I remember when I was in college, my friends were reacting to stress on different ways. There was one who literally was sick before every exam, another who seem to forget everything that he learn, and other like myself who handle it pretty well.

In school, there is many stress factor that the student has to face everyday. They have to face both, the transition phase of there life and  the load work of term paper and exam. There is some habits and exercises, that student can learn and apply, to help them cope with the stressfull student life.

• Study habits and organization skills: The student need to be strctured, having an agenda, and prioritize, what is important first, learning to say no, to certain activity less important. Being well prepared for his test. Not waiting at the last minute will decrease is stress.
• Being well rested, especially before an exam. Drinking coffee all night, preparing for the morning test will not help.
• Eliminate unnecessary stress, for example bad relationship, job...
• Have a support system.
• Eat well.
• Do exercise.
• Laugh
• Listen to music that relax you.
• Take a hot bath.
• Do meditation and breathing exercise. When you start feeling the stress, be aware of how your breathing, and try to take deep breath, it should calm you. At home, meditate, either in silence or with a CD, with guided meditation.
• Hypnosis.
• Seek outside help, if you feel overwhelmed.

But most important, enjoy yourself. College year should be a great time of your life. Simple habits can help you get the most of these year, and to succed well in school.

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Eat, pray, love and meditation

Today, is the theater release of the movie, Eat, pray and love. This movie is base on the bestseller hit book of the same name, written by Elizabeth Gilbert.  She write her own memoir, about  a woman  journey, of search and self-discovery. It's the story of a woman who decide to leave everything and go travel for a year,  to take care of her own happiness. She went to Italy to find her sense of taste, in India, to learn meditation and to find the sacred in herself, and she went to Bali to find beauty and love. Through her path, you will find yourself thinking about your own life.

This bring me to today topic, meditation. You may wonder why I talk about meditation in a health blog? Well, meditation, has remarkable effect on the body and mind and it  is a great technique to decrease stress, and to improve your health. The medical profession are starting to do research on the subject. In one study, they find out that student that meditate had better grade, than the control group. The also study Buddhist monk, and find out that during meditation they could increase the activity of certain brain wave. In an another study by the Emerit university, they discover that, people who practice the compassion meditation, react better to stress link depression. So, what is meditation?

Meditation is putting our attention on the present moment. Being still and in silence inside, but in full conciousness and full awarness. Not being in the past or worrying about the futur. Meditation,  increse your health, your joy, your peace and your creativity. The question I am often ask is: How do you meditate?
First of all, you can meditate everywhere, just find a quiet space, sitting or lying down, and close your eye. Start breathing and put your attention on your breathing, and just be. If tought comme, just let it go. This will need practice. Start by 10-15 min. You may get bored, emotion may arise, that is ok, just notice it and let it go. Everything that happen during meditation is ok. I read a study lately, that showed effect on the concentration, after just 5-10 min of meditation. So time is no excuse, better litlle than nothing. You can put light music , focus your attention on a candle or any other object. You can also buy cd of guided meditation, or find some on You tube. You could join meditation group in your area. You can also meditate will walking by yourself, just contemplating the nature around you and being fully aware. Internet  have many article on the subject. But it is simple just be, and you will see, it does feel good being in the present moment.

One book that I usually recommend, when somebody start meditating is Wherever you go, there you are, from Jon Kabat-Zinn. This is a small book, easy to understand and full of exercise.

Just try meditation and like any sport you will get better with practice, and will gain many benefit in your life, on the long term.