mind over matter

If you've ever been dubious about the benefits of meditation, or the power of mind over matter, meditate on this!

Last week, the Telegraph reported that a construction worker from China who was buried alive as he worked in a ditch used the Buddhist meditation techniques he had learned to control his breathing and survive the ordeal, just by using the air that was trapped inside the safety helmet he wore.

Wang Jianxin, 52, was working on a site in Ningbo city when a wall collapsed and buried him under 6ft of earth.

He explained how the accident happened :

"It was suddenly dark and I realised what had happened, and found that there was a small air pocket in front of me.

"I knew it would not last, so I made myself relax and concentrated on slowing down my breathing by meditation. It was very quiet down there, and I was surprised that despite facing death it was easy to focus my mind and bring about the inner calm needed for meditation.

"Later it became very hot and suffocating. I thought I might not make it back but then I heard voices and digging and suddenly could see again. It was the longest two hours of my life."

Oh, really?

Do it yourself

If you want to try meditation for yourself, there are plenty of meditation websites. You can download a whole variety of free meditation courses, designed to help you in every aspect of your life, from Project Meditation. Choose from stress, depression, phobias, lack of confidence, sleep problems and motivation techniques...plus more. One user commented:

"I was extremely pleased with the Meditation Courses. I discussed some of the course with a friend of mine who was aghast! He had paid thousands of dollars to learn what I had learned for free."

Other good FREE sources of meditation material are: Mediheaven (see pink box) who offer a short meditation that's designed to take you to 'paradise in your mind' which always seems like a nice place to be on a rainy Thursday in East Anglia. There's another great free guided meditation from Essential Self Help too, which takes you through a five minute breathing exercise, and into a story where you imagine relaxing on a hammock in your own secret garden. During this story you will get into a meditative state, where you have an opportunity to contemplate a personal issue of your choice.

Hopefully, you'll never need to use thiese techniques six feet underground like Wang Jianxin...but it's always nice to know that you could...