What Is Meditation And How Does It Help My Stress?

May 28, 20202 min read

Stress is a behavioural issue with the mind and meditation is a method to correct that behaviour.

All of us experience stress. Good stress makes us and bad stress breaks us. Either way, we need to develop the awareness of our stresses at play, so that we are able to take control of where the stress is leading us towards.

Meditation Trains Attention

Most of our stresses are derived externally. They could be small stresses from deciding what to cook for dinner to big stresses from major life events such as financial problems, relationship difficulties or health issues.

When our mind is pre-occupied with these stressful running thoughts, it is difficult to pay attention to the tasks at hand. Hence, you might be doing one thing, thinking of another and end up feeling more stressed about the inability to concentrate.

Through stillness and silence, meditation practices cultivate new discipline to draw awareness inwards and to regain control of your wandering mind.

Meditation Is Not Just A Sitting Exercise

Most people associate meditation as a sitting exercise where no talking and moving are allowed. No doubt, this is the essence of the practice but meditation can actually be conducted in various physical expressions including walking, reading, eating.

The main muscle that we are trying to build during meditation is paying attention inward, across an extended amount of time.

In order to train this skill, a variety of methods and techniques have been developed by yogis, energy practitioners, spiritual gurus and meditation teachers to help meditators of various dynamics to achieve this self-mastery.

Once A Mystic, Now A Modern Science

Meditation has been practised for thousands of years. Once a mystic, now popularly tested by medical schools and scientists, meditation has proven to calm and declutter stressful minds. This can be observed through how a stressful brain in high beta frequencies descends quickly to alpha mode of calmness during meditation.

Positive Effects of Meditation

A brief 15 minutes of meditation can produce immediate relaxation and calmness. Whereas a daily practice of extensive meditation can have transformational impact on one's life.

When we close our eyes and draw awareness back to our inner thoughts, our body sensations, our emotions, that reverse process itself brings coherence to the brain cells.

By focusing on our deep breathing, we further rejuvenate our body and mind by increasing the supply of oxygen - a precious resource to keep our organs function properly and boost our immunity.

Sitting in a meditation pose encourages more flow of blood circulation and inner energy or “chi” to our upper body. Once again, this is a critical boost to all of our organs that are located in the head and trunk area of our body.

Meditation is a holistic exercise that brings about positive effects to safeguard our physical, mental, emotional and spiritual well-being of our life.