Meditation calms the mind, restores the body, feeds the spirit

Every morning, David Hillis of Muskegon starts his day in meditation.

It takes all of 15 minutes. But in that short space of time, Hillis is able to calm his mind, focus his energy and look inward — no matter what is going on around him.

“It grounds me,” he says. “It helps me align myself.”

As one of the practitioners at Angel Reflections Center of Light, Hillis “melds” meditation into his Dolphin Healing Hands massage therapy business.

“I absolutely recommend it,” he says. “Whether you set aside two minutes a day, or an hour, there’s nothing better than meditation.”

Meditation: It calms the mind, restores the body, feeds the spirit. But what is it exactly? In “Webster’s New World College Dictionary,” meditation is defined as “deep continued thought, solemn reflection on sacred matters as a devotional act.”

But Jane Donnelly, a Spring Lake yoga instructor who includes a “touch of meditation” in all her classes, has a different definition of the centuries-old practice where the sacred intersects with silence.

“Meditation is such a precise technique for resting the mind,” Donnelly says. “It is a technique used for resting the mind and tapping into a stillness that allows you to attain a state of consciousness from within.”

At the end of each yoga class, Donnelly asks her students “to sit in meditation” before leaving the session. To meditate is to focus inward, she says, and to find that space where you’re not distracted, so you can hear your thoughts and feel your breath — and benefit from it.

“When you meditate you are fully awake and alert, but you separate yourself from the outside world,” Donnelly says. “The mind becomes focused on one still point and is silent.”

She calls it “the calm surrender of meditation.”

Meditation’s health benefits are heralded in the scientific world. Research shows that one hour of meditation can be the equivalent of eight hours of sleep. It helps lower blood pressure. It improves breathing. It enhances mental acuity. It boosts the immune system. It aids in relaxation. It contributes to a sense of well-being.

Plus there are other less scientific, more spiritual, benefits.

“I think meditation is absolutely crucial,” Hillis says. “If you are going to strengthen your spiritual muscle, so to speak, and have a relationship with the divine, you’re better equipped if you meditate.”

A holistic health practitioner, Hillis studied metaphysics and parapsychology at Chelsea University in the United Kingdom, earning undergraduate, master’s and doctoral degrees.

“Plus you have the added advantage of knowing what’s happening to your body,” Hillis says. “If you’re listening and breathing and focusing your mind, you can’t help but know your (physical) body better.”

Dr. Karla Parkhurst, one of the partners at Parkhurst Chiropractic/Lakeshore Wellness Center in Holland, does not use meditation in her treatments. However, she is quick to recommend patients find classes or programs where they can learn more about it if she feels they would benefit.

Meditation is similar to the mental experience of running, Donnelly says. A former runner, Donnelly turned to yoga nine years ago as a “gentle way of exercise.” She became so interested in yoga and meditation that she became a certified instructor. For several years, she taught at a health and fitness center until she opened her own practice which she calls HAGO — or Have A Good One — Yoga. She turns to running to explain what meditation does.

“You get that rhythmic breathing going on, and you have all this silence,” she says. “You’re drawing inward to continue moving.”

Any and everyone can meditate, Hillis says.

“I’m finding a great increase in the number of people who meditate ... and a great diversity of those interested,” he says.

Like his own grandmother.

Hillis was staying with her in Florida not so long ago, helping while his grandfather was dying and in hospice care. One day, he says, “I was sitting there, listening to a guided meditation, and she grabbed my iPod to see what it was all about.”

As she listened, Hillis could see a calm wash over her. When the meditation was over, she told him: “We used to do this in church.”

“I said, ‘This is it, Gram,’” he says.

Be assured, Donnelly says, meditation is not a religion — but it has often been compared to prayer.

“I started meditating as part of the exercise of yoga,” she says, “but I found something so much deeper. When you meditate, you’re able to move deeper into the layers of yourself to find a sense of who you truly are.”

All it takes is 15 minutes a day, sometimes less — or more if you desire.

“You can’t go wrong,” Hillis says. “Give yourself 15 minutes out of the day, and see all your stresses disappear.”

SOURCE: mlive