Meditate Your Stress Away

Is your idea of meditation sitting on the top of a mountain with a guru for hours?

OK, maybe it’s something more down-to-earth like sitting in a darkened room for hours.

Or forcing your mind to be blank … or something else that, well, just doesn’t seem to work for you.

Perhaps it’s time to look at meditation in a different light.

Would you be willing to give yourself the gift of a mini relaxation meditation? It doesn’t have to be long, just a few minutes can have a huge benefit and do a lot toward reducing your stress levels!

Why is reducing stress important?

Stress is so prevalent in our hectic society. There are a million things to do all the time. People constantly wanting to keep in touch with you via email and cell phone – bombarding you with constant information and requests!

It just wears you out and wears you down until you don’t know where to turn.

How stress affects the body

Stress is your body’s normal physical response when you feel threatened or upset. It’s your body’s way of protecting you – it’s your fight-or-flight response – increased heart rate, elevated blood pressure, decreased digestion, increased concentration, and focus.

A normal stress response can help you stay focused, energetic, and alert. In emergency situations, stress can save your life by giving you extra strength to defend yourself or react quickly to avoid danger.

The stress response can also help you handle challenges in normal, everyday situations such as keeping you on your toes during a presentation at work, increasing your concentration when you’re studying or taking exams or helping your focus when playing sports.

However, stress stops being helpful if experienced for extended periods of time and can instead cause major damage to your health, your mood, productivity, relationships, and eventually to your quality of life. According to the American Psychological Association, studies have shown that extended stress can alter the body’s immune system producing conditions that are usually associated with “aging” such as reduced ability to regenerate blood cells, frailty, functional decline, cardiovascular disease, osteoporosis, inflammatory arthritis, type 2 diabetes, and certain cancers – all actually causing the body to appear physically older than its chronological age.

Counteracting Stress Through Meditation

Studies have shown that meditation reduces stress by

• Reducing anxiety levels
• Improving self-image and self-esteem
• Increase a positive outlook on life.
• Decreasing depression
• Decreasing the inflammatory chemicals (called cytokines) that lead to depression
• Improving sleep
• Decreasing and controlling pain
• And other benefits

For some people, the thought of sitting for any period of time with their own thoughts can be daunting at first, but it is amazingly relaxing. You don’t need hours of meditation to get the benefits, just a few minutes will help.

Here are a few simple meditative techniques.

Close Your Eyes

Closing your eyes helps block out the rest of the world. You can be somewhere else when you close your eyes.

Just close your eyes and relax. Relax your face, relax your shoulders. Add a big sigh as you let that energy go. You can add “Breathe” (below) to further your release of stress.

Breathe

It’s amazing how you tend to hold your breath or breathe shallowly when you are stressed.

Another simple meditation is to simply stop and take a few deep breaths. It helps you center yourself and calm down.

Now, close your eyes now and take a few more deep breaths. Let the tension flow out as you breathe out. Then breathe in the energy of calm and relaxation.

Repeat a few more times. Better?

Picture Meditation

I used to do this at my desk at work. I had no windows in my office, so I had a few pictures of mountains and trees, places that I considered beautiful, on the wall above my desk.

Every so often I would just stop and look at them an imagine myself being there, breathing in the outside air and feeling the sunshine on my face. Just for a few minutes. It was quite refreshing.

You can do that too. Simply close your eyes, breathe deeply and envision yourself somewhere peaceful. Maybe you have a picture on your wall or on your computer or your phone or simply in your mind.

Transport yourself there in your mind. Just for a few minutes. Listen to the breeze or the waves in your mind and let it carry your tension away!

It’s a great pick-me-up at any time (OK, maybe NOT when you’re driving – keep your eyes open then!!).

List Things You Are Grateful For

Write or just think about the things in your life for which you are grateful … people, pets, memories, things, situations, etc. It helps you realize just how blessed and lucky you really are!

Take a short stroll down memory lane, remembering happy times and people you love. Allow that warmth and joy to wash over you and wash away the stress.

Get out into nature

Being in nature has a very soothing effect on the body. Go for a walk under some trees or on the beach.

Sit outside and close your eyes. Listen to the wind and the birds.

Listen to the waves if you’re near water.

Listen to the rain.

Whatever you find most soothing in nature, allow it to wash over you.

Just flow with nature and let your stress dissolve.

It all comes down to this

Those are a few simple ways to meditate and relax. There are of course many other ways. It mostly comes down to this:

• Take time for yourself
• Take care of yourself

You need that body for a while, take care of it!

You take care of everything else and everyone else, put yourself on the top of that “to care for” list NOW!!

You are important enough to have time for yourself!

Put your oxygen mask on first.

It’s all about you! It really is. It has to be. If you don’t take care of yourself, who will?

Now, close your eyes and breathe!!

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