How to Reduce Stress with Meditation

We live in a stressful world. Sometimes the stressors in our everyday lives cause us to have health ailments or, at the very least, make it difficult for us to concentrate or even get a good night's sleep. Meditation can really help reduce your stress levels and become a more relaxed and happy person. Here's how I learned to meditate.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Quiet place
• Yourself

1. Find or create a relaxing environment to practice your meditation. Turn off anything that is likely to distract you such as television sets or radios. Turn off the ringer on your phones and turn off the cell phone. If you want to play music, it should be calming. You can also meditate outside, just don't sit where you will be exposed to loud noise.

2. Sit on level ground or a cushion for comfort. You can meditate in any position you desire (even lying down) as long as you keep your back straight. This will help with your breathing and relaxation. If you do want to meditate lying down, you run the risk of falling asleep, so weigh this with what you want to accomplish.

3. Keep your eyes half-open without focusing on anything. If this is too distracting or difficult for you, go ahead and close your eyes or find something to focus on.

4. Breathe deeply and slowly from your abdoment rather than your chest. You should feel your stomach rise and fall while your chest stays relatively still. Inhale for a count of 3 and exhale for a count of 6 repeating for 15-20 minutes or until you are entirely relaxed.

5. Relax every muscle in your body bit by bit. Do this slowly starting with your toes and working your way up to your head.

6. Your mind is going to wander, but you need to focus your attention. Gently bring your focus backk to a single point until it rests there naturally. The goal is to eliminate the "chattering" in your mind. Two ways to accomplish this are to concentrate on your breathing or repeating a word (mantra) in a steady rhythm.

7. The pinnacle of your meditation experience is to silence your mind. This requires tremendous discipline, but once you've trained your mind to focus on just one thing, you will achieve clearance of the mind. After focusing on a single point, you can cast it away or observe it impartially letting it come and go without labeling it as good or bad. Take the same approach to any thoughts that return to your mind until silence perseveres.

8. When your meditation session is over, take a deep cleansing breath, slowly open your eyes and stretch your body. You should feel completely relaxed.

9. There is no hard fast rule as to how long a person should meditate. Everyone is different, so just allow yourself the time you need to become fully relaxed. It is important, however, to always find time to meditate on a regular basis. Some people find the morning is best to relax them for the day while others prefer right before bed to clear them of any negativity left from the day. Just meditate regularly for the sake of your body and your mind!

Tips & Warnings

• Be mindful of your mood and thoughts when not meditating. You may see that you feel calmer and happier on days when you have taken the time to meditate as opposed to those times when you haven't.
• Some people find praying is an effective form of meditation. For peace, make your prayers more thankful and a time for acknowledging your blessing rather than begging for something or complaining
• Ultimately meditation is about listening to your mind. It's not about obtaining some goal or nirvana or enlightenment. It's more about accepting yourself fully and taking heed of what your mind has to say.
• Don't meditate immediately after a meal or when you are likely to be hungry.
• Do not expect immediate results. Meditation works best when it is done for its own sake and not for the sake of results. The results will come naturally.
• When your mind wanders, don't scold yourself. Just bring your focus back around while gently dismissing those thoughts that pop up.