Manage your stress with meditation
A growing number of Canadians are using relaxation and meditation to beat stress, according to a 2001 survey by the Canadian Mental Health Association.*
Meditation is a particularly effective way of managing stress and one’s emotional responses to it. There are two basic types of meditation: active, in which you pay attention to your thoughts in order to learn to control them, and passive, in which you keep your mind free of thoughts. Passive meditation is the one most often used for stress control. It usually involves repeating a mantra or listening to music.
Easy steps to meditation
Fortunately, it’s not that difficult – or time-consuming – to practice passive meditation.
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Set aside 5 to 30 minutes each morning and evening.
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You can listen to music, meditation guidance CDs or websites, or sit in silence. The important thing is that you not be interrupted or expect to be interrupted.
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Wear loose, comfortable clothing.
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Sit upright on the floor in a comfortable position. Place your hands on your knees or let them fall into your lap. Meditation is never done lying down, as this would be conducive to sleeping, which is not the same thing as meditating.
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Allow the tension to flow out of your body.
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Focus on breathing deeply and rhythmically. Unlike shallow breathing, which involves only the chest and which harbours tension, deep breathing means your chest and abdomen both move outward and inward as you inhale and exhale.
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It helps to have a mantra to recite, such as “Om.” You may feel silly repeating this at first, but it helps your mind to focus on the words.
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As you focus on your breathing or the mantra, let your thoughts flow, but do not dwell on them. Just keep returning to your point of focus.
It may take several attempts before you start to notice the effects, but eventually meditating will bring about a deep sense of calm and tranquility. The objective is to bring this sense of calm into your everyday life. People who practice meditation on a regular basis report an ability to deal with everyday stresses in a more relaxed, almost detached, fashion.