Thus meditating you will no longer strive to build yourself up
in your prejudices,
but, forgetting self, you will remember only that you are
seeking the Truth.
~ James Allen
Meditation is one of many techniques that can be used in stress management. A person who is riddled with problems often finds it hard to focus. This lack of focus often leads to more problems cropping up because of mistakes. Meditation techniques can help a person achieve a calm state of mind. Every step of meditation is done in the mind.
Remember that meditation is not a one shot deal. Nor is it a one size fits all remedy. It is not always possible to attain a calm state of mind in just a matter of minutes, especially if this is your first time trying out the technique. It is essential that you continue to practice the meditation skill until you have conditioned your mind too quickly, if not instantaneously achieve the state just by thinking about it.
Here are a few steps beginner steps to start using meditation as a stress management strategy.
Step 1: Find a quiet corner to start your meditation.
Distraction is one of the biggest hindrances to those who are just starting out with meditation. When you close your eyes, your sense of hearing will increase. It is quite possible that you will begin to hear almost everything in your surroundings and this will make it hard for you to concentrate.
For beginners, it is important to start out in a quiet place in your home where noise is virtually nonexistent. Close your windows and lock your doors. If possible you can ask everyone else in your home to minimize their noise so that you want get distracted.
Step 2: Ready your position.
It is advisable for beginners to avoid lying down when practicing meditation. The goal here is not to fall asleep and it is almost a guarantee that you will immediately fall off to sleep if your mind reaches a relaxed state. To stop this from happening you can start your meditation in a lotus position with your legs crossed, or you can find a chair to sit on. Make sure that your back is straight and your hands are relaxed on the armrest or your lap.
Step 3: Begin with proper breathing.
A good way to start meditation is to do the proper breathing exercise. You inhale through your nose and exhale through your mouth. This will help you come up with a rhythm that you can easily focus on. Also the amount of oxygen in your body will be enough to keep you relaxed. Keep practicing your breathing until you can do it easily without having to think about it.
Step 4: Focus on your mind.
While you are busy with your breathing, you will achieve a state where your mind will start sending images at you. These will be mostly random in nature; events of the day, future plans, problems and worries, fears and so on. It will be hard to ignore these thoughts and you’re not supposed to ignore them. The aim here is to focus on these thoughts without really paying a lot of attention to them.
This might sound like a difficult idea, but let me try to give you a simplistic example to clarify it. You know that you have furniture in your home. You can see it clearly with your eyes, but you’re not really concentrating on it. Focusing on the furniture will usually make you think of its color, its material, how it looks in that particular part of your home and so on. You need to be able to look at these random thoughts in a detached state. See them clearly in your head, but not focusing your attention on them.
There will come a time…
There will come a time when these random thoughts will stop and you will notice that you are already in a “blank space” in your mind. This is the state you want to achieve during meditation. This is the place where you can think about your problems and focus on them until you have found the solution for them. With this, you have successfully begun the very basic elements of meditation for your personal stress management program.
Thoughts?
Related Posts
1. Know Your Stress, and Defeat It
2. Silence: A Key to Rejuvenation
photo credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/melolou/2349242081/sizes/z/in/photostream/
