Complementary and Alternative Medicine Lecture 2

Meditation

• Approach used to cope with stress, medical conditions, anxiety – through thought, contemplation, reflection

• Bringing forth quiet thought or emptying of the mind’s activity

Variety of Practices

• Transcendental meditation – mantra recitation

• Prayer• Zen meditation• Taoist meditation• Mindful meditation• Buddhist meditation

Benefits of Regular Meditation

• Healing of body and mind• Physical– Decrease of blood pressure– Improvement of air flow (breathing)– Decreased resting heart rate– Less anxiety– Promotes youthful skin and appearance

Psychological

• Relaxation• Decrease in stress• Improves moods• Improves memory• Decreases mood swings• Decreased depression

Yoga

• Reaching total calmness and emptiness of mind

• Means union of consciousness or soul to spirit

Types

• Hatha – system of physical posture, purifying the body and bringing it to oneness

• Karma – selfless service conscious of God as the doer• Mantra – centering consciousness on one word or

phrase• Bhakti – surrendering devotion completely to seeing

and loving the divinity – non-stop worship• Jnana (Gyana) – path of wisdom, applying

discriminative intelligence• Raja – combination of all other paths

Acupuncture• Promote health and alleviate pain• Perspective of acupuncturist on health and sickness concepts

– Vital energy– Energetic balance– Energetic imbalance

• Assessment of vital energy flow through pathways (meridians & channels)

• Stimulates areas along meridians– Needles– Herbs– Electricity– Magnetics– Lasers

• Adjust vital energy to proper place and time – stimulates healing.

Reiki

• Japanese technique for stress reductionand relaxation

• Promotes healing• Laying on hands• Composed of two Japanese words– Rei – God’s wisdom– Ki – life force energy– (spiritually guided life force energy)

Reiki

• Treats person as whole– Body – Emotions– Mind– Spirit

• Benefits– Relaxation– Peace– Security– Wellness

Reiki

• Known to work with virtually every malady• Works by self or with medical or therapeutic

techniques• Easy to use on self• Spiritual in nature, not religion

Biofeedback

• Trains observation shifts of bodily functions using electronic monitors– Heart rate– Respiration– Blood pressure– Muscle tension– Brain activity

Biofeedback

• Gives ability to change mental and emotional responses

• Alleviates symptoms and conditions• Benefits– Lowers blood pressure– Reduces anxiety– Increase flexibility– Greater metal acuity

Breathwork

• Awareness of breathing• Short shallow breaths– Lack of oxygen– Restriction of blood flow– Muscle tension

• Full deep breath– Tension reduction– Relaxation– Stress reduction

Breathwork

• Techniques– Alone– With other practices (yoga, qigong, tai chi)

• Able to be performed anywhere/anytime• Enables release of stressful thoughts• Benefits– Slower heart rate– Decreased blood pressure– Stress cycle broken

References

• www.project-meditation.org/what_is_meditationhtml• www.project-meditation.org/what_is_meditationhtml • www.yogananda-srf.org/what_Is_Yoga_Really_.aspx#.UXYxf7WG3T6

• http://chinese-school.netfirms.com/acupuncture-whatis.html• www.reiki.org/faq/whatisreiki.html• http://takingcharge.csh.umn.edu/explore-healing-practices/

biofeedback• http://takingcharge.csh.umn.edu/explore-healing-practices/

breathwork