Does Meditation Relieve Stress?

Is stress affecting badly? Let`s talk about how meditation can help you combat stress. Meditation is a do-it-yourself process with which you can attain some degree of serenity. But of course, like every other healing procedure, if you don`t follow the right process, you may not achieve the right results. So how does meditation work for relieving stress? Let`s get right into it.

How Does Meditation Relieve Stress?

Meditation is an age-long activity that unites the body and psyche to help you deal with stress, nervousness, sadness, and sleep deprivation. Meditation brings inner peace with just a few minutes of daily practice. It particularly causes the brain to alter its neural pathways and increase its resilience to stress. Regular meditation will also help you attain a calm state of mind more often, as it relaxes you intensely. It will relax your nerves and act as a balm to your tensed mind.

While meditating, you should focus your attention on a word, a phrase, or your breathing to induce relaxation and achieve a sense of balance that will eventually increase your self-awareness and over time, devise a means for a maximally organized state of mind.

Meditation will help you have new perspectives about life and your endeavors, as well as develop skills to manage stress better. That`s not all; you will also get better at focusing on the present, increasing self-awareness, reducing negative emotions, and getting more patient and tolerant.

Key Components of Meditation

There are vital features of a successful meditation exercise; let`s take a look at them.

Location

The place you meditate plays a vital role in the success of the exercise. To ka e the best of your meditation time, choose a quiet location, one that you`re comfortable with, preferably a comfortable part of your house with average lighting and some fresh air.

Get the place cleaned up, and arrange it neatly. You also want to ensure that you don`t have any gadgets around.

Position

You should choose a comfortable position to meditate, however, it shouldn`t be too comfortable, so you don`t sleep off. You may choose any of the yoga asanas: siddhasana, sukhasana, padmasana, or vajrayana, or you may just take a wooden or plastic chair and sit on it with your back straight and your foot placed firmly on the ground and parallel to each other. People who meditate in comfortable positions get better experiences with their meditation exercises.

Breathing

The way you breathe has a lot to do with the success of your meditation sessions. You should always breathe consciously, observing how the breath goes in from your nose to the windpipe and then to the lungs. Observe also, how your chest and abdomen contract while you inhale and swells when you exhale. Keep your breathing deep and even-paced, and count 1 to 10 while you breathe in and out.

Attention

Pay attention to yourself and your breath and deliberately avoid the numerous distracting thoughts that will roll through your mind. Stay calm and keep silencing those thoughts as you focus on your breath completely.

Meditation that Relieves Stress

Now you know all that should be in place while meditating. There are a number of meditations people do for stress relief, however, of the many that exist, we`ll discuss vipassana and zen that even do more than relieving stress.

Vipassana Meditation

Vipassana is one of the best meditations for stress relief. It is the most ancient meditation technique that people have used to combat stress. Buddha taught this meditation technique about 2,500 years ago to help his learners become aware of themselves, their lives, and the essence of their existence. It`s a way to condition the mind to become more intimate with reality and understand how life really works, and consequently, bring about liberation. Vipassana meditation, unlike other types of meditation, offers long-lasting tranquility. Beyond stress management which other types of meditation offer, vipassana, after consistent practice, will eventually help you understand the real purpose of life; it will take you past your illusions and present reality as it really is.

Zen Meditation

Zen meditation, also known as zazen, means sitting meditation. It is a fundamental component of Chinese Buddhism and is intensely rooted in spirituality.
There are various ways to practice this meditation, however, its core elements are being aware of your breath and body, reinvigorating your being, and adding positivity to your life.

A legend records that Bodhidharma, a South Indian king, traveled to China to propagate Buddhism, and it was there that he introduced zen meditation to them. Monks, for a long time, practiced it in Buddhist monasteries before it eventually spread through the teachings of zen masters and spread abroad. Zen is a lifestyle choice and a perfect guide for peaceful living. It also helps people to understand life without the barriers of language or logic. What`s more? It accepts the tenets of various religions, with a focus on their core spiritual perspectives.

Some Meditation Facts

• About 500 million people meditate globally.
• Meditation can lessen the wake time of insomniacs by 50%.
• Mindfulness meditation can reduce symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder 70% of the time.
• You can increase your attention span after four consecutive days of meditating.
• There are predictions that by 2022, the value of the US meditation market will rise a bit above $2 billion.
• In 2018, 52% of US employers provided mindfulness classes to their employees.
• Meditation has reduced school suspensions by 45%.
• At least 14% of US adults have tried to meditate.
• Since 2012, the number of people practicing meditation has tripled.
• In the United States, meditation is as popular as yoga.
• Women are more likely to meditate than men.
• 75% of insomniacs who meditate daily succeed in falling asleep within 20 minutes of going to bed.
• Women who suffer severe PMS show signs of improvement after five months of daily meditation.
• Meditation improves empathy and spurs social connections.
• You are advised to use a mantra while meditating, as it helps to focus your thoughts.
• A common meditation mantra is “hamsa,” which means “I am the pure, unchanging, godly subject.”
• 60% of people living with anxiety exhibited exceptional improvements in anxiety levels after 7-10 months of meditation.
• Meditation boosts mental endurance and resilience.
• Meditation has relieved lower back pain more than many over-the-counter prescription medications.
• Women show more signs of self-compassion and mindfulness after regular sessions of meditation.
• Meditation reduces stress, and as a result, heightens creativity and innovation.
• Mindful meditation has been helpful in quitting smoking more than many other alternatives.
• Transcendental meditation causes some chemical changes in the brain, owing to its ability to release a soothing hormone called prolactin.
• The most popular types of meditation are spiritual, movement, mindfulness, focused, transcendental, and mantra.
• People who practice yoga and some other kinds of meditation are usually more resilient, as well as produce mitochondrial energy better.
• Some studies link meditation with better immune health.
• The brains of longtime meditators generally age slower than the brains of their non-meditating counterparts.
• People who meditate regularly are better at curbing impulse shopping than those who don’t.
• People who practiced long-term meditation experience an improved sense of touch.
  Caring for your garden is a helpful form of mindfulness meditation, as it helps to connect with the earth and cultivate a healthy mind and a calm feeling.
• Chakra meditation focuses on placing the seven chakras of the body in harmony.
  Meditation is best practiced in four positions: sitting, lying down, standing, or walking.