We all experience stress in our daily lives. Whether from work, family life, or mental health - stress can affect us all. But, if we harness the power of meditation, we can help reduce that stress and bring our lives back into balance.
Stress Prevention
As the old adage goes “prevention is better than treatment” - and the same can be said when it comes to stress. Regular meditation practices can help to keep stress at bay, and your mind in balance.
This can be as easy as regular mindfulness exercises in your day to day life, or as complex as in-depth meditation sessions. Whichever feels right for you is the best way to go. If you develop a regular meditation process, then when stressful situations occur (which they always do), you will be better equipped to deal with them in a calm and relaxed manner.
We need to try and prevent stress as much as possible as it really does have an adverse effect on our wellbeing. The feelings related to stress come from our inbuilt “fight or flight” response. It is a natural feeling that we will all experience at some point in our lives. The key though is to minimize the negative effects as much as possible.
If we don’t manage it, stress can cause:
- Lack of focus
- Restlessness
- Anxiety
- Anger
- Irritability
Meditation for Stress Relief
So, how can meditation help minimise stress? If done correctly, meditation can help you achieve a sense of peace and inner calm. There are many different forms of meditation that you can try when attempting stress relief. And while there are no hard and fast rules, whichever feels best for you will probably be the right way!
Mindfulness Meditation
One of the easiest ways to begin your meditation is by using mindfulness techniques. These exercises can help you to connect with your thoughts and emotions, allowing you to better understand and process what you’re feeling at any given time.
If you’re just starting out, then we recommend trying to work mindfulness into your everyday routine. Once you’re more familiar with this, you can set aside specific times each day to sit quietly and check in with yourself.
Guided Meditation
Moving on from simple mindfulness techniques, using a form of guided meditation can be a great next step in your meditation journey. With this form of meditation, you can use recordings to help guide your thoughts. These sessions will usually ask you to visualise certain images while you meditate to help you focus and relax your mind.
There have been numerous studies on the effectiveness of guided image mediation in relation to stress reduction. It has proven to be successful in many instances and is even used occasionally in healthcare facilities.
Using Mantra
Another great way to help focus your mind is by meditating with a mantra. Your mantra can be whatever you want it to be - there are no rules here! You may choose to use something simple like the word “calm”, or you may choose a phrase that means something personal to you.
How many times you repeat this mantra is up to you. But, if you use a string of mala beads, this can help you keep track of your mantra chants without distracting your mind from the task at hand.
Whatever method of meditation feels right for you, using it as a means to control and reduce stress can make a huge difference. If you want to start taking control of your mind, take a look at our online shop, filled with mala beads to help centre yourself during meditation.
