...Joseph The Power of Prayer and Meditation Since the beginning of man, there has been prayer and meditation. While that may be common knowledge, most do not know the effects prayer and meditation have on the human mind and body. Many people may regard these practices as useless and archaic, however many also believe they have powerful effects; such as stress relief, and improvement of mental and physical health and even brain growth. Although it may be a controversial subject, there are many studies on the effects of these practices. In the end, the actuality of these affects remains a mystery. Though both claim to produce much of the same effects, prayer and meditation are a little different; Meditation is the art or discipline of slowing one’s thoughts to enter a place of spiritual peace or focus. Prayer is the act of conversing to or with a deity. Despite what you may believe, Prayer is a widely used practice. “One third of Americans use prayer to facilitate physical healing,” (Jeffrey, Kluger, Park, Walsh p.1) States an article on the benefits of prayer on health. Western medicine may attempt to water down the connection between prayer and healing, yet some studies show that there is a connection between meditation, prayer and good emotional and physical health. We often get caught up in our in our fast paced lives with stress not following far behind. There are many avenues to choose when it comes to dealing with stress appropriately; such as exercise...
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...some physicians consider fibromyalgia to be a disease of the nervous system and brain instead of the soft tissues. Regardless of cause, fibromyalgia causes real symptoms and pain for the 8 percent of the population that it affects by the age of 70. About 5 million people in the United States currently suffer from this disorder. The Most Common Fibromyalgia Symptoms The core symptoms of fibromyalgia in unrelenting, chronic pain that often grows worse with stress, increased physical activity and other environmental stimuli. These pain accelerators might include bright lights, heat or cold, loud noises and other intrusive incitements. The pain can present in various ways because people often experience their symptoms differently. Your pain might feel similar to the following descriptions: Deep pain in the legs, arms, shoulders and back Aching pain...
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...Draft Complementary Medicine and its Future in Mainstream Health Care Apple founder Steve Jobs, a firm believer in alternative medicine, was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in 2003. According to Barrie Cassileth, chief of integrative medicine at New York’s Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, “Steve Jobs’ faith in alternative medicine likely cost him his life” (Szabo 2). He had chosen to delay a much needed surgery to use alternative methods such as acupuncture, herbs and special diets. When he finally decided to have surgery, it was too late. He died in 2011, eight years after his diagnosis. Although this is a very extreme case for someone using alternative medicine instead of traditional western medicine, it is a fear many in the health care industry have for the growing popularity of its use. However, many other practitioners have stood by its use and claim that in most cases it can be very beneficial. The problem between these two opposing viewpoints is that there is no common ground between the two--for many practitioners it’s all or nothing. However, there is a new wave of healthcare that is gaining popularity in parts of the medical community, and it combines the two into what is called Complementary Alternative Medicine (CAM). Instead of leaning more to one side of either spectrum of medicine, CAM tends to combine the scientifically proven methods of alternative medicine with those of the more trusted and traditional methods of conventional medicine. This is truly a...
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...MEDITATION EFFECTS ON STRESS INTRODUCTION Chronic stress is linked to the six leading causes of death: heart disease, cancer, lung ailments, accidents, cirrhosis of the liver and suicide. And more than 75 percent of all physician office visits are for stress-related ailments and complaints. Stress related diseases are on the rise (APA). Stress is the body’s way of responding to any kind of demand or threat, real or perceived (ADAA). The automatic nervous system cannot distinguish between the two. When stress is present the body goes into fight or flight mode. Chemicals and hormones are released to prepare the body to take action. Stress is a good thing and is a built in life saving tool, however when stress is constant these same lifesaving chemicals that are good in short burst suppress functions that are not needed for immediate survival. When the body repeatedly experiences the fight or flight stress response in daily life it can cause and worsen health problems such as pain, heart disease, digestive problems, sleep problems, depression, weight problems, auto immune disease, skin conditions, difficulty learning, etc. (NIMH). THE POSITION/CLAIM/THESIS and HOW YOU WILL PROVE IT Medications such as those for depression and anxiety can help relieve some of the symptoms caused by stress but does not cure the underlying condition. These medications are not meant for long term use and come with side effects and safety concerns, such as the risk of addiction (U.S NLM). Natural...
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...Chapter 1 Title: Pranic Healing and Meditation, its effectiveness against stress and anxiety for University of Makati second year nursing students. Background of the Study Pranic healing is a type of complementary medicine or therapy that uses energy or prana to harmonize or transform the body’s energy processes. Prana is a Sanskrit word that means life-force. This life-force or energy helps the body to maintain homeostasis and a state of good health. In some other complementary medicines like acupuncture, this energy is called as Chi. It is also called as Ruach in Hebrew. It is said that pranic healing is a simple yet powerful and effective system of no-touch energy healing. It is based on the fundamental principles that the body is a self-repairing living entity that possesses the ability to heal itself and that the healing process is accelerated by increasing this life force that readily available from the sun, air, and ground to address physical and emotional imbalances. Master Choa Kok Sui, the founder of pranic healing, says “Life Energy or prana is all around us. It is persuasive; we are actually in an ocean of Life Energy. Based on the principle, a healer can draw Pranic Energy or Life Energy from the surroundings. But above all of these, how do we measure stress? One way is the Perceived Stress Scale. This instrument is a measure of the degree which situations in one's life are appraised as stressful. Items were designed to tap how unpredictable, uncontrollable...
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...Breathing-Based Meditation Decreases Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Symptoms in U.S. Military Veterans: A Randomized Controlled Longitudinal Study Beverly Hinderliter A growing body of evidence suggests meditation-based interventions have the potential to reduce symptoms and improve well-being (Marchand, 2013 for review; Mitchell et al., 2014). The Stanford University study entitled Breathing-Based Meditation Decreased Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Symptoms in U.S. Military Veterans: A Randomized Controlled Longitudinal Study explores the effects of Sudarshan Kriya yoga, a meditation-based therapy, on U.S. military veterans with PTSD symptoms having served in Iraq and Afghanistan. “We selected Sudarshan Kriya yoga because it has effectively reduced PTSD symptoms in tsunami survivors (Descilo et al., 2009), increased self-reported optimism and well-being in college students (Kjellgren, Bood, Axelsson, Norlander, & Saatcioglu, 2007), decreased self-reported anxiety in those with general anxiety disorder (Katzman et al., 2012), and decreased self-reported depression in those with melancholic depression (Janakiramaiah et al., 2000) as well as in alcohol-dependent inpatients (Vedamurthachar et al., 2006)” – Emma M. Seppala, Center for Compassion and Altruism Research, Stanford University. This study falls under multiple categories. It is randomized, controlled, correlational, and longitudinal. These will be touched on in the following paragraphs. The random sample population...
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...Ethnography of Richard Gerber and Healing with Chakras My ethnography will be discussing a short part of the book A Practical Guide to Vibrational Medicine by Richard Gerber. In this eight paragraph snippet, from page 88 to page 91, Gerber describes his way of overcoming anxiety, stress, and fear through the use of chakras, in particular the heart chakra. In the following essay I will talk about the interaction between religion and healing and how spirituality is involved in both. I will be using Kleinman’s description of clinical reality to examine the “beliefs, expectations, norms, behaviors, and communicative transactions associated with (Patients and Healers in the Context of Culture by Arthur Kleinman, 42)” the seemingly unusual type...
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...Health Care Provider and Faith Diversity Jenna Franz Grand Canyon University HLT-310V Andre Mooney November 7, 2013 Health Care Provider and Faith Diversity There are many different religious faiths throughout the world; with many different belief systems each has its own view of health care. Health care professionals, nurses, physicians and other providers should be aware of any religious beliefs that their patients may practice in order to provide competent medical care. Providing medical care should include cultural, religious and spiritual beliefs and values of the patient, in order to provide holistic care for the patient. The belief systems of Buddhism, Native Americans and Jehovah’s witnesses will be reviewed to determine similarities and differences and compared to Christian beliefs as well as the views and beliefs of the author of this paper, and provision of health care and care providers. Spiritual Perspective on Healing Even though the definitions and expressions vary most Americans consider religion and spirituality a large part of who they are. (Klilewer, 2004, p. 4) In Jehovah’s Witnesses and Native American and Christianity there is belief in God as the creator of Heaven, Earth, and the universe, where as with Buddhists this speculation is rejected. ("What do Buddhists Believe?," 2013, p. 3) Buddhists and Native Americans do not believe in prolonging life by artificial means, death should be peaceful. (Bhikshu, 2010, para. 4) For Native Americans...
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...understanding. Our body is the physical of what our mind demonstrates our masks. Honoring our body with exercise, nutritious foods, and adequate rest builds a foundation of self care. Through self care we strengthen our beliefs, our uniqueness, and our spiritual connection. The spirit is the soul. “The soul is the moral and emotional nature of a human being, a strong positive feeling, a spiritual or moral force (Webster’s Dictionary, 1999).” Spirituality gives us a common language that allows us to connect with each other. In believing that we are an individual piece of a divine design we are motivated to seek our destiny. Spirituality is the place from where we all come from, the place we are, and the place we all will go. In taking on this real meaning of spirituality one can embrace oneself and others fully. “Many people believe, however, that spiritual feelings and experiences- those that are not necessarily achieved by the application of logic and critical thought but that are more intuitive and subjective-cannot affect a person’s health.” (Edlin, G.; Golanty, E.; Brown, K.1997) 2. Imagine that you have been diagnosed with a stress-related, chronic or terminal illness, integrating holistic...
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...FOUNDATIONS OF TAOIST PRACTICE by Jampa Mackenzie Stewart When you try to define Taoism, you immediately run into trouble. The great Taoist philosopher and author of the Tao Te Ching, Lao Tzu, begins his first chapter with the warning words, The Tao that can be described is not the eternal Tao. The name that can be named is not the eternal name. Thus Westerners are not the only ones who have a hard time defining Taoism; the Chinese have had difficulty time agreeing on just what Taoism is for millenia. Taoism is sometimes defined as a ritualistic religion, as a philosophy, as Chinese folk religion, as alchemy, as a system of magical lore, or as a series of health practices similar to yoga. The adherants of each school often look with disdain on the others as being heterodoxy, heresy, or simply incomplete portions of the great Tao. The Chinese word Tao (pronounced "dow") means "the way, the path." In the common sense it refers to the way of doing anything, or the pathway to some destination. In its higher meaning, Tao refers to the way of the universe, the way things are. As a spiritual system, Tao means the way to achieving a true understanding of the nature of mind and reality, to the way of living in harmony with the changes of Nature. Thus the Tao is the goal, the path and the journey all in one. A Taoist then, is "a follower of the Way," the same title by which the early Buddhists and Christians dubbed themselves. The earliest Taoists appeared at least four thousand years...
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...Introduction All over the world today, more human beings are suffering from neurological, psychological or neurodevelopmental diseases that are many times life changing. These aliments have many different names and often different properties, but the further one looks into the underlying problem into each neurological, psychological or neurodevelopmental diseases, anxiety and depression seem to prevail over all. If anxiety and depression are not handled accordingly from the beginning of time, it may manifest into something more; this is something that we should look further into avoiding. Depression The chosen disease for this report is depression. Depression can be categorized as a psychological disease as well as a neurological, or neurodevelopmental problem. It comes in many forms and in different magnitudes. This means that depression can be short-term or it may may not be curable. In some cases, depression can follow other diseases such as Parkinson’s disease, high blood pressure, chronic lung disease, arthritis, stroke, cancer and many more. (WebMD, 2014). For a majority of cases, depression is accompanied with anxiety. There are many different forms of treatments available but the three major treatments are: cognitive treatments, pharmacological treatments, and alternative therapy treatments. Cognitive Therapy With cognitive therapy, most of the attention is given to a person’s thoughts. As human beings, we are always surrounded by multiple thoughts at any given...
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...elements of worship including the desire for prayer, meditation and a spiritual community. Within the health care environment religious customs of these diverse faiths and cultures may be inadvertently violated or treated disrespectfully. Preventing patient’s spiritual distress and promoting healing can be achieved by provider education and respectful care. Health care professionals of differing faiths than their patients must look inside themselves and use how they would wish to be treated as a model for caring for others. Health Care Provider and Faith Diversity: First Draft As the world grows smaller each day those working in healthcare may find themselves caring for people of many diverse faiths and beliefs. Acceptance of these beliefs first requires understanding and empathy so that the health care process might be seen from the perspective of different faiths. The following paper explores this author’s findings regarding the spiritual components that affect healing within Sikhism, Baha’i and Jainism and what similarities and differences a Christian care provider might find. Spiritual Perspective Those of the Sikh faith have few constraints about combining modern and traditional medicines. They believe that the will of god will prevail regardless. Though life is held sacred from the moment of conception and after death a person may get closer to God through reincarnation. “Meditation on God is the medicine to cure millions of illnesses” (Guru Granth Sahib Ji...
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...Lena Davis Psych 2012 Class Topics Reaction Papers Table of Contents 1. From page 155 on topic of “Sleep” 2. From page 162 topic of “ Dream” 3. From page 165 on topic of “Hypnosis” 4. From page 167 on topic of “Meditation” 5. From page 168 on topic of “Drug Use” 6. From page 227 on topic of “Constructing Memories” 7. From page 252 on topic of “Reconstructing Memories” 8. From page 257 on topic of “Forgetting” 9. From page 432 on topic of “Stress” 10. From page 438 on topic of “Positive Psychology” Sleep When we get tired our bodies are almost in a drunken state. Our eyes began to open and shut, our head bobs up and down and we feel as though we can’t go anymore. This is definitely a sign that it’s time to get some rest. Sleep is a way our bodies rejuvenate itself after a long day or night. After reading this section on “Sleep”, I now have a better understanding of what my body goes through. I could never understand why some times when I would take long naps, I would feel more tired than before I went to sleep or why some nights I would wake up in the middle of the night and be super energized. Our bodies go through a cycle of four continuous stages and depending on what stage we are in, when we wake up, may determine how our body feels. I also found out that taking a 20 -30 minute nap or “cat nap” as some may call it, is better than taking a nap for a hour or longer. Waking up in Stage 3 or 4 is your deepest sleep, where your body...
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...Differences in Religions Religion is known as a personal or institutionalized system grounded in such belief and worship and includes a set of beliefs, values, and practices based on the teachings of a spiritual leader. Religion is different for everyone, but just as important to one as it is the other. There are many different religions, but the one thing that they have in common is belief in something. They all believe in something; however that something is different for each religion. Christianity is known “as the only true religion” (All About Religion, 2002, p. 1). Christianity has evidence to back its beliefs. They feel that Jesus’ life translated in the Bible is true testament. “Jesus lived about 2,000 years ago, was a great roman teacher and does of good works, and that he was crucified on a Roman cross for the crime of blasphemy among the Jews. The only dispute is whether Jesus rose from the dead three days after his crucifixion and that He was, in fact, God incarnate”(All About Religion,2002, p. 1). Christians believe what Jesus has said to be true as Jesus was a good man and one cannot argue that point. Jesus forgives sins, heals the sick, and rose from the dead. The other religions have less reliable information written. Jehovah’s Witness believes in God, different from the Christians. Jehovah’s Witness must follow the Watchtower organization. It is an organization that sets the rules and guidelines for this religion. They do not believe that God heals people;...
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...groups, where beliefs include UFO’s and aliens, astrology, tarot cards, crystals, various forms of alternative medicines like healing, yoga and magic. New Age groups are extremely diverse eclectic, their beliefs can vary from being world-affirming that help people succeed in the outer world and world-rejecting that help people become enlightened in the inner world. Drane argues that New Age groups appeal because of the changes in post-modern society, where there is a loss in faith of the claims to have the ‘truth’. Since science promise of bringing a better world seemed to be lost and society is more fragmented e.g. wars and global warming thus making people disillusioned with churches as it fails to meet their spiritual needs. As a result people are turning to New Age groups to help them on a journey of self-spiritually rather than the metanarratives of traditional churches. There is also loss of faith in science due to problems caused by science and technology New Age groups can also be appealing because it is part of late modern society. In the modern era, as we have tried to become enlightened and New Age groups fit part of it also being modern and individualised. We are now trying to know ourselves, especially expressive professionals such as scientists and doctors who are interested in human potential. However, Bruce would argue that this can’t possibly be real religion because of its relaxation elements. Heelas also believes that New Age groups apply to modernity...
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