Improve Your Life With Meditation And Manage Your Stress
If you are stressed about anything in your life, stress can really affect the most important things in your life. That's why the process of learning how to manage and reduce stress is so important.
In this article, I'll be talking more about meditation and how it can help with managing your stress. I'm going to list a few different types of meditation that you might want to try out, some tips on when and where to meditate, and some general guidelines for staying consistent with it.
The goal is still just one thing- _________________. The process is still just ___________. The outcome will be that _________________. But each time we practice- our perspective changes as well as our ability.
Yehudi Menuhin
"Being of one accord in purpose and moving as one, the ultimate goal of each is to be in harmony with the Total. The more conscious we are, the more in harmony we are. The more of our innermost being we make available to the Total, the closer we come to its perfection." – Yehudi Menuhin
Stress is an unavoidable part of everyday life. Everybody feels stressed from time to time and it comes with a health risk that's associated with it: high blood pressure (1). Uncontrollable stress can be counterproductive and even dangerous if you don't take steps to manage stress on a daily basis (2).
So, where do you start? How do you manage stress in your life? First of all, it's important to understand what stress is and how your body reacts to it. There are two main types of stress- stimulus- and response-related stress. Stimulus-related stress occurs when something happens that puts pressure on you and can be measured by how difficult you find the situation (3). Response related stress on the other hand happens when there's a reaction that can be measured by your heart rate (4). Stress is a common emotion for most people, but it's only natural for everybody to feel stressed at some point in their life.
When you feel stressed, you may become tense and/or experience pain. When you try to avoid feeling stressed, people usually start to suppress their thoughts and feelings, to concentrate on the present moment instead of thinking about the past or future, or find some kind of distraction from it all.
Stress can be caused by external factors such as your environment, work or studies. However stress can also come from inside a person- for example feeling that you don't meet expectations set for yourself, whether they're external or internal.
The process of learning how to manage stress includes: identifying what causes stress by paying attention to your feelings; understanding what triggers your stress; finding a solution that works for you (5).
All of this can be difficult to learn on your own. That's why meditation and mindfulness are perfect for managing stress on a day-to-day basis.
The process is the same as when learning how to do anything new. First, you need to decide why you want to meditate or practice mindfulness. What is it you want to improve in your life? From there, you are able find a quiet space that's free from distractions, set aside the time and make a commitment to yourself that you will stick with it. By making a commitment, it makes it easier for you to follow through and make time for meditation each day.
Once you're comfortable with that, the next step is to actually sit down and learn how to meditate. Meditation is simply about staying focused on your breathing- or your breath- which can be done for a few minutes or for hours depending on the type of meditation you choose.
There's two different forms of meditation that are often talked about- focused attention (6) and open monitoring (7). Focused attention meditation requires concentration and awareness, while open monitoring allows you to be more relaxed and alert as well as aware in more of a mindful state.
Focused attention is usually based on something specific like counting your breathing from 1 to 10, sometimes referred to as mindfulness of breathing . This type of meditation is done with full concentration and focus, where the object is to observe thoughts that come into your head.
Open monitoring meditation is usually a combination of focused attention meditation and paying attention to the breath. This type of meditation is a good option for beginners because it helps you learn how to concentrate through mindfulness , which also happens to be the same thing as practicing mindfulness .
There are different steps you can follow during open monitoring, such as observing your thoughts, feelings, sensations and urges without getting involved in them . The goal here isn't to push these away or suppress them, but just be aware of them.
There are also other types of meditation besides those mentioned above. One such type is the relaxation meditation which is based on various techniques that help to reduce muscle tension, promote deep breathing and relax the body. All of this helps you to focus and remain receptive to your environment. This can be done through several different techniques such as:
1) Progressive Relaxation - This method requires you to increase the tension in your body when you notice it becoming tense, ranging from mild headaches, muscle tightness or a sensation of heaviness in your joints. The goal here is to lower your heart rate and relax those parts of the body down until they become relaxed and at ease. The whole process, once started, goes on forever until you feel completely relaxed and can stay in this state without anxiety (8).
2) Guided Imagery - This technique can be done in different ways, but the most common is imagining a relaxing place in your mind, such as a beach or in a forest. You can then close your eyes and imagine walking along where you feel comfortable. Some people also find it useful to daydream or fantasize about peaceful situations when they are really stressed out (9).
3) Autogenic Training - Here you make use of calming imagery (10). For example: You can imagine the sea or a tree and breathe in the ocean or the freshness of the forest.
4) Progressive Muscle Relaxation (10) - Another way to relax is by using muscle relaxation techniques. This means tensing each muscle in your body for a few seconds and then releasing. After doing this, you'll notice how relaxed and tense you feel, which can be used as a way to sort of gauge how tense you are.
Mindfulness meditation can be a bit more complex and involved than other types of meditation, but it's also one of the most effective ways to relieve stress. In order to know what mindfulness is, we must first define what awareness is. Awareness is knowing what's going on within yourself as well as outside yourself (11).
Mindfulness also involves being aware of distractions in your environment or negative feelings such as anxiety or depression- without judging them or becoming involved with them . This awareness allows you to maintain a quiet mind, which prevents your mind from being cluttered with too many thoughts, feelings or distractions and keeps you in the present moment.
By practicing mindfulness, you're able to become more aware of what's going on around you and how your surroundings influence your emotions. Mindfulness helps you become more aware of your thoughts and how to deal with them.
Mindfulness is about being fully aware and awake in every moment of life- for example: how are you feeling? What is it like to do homework at the table? How does it feel when someone says something negative about yourself? Mindfulness helps us understand our emotions, both positive and negative ones so we can learn how to cope with them.
Conclusion
Meditation can help us become more relaxed and balanced. It's something you can do any time of day or night, whenever you feel like it. You don't even have to be sitting cross-legged or focus on your breathing like the monks of Mraka do. There are many different types of meditation you can choose from, depending on what you feel is best for your needs and interests, and some are more popular than others.
Whatever type of meditation you practice, it's important to not get discouraged if it doesn't work right away. The most important thing is to commit yourself to practicing regularly and honestly so that eventually it becomes second nature for you.
References: 1) http://www.