4 Ways to Relieve Stress Through Meditation
If you have been dealing with a lot of stress, and other remedies aren’t working to relieve it, it might be time to try meditation. This allows you to center yourself, clear your mind, and focus on nothing while letting your brain and body relax. Here are some tips for using meditation to relieve emotional stress.
Try a Simple Meditation Session
When you are using meditation as a way of relieving stress, it doesn’t need to be complicated or complex. If you are just starting out with meditation, simply give yourself a few minutes a day to yourself. Make sure it is completely quiet, or that you just have some light meditation music playing. Relax your body, close your eyes, and let your mind go blank as much as possible. Don’t think about the things causing you stress, but take these few minutes to find a silent peace.
Practice Your Breathing
Breathing exercises can also help you to find peace and relaxation while you are meditating. Instead of focusing on the thoughts causing you stress, you want to focus on your breathing. When working on your breathing, inhale through the nose, and out through the mouth. Feel every breath as you take in oxygen and it enters your body. When exhaling, focus on letting out all your negative energy to get it out of your head. You can lower your blood pressure with this simple task every day.
Use a Mantra
When you are meditating, it also helps to have some mantras memorized. These mantras will bring more focus to clearing your mind and easing stress, which helps when you have difficulty letting go of all that stress and anxiety. A popular mantra is simply “Om”, which is the sound of the universe. It represents birth, death, and re-birth. There is also an ancient mantra called “Lokah Samastah Sukhino Bhavantu” which means you want all beings to be happy and free. You can use these types of ancient mantras or create your own.
Focus on Parts of Your Body
Another easy method for learning to meditate is to focus on parts of your bod instead of your thoughts. For example, if you notice your mind wandering while meditating, start focusing on specific parts of the body and feeling sensations. You might focus on your heart and feel the steady heartbeat, feel the tingling in your feet, or the warmth in your hands.
Meditation takes practice, so don’t be discouraged if it is difficult in the beginning. Keep practicing, focus on your breathing, and find distractions.
