Meditation is a state of mind that one can enter by various methods, including the repetition of a phrase or mantra , or focusing on a pleasant vision. It s said to bring inner peace in which distractions are ignored. Practitioners say that they not only achieve heightened mental awareness during meditation, but that there are physical benefits as the body relaxes too. First of all, it can help you relax more deeply. This can bring mental benefits like relieving stress and anxiety, but may also help you sleep better, relieve headaches, and even help lower high blood pressure.
Many practitioners believe meditation can also boost the immune system to help fight off illness.
There are many different types of meditation, some based on religious practices, others forming part of other forms of complementary medicine. Most forms of medicine involve advice about diet and nutrition. Nutritional therapy takes the idea that we are what we eat one step further, and says that special diets and food supplements can be used to alleviate physical and psychological symptoms of many different illnesses. Some approaches involve finding deficiencies of vitamins or minerals, while others involve eating and drinking foods that are said to 'detoxify' the body. More specialist diets such as the Hay and the Ornish diets involve not mixing particular food types in the same meal, or excluding some foods from the diet altogether.