It is well known that exercise is vital to maintain physical health but it also helps to ensure a well-balanced lifestyle and protect mental health.

Through regular exercise you will:

1) Improve your physical health and fitness.
2) Increase your energy, vitality and stamina.
3) Improve your appearance.
4) Meet people and develop your social life.
5) Improve your confidence and self-esteem.
6) Reduce anxiety, tension and depression.
7) Enjoy yourself!

So how much exercise should you aim for?

Experts suggest doing a minimum of 30 minutes moderately demanding exercise, on at least five days out of seven. Many people consider this an unrealistic demand on their time and energy levels, but this need not be the case. Its actually not as difficult as you might think to fit exercise quite naturally into your daily routine. Time spent on housework, gardening, stair climbing and active travel all count towards the daily total. The more exercise can be incorporated into normal activities, the easier it is to achieve these targets.

How does exercise bring about these benefits? The human body is designed for rigorous exercise and there is plenty of evidence that regular exercise can reduce the risk of many major illnesses as well as reducing mental health problems such as depression, anxiety and stress.

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If you have tried to stop smoking before and failed, don’t lose heart, there is a simple technique you can employ to help you – meditation. Zen Buddhists have known the power of meditation for thousands of years. It is easy to learn and can really help you in your efforts to free yourself from the dreaded weed.

Meditation is not only for Zen Buddhists it is for everyone. Thousands of people come fresh to meditation every year and enjoy the transformational benefits it can offer for various problems from mood disorders like depression and anxiety to drug addictions like smoking. Just in case you thought smoking was a habit – you are wrong! It is drug addiction! Nicotine, the oily, colorless substance contained in cigarettes is the most addictive drug known to man. Overcoming this addiction can often require enormous will power and that is where Zen meditation can step in. By using the techniques of Zen Buddhist meditation you can improve your will power whilst simultaneously combating the stress, anxiety and depression that often accompanies coming-off this horrendous drug.

Inner peace achieved through Zen meditation will eliminate the desire to smoke and the cravings that the smoker suffers when trying to stop. Furthermore, the tranquil mind state achieved by the smoker through meditation very soon becomes preferable to the constant state of longing and agitation that he or she has been accustomed to and soon finds it ‘s way into their everyday experience leaving them refreshed and relaxed in a way they probably never felt since becoming addicted.

The reasons why you have failed to quit smoking successfully before will vanish when you successfully employ Zen Meditation.
The reason why you previously filed to quit smoking was that you lacked something in your life, that something is Zen Meditation.

It is only because of the way you feel that makes you smoke. Sop the way you feel in your mind and you will be able to stop smoking. How do I stop feeling the way I do? This is done by using Zen Meditation. Will Zen meditation do this? Yes, because by doing this you will link to something spiritual called Zen which is a part of you that is greater than the human part of you.

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