Connection behind mind and heart, Meditation to help your heart

As cliché as it sounds, I wasn’t gonna give you any lesson in poetry, or whining like an emo. I mean about heart, the important lump of independent muscle in your chest, and mind, fat and nerve cells in your head. Heart attack is actually blood failing to give nutrition to your heart, while some would say this is an acute disease, developing a heart condition is not as easy as flipping your middle finger providing you live the way a human should live.

What’s its connection with our mind then? You see stress, is considered the main cause of hypertension and heart attack. Thankfully, Herbert Benson, MD, and his colleagues from Harvard Medical School found positive connection between heart disease treatment and mind consoling after watching a group of people who practicing Trancendental Meditation.

Any kind of meditation, praying, or breathing exercises are important in healing process in those who have heart condition. It is considered an adverse effect from stress, instead giving more workload to brain, it help our mind relax. These relaxing effects reduce blood pressure, breath rate, heartbeat, and oxygen consumption, blood pressure to head muscles, sweat, and general muscle tension. Hypertension journal even said that relaxation effect is as good as effects from drugs.

How do we do this relaxation then?

First step to total relaxation is meditation. There are so many variants of meditation, but importantly, do it in secluded and quiet place where you can sit still without any interruption. Do it as comfortable as possible for 15-20 minutes.

While meditating, focus attention on one thing that makes you aware of the existence at that time. You can try focusing on wind noise, water, or your chanting, sentences, or constant praying, you could also focusing on how you do your breathing process, feel every elements in it. If you lose your focus, return it slowly until you re-focused.

Second step can only be done when you are in total focus state. Try to move your focus on part of your body, begin from your toes. Breath as you are breathing for your toes, do about ten second and proceed upwards to another part of your body. Do it until you reach your brain, breath, and keep focusing. Other alternatives are to imagine part of our body as something else, for example as ice, where each of our breath melts it. After you complete all the steps, open your eyes slowly and breathe normally. Consistency is the key to gain maximum healing from this relaxation method, try to do it regularly in constant interval.