How Does Meditation Help in Reducing Stress?
Monkey mind, stress, anxiety and depression there are so many negative annotations related to our mind. People fear talking about mental health. They feel that there will be a judgement of society and loved ones. Eventually, these people suffer and sacrifice their quality of life. Why do we suffer so much? The reason is expectation. We people naturally expect things from our loved ones, and we want them to behave as we do. But sometimes, we forget that we are unique in our way. Expecting love, attention, and respect only leads to anxiety.
Overthinking is another issue at the home workplace that kills the essence of our everyday life. Hence, people find it hard to attain inner peace. Their monkey mind is always jumping and juggling. There is only one way to keep your mind in control: meditation.
Meditation is a practice that helps you attain cosmic energy, a state of mental relaxation and help in getting tranquillity of mind. It is hard to sit quietly and focus on your thoughts. Alone it is impossible if you have disrupted energies and thoughts. It would help if you had an experienced meditation practitioner like Shiv Yog, who helps and guides you to practice meditation.
During meditation, you pass through various mental and physical changes. You focus only on your attention and try to eliminate all the jumbled thoughts causing stress and crowding the mind.
Different types of meditation
Meditation is an umbrella term where you will achieve a relaxed state. Many types of relaxation techniques help the success of meditation. So, here is the list of types of meditation:
Guided meditation is a type of guided visualisation and imagery through which you form mental images of the situations and places where you find yourself relaxing and happy. You will use all your senses like lights, textures, smell and sounds to meditate and attain peace. It is the best possible method when you practice under a teacher or guide.
Mantra meditation- as you sit in a comfortable position, you silently repeat the calm word through a phrase or thought so that you can distract from your thoughts.
Mindfulness meditation is a kind of meditation where you can be mindful or increase your awareness to accept and live in the present. In such meditation practice, you are expanding your conscious awareness. You will focus on things you are experiencing during meditation, like sample breathing flow. Here, you will observe your thoughts and emotions but pass them without any judgements.
Transcendental meditation is natural and straightforward meditation where you will repeat the assigned mantra like a sound, phrase or word. It is a type of meditation which will allow the body to rest, relax and settle. Without much effort, you will achieve inner peace in this form of meditation.
How meditation helps in stress
Chronic stress is not at all good for your health. Prolonged agitation causes a destructive internal impact on your body. If you start practising meditation under a stress relief program from a guide or teacher, then you will attain many health benefits:
- You will inhale more oxygen
- Your adrenal gland will produce less cortisol
- Your blood pressure normalises
- Your breathing will be rhythmic, and your heart rate will lower down
- The immune function will improve
- The mind will age at a slow rate
- Your creativity level increases and your mind clears
- You will have less sweating
Smoking, partying, eating junk food, and drinking is life-damaging activities that slowly kill you. But if you start meditating, you will stop ruining your days and be more focused at work. It encourages you to have inner strength. Many doctors worldwide also believe and encourage patients to practice meditation and cut off unnecessary thoughts to stay happy. Meditation provides them with the same.
When your mind is in control, your thoughts are also in control. The neurones in our brain always stay active even when we are sleeping. Therefore, meditation helps you understand your thought process and bring a change in your behaviour.
What is the consideration for good meditation?
Consistency is vital- meditation is not a one-day activity but a consistent practice. Do not start long practice initially. Instead, start with 5 or 10 minutes of practice but regularly sit in your favourite corner and meditate. The short and daily session is more effective than any long practice.
Practice means not perfect- no one becomes perfect in meditation at the first go. Regular practising is more important than perfect practising. It is evident that you will fail during the initial days but do not dishearten yourself. You have to continue with the practice and become better at meditation.
It’s ok if you feel restless while meditating- while sitting for meditation, your mind will wander, which is normal. It can be challenging for you, but meditation is not correct or wrong. While meditation, if thoughts come, do not judge those thoughts; instead, get back your senses to breathing and let the thoughts pass.
When to practice meditation
There is no specific time for meditation, but you must find a quiet place for meditation. It can be the lobby area at your workplace where you can meditate if it has quiet surroundings. At your home, early morning or late evening, light up the area with your favourite light, place some scented candles and use meditation music to create the feel or mood of peace and tranquillity.
Suppose you have to uncontrol thoughts and emotions or other mental health issues where you cannot practice meditation alone. In that case, taking guidance from the Yoga or mediation expert is necessary. You can even enrol on a wellness and holistic program to redesign the meaning of life. After all, it is your body and mind, and you know better how you can give the best through meditation.
Conclusion
Therefore, it is the time for you to practice meditation, and you will attain peace. Remember that if you have strong determination to achieve inner peace, nobody can stop you, and you will achieve the utmost success.
