Today I’ll start off a little bit about meditation and how it can help with colds and allergies but then move on to share my learnings and experiences on effective ways to deal with winter colds and the flu season. While there are so many different solutions and remedies, I’ve listed some of the most potent remedies which have worked very well for me.

And it’s really important to do that because, lots of people try so many remedies without really understanding how powerful or potent each one is, relative to the others.

In the last part of this article, we covered in detail how the subtle energy system within us is impacted when dealing with Addiction and how to use meditation strategies. If you missed it, you can read it here.

In this part, we deal with additional strategies that supplement Sahaja meditation in dealing with addiction.

A very recent survey conducted by the Pew Research Center in August this year provides a quantitative measure of the serious problem facing us from addiction:

• 46% of Americans have a family member or close friend who is addicted to drugs or has been in the past;
• Opioids account for more than 60% of drug overdose deaths;
• Since 1999, drug overdose-related deaths have tripled in number.

We have dealt with addiction in a lot of detail on our website. Sahaja meditation works in multiple ways to help with addiction, primarily by:

• Reducing stress and stress-induced cravings;
• Making the practitioner more self-aware and mindful of thoughts and emotions, especially in the area of any addictions he or she might be dealing with;
• Releasing negative thoughts and feelings through self-forgiveness that might otherwise lead to rumination;
• Positively impacting neurotransmitters and neurohormones which regulate health and well-being;
  Increasing resilience and better coping skills by re-wiring the neural circuitry.

“He was a big giant of a man…” said the lead protagonist of one of my favorite binge-worthy shows: ‘Newsroom.’ Will McAvoy of Newsroom was concerned about being reductive – his good friend, the producer of the show had passed away and the whole team was looking to Will for some words in memoriam. Strumming the guitar to the tune of ‘went to Memphis…” Will finally finds the words that could somewhat do justice to what was in his heart. The pain, the gratitude and the power of moving memories all gushed forth in a few pithy sentences that served as a soaring memorial to a great character.

It was one of those moments that many of us feel moved by – I certainly was.

Recently, there was a story on a blog about a man diagnosed with adult ADHD in his 30’s. It answered many questions he’d had for years about his level of hyperfocus and high distractibility. He realized he used hyperfocus to drown out the distractions around him.

While this level of focus might seem highly productive to outsiders, this man would become obsessively absorbed in something, neglecting his responsibilities and losing track of time. He was prone to abandoning projects in mid-stream and changing focus completely.

What this young man did was learn how to rewire his brains using practices and habits of meditation. It allowed him to create a support system rather than being medicated.