Can meditation help me when I'm sick?

[Butrfly_Nirvana]

I'm very new to this still, but am wondering if meditation will help me get over this cold! I've been miserable for almost a week now, and I'm pregnant so many over the counter medicines are not advised. Is there a way to focus my meditation on getting over this? Will just focusing on my abdominal breathing (as my nose is 'unreliable' at this time!) help, or should I focus on something else?? Thank you in advance!

[Guy]

Hi Butrfly_Nirvana,

As a meditator, whether or not you get healthy in 1 day or 2 days or 7 days is not your business, that's up to the body. It's your job to be kind and to be patient. If you are kind to yourself and even have a kind attitude towards the cold itself you will soon find that you become peaceful, and the question of "when am I going to be healthy again?" loses its significance. This might sound crazy, but I recently got very sick with the flu and when I was so sick that I could barely get out of bed I decided "okay flu, I'm not going to be your enemy, you can stay for as long as you want" and almost instantly I was very peaceful and content. After that the symptoms gradually faded away over the next couple of days. Whether or not the body would have recovered in the same time if I didn't have this attitude I don't know, it doesn't matter now.

What matters as a Buddhist and as a meditator is making peace and being kind. Think of the Four Noble Truths - CRAVING is the origin of suffering, so abandon the craving to be healthy and then you will be happy. If you recover quickly it is just a bonus.

With Metta,

Guy

[retrofuturist]

Greetings,

To complement Guy's recommendation, I would suggest simply being mindful of the feelings. Be aware of them, and observe their transient qualities. It won't take the sickness itself away, but being mindful of the feelings and not getting caught up with them will help remove some of the unpleasantness of feeling sick.

Metta,
Retro.

[Cittasanto]

If you normally focus on your nose you may find the mouth easier to focus on than your abdomen.

[IanAnd]

I'm very new to this still, but am wondering if meditation will help me get over this cold!

Not necessarily. A cold is based on a bodily virus. You have to attack the cold virus in the body to get rid of the cold.

The following suggestion may not be able to help you now, as the cold virus has already taken hold of your body and you'll just have to ride it out naturally. But the next time that you feel a tickle in the throat or whatever evidence you notice that tells you to expect the possibility of a cold coming on, take one garlic gel pill with 1000mg of the active ingredient (allicin) three times a day (morning, noon, and evening) until you experience the body fighting back the virus and the cold waning. The active ingredient allicin is a natural antibiotic produced in the garlic bulb. It will buttress the strength of your body's immune system enough to fight off the cold virus before it gets a chance to take hold of your body if you get to it soon enough (at the first notice of its coming on). You have to catch it early on, though, for the garlic to really preempt the cold's coming on.

Otherwise, you can take the garlic pills AFTER you have caught the cold in order to provide the body with added ammunition to fight the cold virus. I have had instances of a cold beginning to wane after 7 to 10 days after it has taken hold, taking the garlic AFTER the fact. If you take it BEFORE the fact, you can head off the cold altogether.

What also might help is to get zinc into the body. There are zinc lozenges that you can buy at the drug store which can help with the soreness that develops in the throat. The zinc is also good for attacking the cold virus. Wal Mart carries both these products: the garlic product is made by a company named Spring Valley and costs about $5 for a bottle of about 120 softgels, and Zinc Gluconate or the Equate brand Zinc Gluconate Glycine are the zinc lozenges (approx. cost $2). The garlic softgels may not specify allicin on the label as an ingredient, but will say "Odorless garlic: Allium sativum 10 mg (100:1 Extract equivalent to 1,000 mg of fresh Garlic Bulb.)" That's the one you want to get. Can't tell you how many colds I've stopped in their tracks using this natural remedy.

I've been miserable for almost a week now, and I'm pregnant so many over the counter medicines are not advised. Is there a way to focus my meditation on getting over this?

Once again, not that I'm aware of. And believe me, I've tried (unsuccessfully though). Although as others here have suggested, a change in attitude might help you to endure it better.

[Butrfly_Nirvana]

Thank you all so much! I will put good use to all of your suggestions--both in attitude and action (garlic soft gels...)!

Hope you are healthy out there--because this cold is a tough one!

Thank you again!

[Kare]

Try the advice the Buddha gave to Nakulapita:

I have heard that on one occasion the Blessed One was living among the Bhaggas at Crocodile Haunt in the Bhesakala Grove at the Deer Park. Then the householder Nakulapita went to the Blessed One and on arrival, having bowed down to him, sat to one side. As he was sitting there he said to the Blessed One, "Lord, I am a feeble old man, aged, advanced in years, having come to the last stage of life. I am afflicted in body & ailing with every moment. And it is only rarely that I get to see the Blessed One & the monks who nourish the heart. May the Blessed One teach me, may the Blessed One instruct me, for my long-term benefit & happiness."

"So it is, householder. So it is. The body is afflicted, weak, & encumbered. For who, looking after this body, would claim even a moment of true health, except through sheer foolishness? So you should train yourself: 'Even though I may be afflicted in body, my mind will be unafflicted.' That is how you should train yourself."

Here's the whole sutta:

http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka ... .than.html

[Bhikkhu Pesala]

Meditation is certainly a remedy for minor ailments like colds and flu. At the very least it helps you accept the symptoms as they really are, and so removes the suffering caused by wishing they were otherwise.

Meditation may cure chronic diseases like migraine or high blood pressure, especially those that have psychosomatic causes. Intensive meditation may even cure more serious diseases.

Healing Through Insight Meditation

There are four producers: food, climate, mind, and kamma. Any of these four, or a combination of them, may be causing a disease. Changes in diet or air quality are needed to cure the first two. If a disease is caused by mind (psychosomatic), then a change in one's mental habits can cure it. Meditation can change our mental habits.

Those diseases that are the result of previous kamma will have to give their results, but present wholesome kamma can mitigate the unpleasant effects of previous unwholesome kamma. As the last resort, meditation can help a patient to die peacefully.

Anāthapindikovāda Sutta

[Annapurna]

I'm very new to this still, but am wondering if meditation will help me get over this cold! I've been miserable for almost a week now, and I'm pregnant so many over the counter medicines are not advised. Is there a way to focus my meditation on getting over this? Will just focusing on my abdominal breathing (as my nose is 'unreliable' at this time!) help, or should I focus on something else?? Thank you in advance!

Dear butterfly,

take a look at this Buddhist meditation. It is a visualization type of meditation, especially effective for illness.

SMOKE OUT, LIGHT IN

- While breathing out, imagine that all your negative energies, mistakes, misunderstanding and emotions leave your body with the breath. Visualise this energy as black smoke, which goes out into space and completely disappears.
- While breathing in, imagine that all the positive energy of the universe enters your body with the breath. Visualise this positive energy as pure white light which enters all the parts of your body, it pervades every cell and atom. Enjoy this clear white light.
- If you feel comfortable, use every breath to inhale light and to exhale black smoke and problems.
- When distracted by other thoughts, simply observe them without getting involved; transform them into black smoke and breathe them out.

My personal opinion is:

What's not good for me during a pregnancy, -how can it be good for me at all?

And we have an old saying::

A cold is coming for 7 days, and is leaving for 7 days. But it doesn't stay.

So, your timeframe is good.

Carry on, give your body lots of rest, don't move too much.

I try to stay on the couch with my favorite movies and books, and spoil myself with treats.

Best wishes!

[Butrfly_Nirvana]

KARE: Thank you! That is such a wonderful thing to remember!

As for the Smoke out, light in visualization--incredible! Thank you for that! In fact, now that I think about it...I may end up using that to help during labor! LOL

Thank you all for helping me! Last night I did my best to accept the physical feelings I had, but not giving any emotion to them and not craving them to be otherwise. I just closed my eyes and accepted it. I reminded myself that it is not permanent. The result is that I finally slept for more than 20 minutes at a time, and sure I still have a little coughing here and there to expel what is leftover, but my mind is clear and I feel peaceful and content! So I know that at the very least, I felt comfort even when my body was ill.

On a side note: I'm loving how every day that I delve more into this I am that much more in touch with my true self...truly the only regret I will have in this life is not finding Theravada sooner! But all in it's right time I suppose--otherwise I might not have anything to compare to!

[Annapurna]

Those were some wise thoughts, Butterfly.

All good wishes for you.

When will the baby come?

[Mawkish1983]

True self? Good and bad energy? Hmm.

[meindzai]

The body needs rest when sick. I know that when I have the flu, if I manage to get myself sitting upright to meditate, after about 10 minutes if Iget very still, I barely notice any symptoms. It's almost like being asleep, but awake! I imagine it's helping in some way. How can it not?

-M

[Butrfly_Nirvana]

Those were some wise thoughts, Butterfly.

All good wishes for you.

When will the baby come?

The baby is due April 30th--a little girl, Penelope Olivia!

[Monkey Mind]

[At risk of being labelled a heretic, again...] I agree with a lot of what has been said re: the goal of meditation is not to help with illness,but it does help with coping with an illness. But paradoxically, I have found that practicing acceptance of illness does improve the speed and effectiveness of healing process, and overall immune functioning. With respect to TOS, I am not making any claims of intentional healing qualities of meditation, just accidental healing qualities.

[Cittasanto]

Hi Annabel,

take a look at this Buddhist meditation. It is a visualization type of meditation, especially effective for illness.

SMOKE OUT, LIGHT IN

is that a theravadin Meditation?
The only thing I can think of off the top of my head for illness in the suttas are the Factors of Awakening as a reflection.

[retrofuturist]

Greetings Manapa,

is that a theravadin Meditation?

No.

But at the same time, that's not to say it's of no value - this isn't a Theravada keyboard, nor a Theravadin coffee on this table... but they work.



Metta,
Retro.

[bodom]

Greetings Manapa,

is that a theravadin Meditation?

No.

But at the same time, that's not to say it's of no value - this isn't a Theravada keyboard, nor a Theravadin coffee on this table... but they work.



Metta,
Retro.

[Bhikkhu Pesala]

The only thing I can think of off the top of my head for illness in the suttas are the Factors of Awakening as a reflection.

I forgot to mention the Paritta Suttas — the Bojjhanga Sutta is used for healing.

[Cittasanto]

where is it from though?

I have heard of this similar types of meditation for generating heat, and healing from Tibet but not specifically anything from Theravada.

Greetings Manapa,

is that a theravadin Meditation?

No.

But at the same time, that's not to say it's of no value - this isn't a Theravada keyboard, nor a Theravadin coffee on this table... but they work.



Metta,
Retro.