A PRIMARY MEDITATION TECHNIQUE

• Begin by sitting in a quiet place free from distractions. Adopt a comfortable but erect position. If you prefer, you can sit cross-legged on the floor or on a chair with your feet flat on the ground.
• The next step is to use the power of sustained focus of concentration to let go of any tension in your body.
• With a focus on the breath, concentrate on the cool sensation of inhaling through the nose and the warm, moist sensation of exhaling through the mouth.
• Allow your breathing to find its own rhythm. It may be useful to employ a word or phrase as a meditative focus. Silently repeat this word or phrase with each inhalation and exhalation.
• As you proceed, draw your attention to different areas of your body beginning with the lower extremities and moving upward. Search those areas for any tension and discomfort. With each inhalation gather any tension found into the breath and release the tension when you exhale.
• During your meditation your mind may wander. This is not uncommon and will improve with each time you meditate. If your mind does wander, simply bring your thoughts back to the breath.
• At the moment that you feel calm, peaceful, and tranquil, it is important to introduce a powerful intention. Ask that peace, love, health, equanimity, and gratitude flourish in your life. Inhale disappointments and exhale forgiveness.
• While in this meditative state, remain calm and listen. Feel gratitude and positivity flowing over and through you. Do not force this feeling—simply allow it to happen. Slowly inhale and exhale any control.

Ideally you should perform this meditation exercise for at least 20 minutes each day. In the beginning this may be unrealistic; however, even five minutes per day will make a difference. Meditation will becomes easier and more effective with practice, so emphasize consistency more than duration for maximum benefit.

THINKING YOUR WAY THIN: MEDITATION AND PRAYER FOR STRESS RELIEF, HEALTH, AND FAT LOSS

Mindful prayer is not necessarily a religious activity, nor is it tied to any specific concept of God. Prayer is an outlet for expression, a communication with the world, the cosmos, that which is larger than you, and it allows you to identify feelings, thoughts, desires, dreams, disappointments, and successes. This “conversation with the Divine” is very cathartic and helps you to keep from bottling up your emotions and feelings.

Mindful prayer is also an excellent way of improving the mind-body connection and it helps to evoke a feeling of connectedness with other people and with the world. If you are interested in improving your IQ, then prayer may be just what you were looking for. Studies have proven that prayer will boost the brain neurotransmitter acetylcholine, resulting in improved intelligence. In addition to making you a “smarter” person, mindful prayer has also been shown to improve sleep, increase optimism, and elicit a feeling of having more than enough as opposed to not enough.

Meditation is another highly effective way to reduce stress and promote a healthy DHEA/cortisol balance. Using brain imaging, researchers have discovered that the simple act of meditation alters blood flow in the brain. When a person delves into a meditative state, blood flow is increased to the left prefrontal cortex. This is the part of the brain that is responsible for self-esteem, happiness, contentment, and peace.

According to Dr. Randy Knipping, B.Sc., MD, CCFP, and head of aviation and preventive medicine at the Cleveland Clinic Canada:

Meditation is the practice of developing understanding and acceptance of human nature through focused awareness of the mind and body. Meditation begins with drawing attention to the constant flow of thoughts, feelings, sensations, and experiences in a nondiscursive, nonanalytical, nonconceptual way. One simply watches, silently, observing passively everything that is, and simply accepting it as [it] is. There is no attempt to change, fix, transform, improve, develop, start, or

stop anything.

Dr. Knipping explains:

Many who are new to meditation ask what the purpose is of meditation if one doesn’t actually “do” anything at all. The simple answer is that we have been socialized from childhood to constantly “do something.” From the moment we  learn how to tie our shoes to the launch of a new business, it seems that we are  

being “successful” because we can measure success externally through well-tied 

shoes and profitable enterprises. But there is more to being human than being 

successful. What constitutes a good life is much about the relationships we have 

with ourselves and others. Loving kindness. Compassion. Equanimity. Peace. 

Meditation is about bringing balance back into your life. It is about breathing  

consciously, examining the flow of your life in real time, and not imposing upon 

the present moment that constant cacophony of action. Don’t just do something, 

sit there (breathe, accept).

Dr. Knipping believes that mindfulness is a conduit to important lifestyle changes. “From this ocean of mindfulness naturally comes eating consciously, paying attention to food in such a way that overeating becomes impossible. There comes a natural observation that physical training results in an immediate sense of uplifting, energy, and stress resilience. There is less ego and more heart. There is life, and awareness of our precious human life. It is a beautiful practice.”  Meditation is not hard work. You do not need to purchase any special equipment—not even candles are required! All you need is a quiet place where you can slow your mind and focus on your breathing. Like many things, at first meditating may seem a little awkward. After all, up to this point you may have thought this was something reserved for monks living high up in the mountains of Tibet! However, the importance of meditation is at an all-time high. With our fast-paced lives, high-stress demands, and inadequate nutrition placing huge stress on our bodies and minds, the practice of meditation has gone from something that we should do to something that we must do.

EIGHT STEPS TO MITIGATE CORTISOL

Taking control of your cortisol levels can be achieved naturally using the following eight steps:

1. Avoid very low-calorie diets, especially for extended periods. The restriction of calories is a significant stress to the body, causing decreases in testosterone (in both men and women—yes, women have testosterone too, just less of it) and increases in cortisol.

2. Avoid overtraining (a common mistake). Keep workouts brief (less than 60 minutes) and intense by packing more work into less time.

3. Consume carbohydrates and proteins immediately following your workout. This will help to suppress the post-workout-induced stress response and maximize recovery.

4. Be sure to get seven to eight hours of deep, dark, restful sleep nightly (depriving yourself of sleep will raise cortisol).

5. Drink plenty of water (being dehydrated can raise cortisol).

6. Do not binge on alcohol.

7. Do not use stimulants such as caffeine or ephedrine.

8. Consume an alkalinizing diet (the more alkaline you are, the less cortisol

you make

THE DHEA/CORTISOL BALANCE

Stressful events are a certainty for all of us, and the way that we interpret and internalize these events has a profound effect on two important hormones in our bodies, DHEA and cortisol. DHEA (or dehydroepiandrosterone) is a stress hormone produced by the adrenal glands. It is the most abundant of all of our hormones. DHEA is responsible for revitalizing, rebuilding, and restoring each of the over 100 trillion cells we have in our bodies. In nutritional researcher Sam Graci’s book The Food Connection, he describes DHEA as the “mother hormone” because of its role in producing other adrenal hormones like estrogen, progesterone, and testosterone.

Cortisol is also a stress hormone produced by the adrenal glands. After DHEA, it is the second most abundant hormone. Cortisol is a glucocorticoid, meaning that it has the ability to increase blood glucose levels. This occurs as part of the fight or flight response, as cortisol assumes control of the body’s metabolic systems during high-stress events. When faced with a life or death situation, cortisol will temporarily increase the flow of glucose (as well as protein and fat) out of your tissues and into the bloodstream. This increases physical readiness and energy in order to handle the stressful situation. However, when we prolong our stress through excessive worry, overwork, inadequate sleep, overtraining, and poor nutrition, cortisol’s temporary job becomes a permanent one. When this happens, excess cortisol is produced, which raises insulin levels as well as blood pressure, reduces immune function, increases appetite and cravings for sugar, increases fat deposition (particularly around the abdominal area), and causes brain damage. Not a pretty picture. As you can see, it is very important that we keep cortisol in check.

Imagine that these two hormones, DHEA and cortisol, are seated on a teeter-totter with DHEA on one side and cortisol on the other. As one side goes up, the other side goes down. In order to keep our DHEA/cortisol teeter-totter from tipping too far to one side, we must remain in homeostasis, which is a state of equilibrium or balance. The more we can remain in balance, the healthier we will be both physically (by remaining disease free and in good physical shape) and mentally (by feeling happy and at peace).

When we spend our time worrying over our bodies, lives, jobs, etc., we are upsetting the DHEA/cortisol balance and damaging both our bodies and our minds. In many cases the solution is not to quit your job, go under the knife, or leave your relationship. This is like cutting off the head to cure the headache. Rather, the solution lies in finding practical ways to manage the stress that occurs each and every day.

STRESS AND FAT LOSS: ACHIEVING PEACE OF MIND

Managing our stress is a vital component to lasting health, long life, happiness, and fat loss. Recent studies have shown that approximately 40 percent of all North Americans suffer from stress-related adverse health effects. In addition, up to 90 percent of all doctor visits are for stress-related complaints or disorders. Stress has been linked to every leading cause of death, including cancer, heart disease, accidental death, cirrhosis, and suicide. Stress is also a major contributor to workplace absenteeism and decreased productivity. Studies have found that the most common health risk and major contributor of weight gain for obese people is stress. This is because obese people secrete more cortisol than people of an optimal weight, and cortisol activates fat-storage enzymes, which perpetuate their obesity.

However, stress is normal and each one of us experiences varying degrees of stress every day. Stress comes in many different forms. Some stressors, such as running late because of traffic, are relatively minor, while major, life-transforming events such as death, divorce, or the failure of a business can have a very significant effect upon our bodies and our minds. Trying to avoid stress completely is not realistic, nor is it advantageous. 

In fact, stress is an important part of everyday life. It is not possible to achieve positive adaptations and growth in any area of your life (physically or emotionally) without some form of stress to prompt them.

Exercise, for example, is a form of stress on the body. When done correctly and in the right amounts, it produces very beneficial outcomes. However, when done incorrectly or for prolonged periods of time, injury can result. What you want to avoid is excessive and continuous stress.