Meditation and Stress
Relief
How does
it help with stress relief?
 In
our fast past lives to make time
for work, family,
relationships
and socializing, we often find
that we have no time for
ourselves. Stressed out and
running on empty we often
sacrifice sleep to 'make up' for
lost time. Burning the candle at
both ends is a sure fire elixir
for hormonal imbalance and a
compromising of the immune
system.
Everything we
do has a consequence, and
everything we do is based upon
the priority we give it in our
mind. When the mind chooses to
self inflict the body, we are
out of balance and harmony is
lost in everyday living. This
imbalance manifests itself in
many way such as stress, fatigue
and high blood pressure. This
stress only serves to stimulate
your body's enzymes and immune
system to cause a stimulation of
the oil glands. In the human
body, oil glands are called
sebaceous glands" and stress
causes overproduction of
sebaceous material. Lowering
stress levels helps to decrease
oil production which leads to
oily skin and other skin
problems.
Meditation is
a way to restore balance within
the body by using the minds
power to hold itself steady and
slow down 'thinking'. Incessant
thinking is what causes this
unbalance in our lives and
meditation allows your mind to
settle. Drawing your attention
inward away from the periphery
of outside influences allows you
to focus and increase self
awareness. By helping to reduce
stress and developing a sense of
inner peace and joy, meditation
has been scientifically proven
to lower blood pressure, give
you more energy and strengthen
your immune system.
The history of meditation finds
its origins beginning around
3,000 B.C.E. as a way for the
ancient spiritual seers—known in
India as Rishis—to gain direct
knowledge of the nature of the
Ultimate Reality. Today,
meditation is recognized for its
myriad health benefits, and is
widely practiced as a way to
counteract stress. Meditation
brings together all the energies
of the mind and focuses them on
a chosen point: a word, a sound,
a symbol, an image that evokes
comfort, or one’s own breathing.
It is typically practiced in a
quiet, clean environment in a
seated posture with the eyes
closed.
Regular practice of meditation
conditions you to bring the
meditative state into your daily
life with reports that hormones
and other biochemical compounds
in the blood indicative of
stress tend to decrease during
(meditation) practice. These
changes also stabilize over
time, so that a person is
actually less stressed
biochemically during daily
activity. Practicing meditation
should be an integral part of
ones daily life for its benefits
of both mind and body.
Getting Started
There is no 'right way' to
meditate. Put any expectations
aside. Avoid trying to force
something to happen. Don't
over-analyze or try to make your
mind go completely blank.
Find a quiet, comfortable place
to meditate. You can sit in a
chair, on the bed, on the floor
or anywhere that's comfortable
for you.
Eliminate as much noise and as
many distractions as possible.
Sit with your spine straight.
This allows the spiritual energy
to flow freely up the spine,
which is an important aspect of
meditation. Place your hands in
any position that is
comfortable.
If it does not go against your
beliefs, call on a higher power
for help. This can be quite
helpful, but is not necessary.
With
practice, meditation can be an
accessible way to transform the
way you move through the world.
This is a
nondualistic approach, rather
than separating good from bad,
simply acknowledged all as one.
This is the foundation of
meditation, noticing thoughts
that arise, not judging them as
positive or negative, just being
present with them as they pass.
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