Do you feel that you are constantly under stress? Are you looking into ways of how you can reduce your stress levels? If you have answered yes to both of these questions, you are not alone. The world is seemingly becoming faster, more demanding and more pressurised. In this article I write about how meditation can help you to relax and become a happier person.
Stress affects people in different ways. I personally feel very tired and lethargic during these periods and start to worry about things, like a future event. This can easily lead me into a period of depression, which in the past I have found it very difficult to come out of.
Other people suffer from panic attack attacks, become very shaky and nervous, feel sick in the stomach, become sad and can begin to think in a very negative way.
Most of the conditions I have described above are actually a mental and not so much of a physical problem. This is why I believe meditation to be an excellent form of stress relief or stress management.
Meditation helps us to control our emotions, to think in a more relaxed and positive way and certainly helps us to think more clearly.
Positive effects of meditation:
It reduces your heart rate
It relaxes your breathing and can even make it slower
It can lower blood pressure
It can increase your self-esteem by making you think in a more positive way
Helps you to think in a more logical and clear way
Helps you to reduce stress
Types of meditation:
Walking meditation
Mandala meditation
Yoga meditation
Sitting meditation
Prayer meditation
Visualisation meditation
I personally prefer the sitting meditation. I try to make time around three of four times a day when I will sit down to meditate. Originally I had a lack of belief about what I was doing and about if it would work. I found it difficult at this stage to get myself into the zone. With practice and realising that I needed this to work for me, I managed to get enough concentration and focus to see the full benefits.
A lot of the people in my circle of friends think that I am a bit mad. They can not believe that I actually just sit there and think. Meditation has had such a positive effect on my life and continues to do so, therefore my friends can mock as much as they like. I actually believe that some of them should try it themselves but they always laugh at the suggestion.
This is something I now do on a daily basis and it works. Give it a go with belief and I am sure it will benefit you to.
Steve Hill
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