How to reduce stress through meditation Part 1.
Posted by: erik scothron on 14 June 2006
A few people have mentioned how stressed they are and so I thought I would post some basic instruction on how to begin to meditate. You can reap benefits from only 10 minutes of meditation a day so I hope you all give it a go.
I have copied most of the following from a Buddhist website but I have edited it to remove any Buddhist references or practices. The following can be practiced by anyone regardless of their religion indeed there is no religious element at all and no requirement for faith of any kind. I have added a bit of detail here and there.
Why learn to meditate?
The purpose of meditation is to make our mind calm and peaceful. If our mind is peaceful, we will be free from worries and mental discomfort, and so we will experience true happiness; but if our mind is not peaceful, we will find it very difficult to be happy, even if we are living in the very best conditions. If we train in meditation, our mind will gradually become more and more peaceful, and we will experience a purer and purer form of happiness. Eventually, we will be able to stay happy all the time, even in the most difficult circumstances.
Usually we find it difficult to control our mind. It seems as if our mind is like a balloon in the wind - blown here and there by external circumstances. If things go well, our mind is happy, but if they go badly, it immediately becomes unhappy. For example, if we get what we want, such as a new possession or a new partner, we become excited and cling to them tightly. However, since we cannot have everything we want, and since we will inevitably be separated from the friends and possessions we currently enjoy, this mental stickiness, or attachment, serves only to cause us pain. On the other hand, if we do not get what we want, or if we lose something that we like, we become despondent or irritated. For example, if we are forced to work with a colleague whom we dislike, we will probably become irritated and feel aggrieved, with the result that we will be unable to work with him or her efficiently and our time at work will become stressful and unrewarding.
Such fluctuations of mood arise because we are too closely involved in the external situation. We are like a child making a sandcastle who is excited when it is first made, but who becomes upset when it is destroyed by the incoming tide. By training in meditation, we create an inner space and clarity that enables us to control our mind regardless of the external circumstances. Gradually we develop mental equilibrium, a balanced mind that is happy all the time, rather than an unbalanced mind that oscillates between the extremes of excitement and despondency.
If we train in meditation systematically, eventually we will be able to eradicate from our mind the delusions that are the causes of all our problems and suffering.
Breathing Meditations
Generally, the purpose of breathing meditation is to calm the mind and develop inner peace. We can use breathing meditations alone or as a preliminary practice to reduce our distractions before engaging in more advanced meditation practices.
A Simple Breathing Meditation
The first stage of meditation is to stop distractions and make our mind clearer and more lucid. This can be accomplished by practising a simple breathing meditation. We choose a quiet place to meditate and sit in a comfortable position. We can sit in the traditional cross-legged posture or in any other position that is comfortable. If we wish, we can sit in a chair. The most important thing is to keep our back straight to prevent our mind from becoming sluggish or sleepy.
We sit with our eyes partially closed (I prefer to close them completely) and turn our attention to our breathing. We breathe naturally, preferably through the nostrils, without attempting to control our breath, and we try to become aware of the sensation of the breath as it enters and leaves the nostrils. This sensation is our object of meditation. We should try to concentrate on it to the exclusion of everything else.Only when we are concentrating single-pointedly are we meditating properly.
At first, our mind will be very busy, and we might even feel that the meditation is making our mind busier; but in reality we are just becoming more aware of how busy our mind actually is. There will be a great temptation to follow the different thoughts as they arise, but we should resist this and remain focused single-pointedly on the sensation of the breath. If we discover that our mind has wandered and is following our thoughts, we should immediately return it to the breath. Notice distracting thoughts but dont follow them - just let them go and return your concentration to your breath. We should repeat this as many times as necessary until the mind settles on the breath.
If we practise patiently in this way, gradually our distracting thoughts will subside and we will experience a sense of inner peace and relaxation. Our mind will feel lucid and spacious and we will feel refreshed. When the sea is rough, sediment is churned up and the water becomes murky, but when the wind dies down the mud gradually settles and the water becomes clear. In a similar way, when the otherwise incessant flow of our distracting thoughts is calmed through concentrating on the breath, our mind becomes unusually lucid and clear. We should stay with this state of mental calm for a while.
Even though breathing meditation is only a preliminary stage of meditation, it can be quite powerful. We can see from this practice that it is possible to experience inner peace and contentment just by controlling the mind, without having to depend at all upon external conditions. When the turbulence of distracting thoughts subsides and our mind becomes still, a deep happiness and contentment naturally arises from within. This feeling of contentment and well-being helps us to cope with the busyness and difficulties of daily life. So much of the stress and tension we normally experience comes from our mind, and many of the problems we experience, including ill health, are caused or aggravated by this stress. Just by doing breathing meditation for ten or fifteen minutes each day, we will be able to reduce this stress. We will experience a calm, spacious feeling in the mind, and many of our usual problems will fall away. Difficult situations will become easier to deal with, we will naturally feel warm and well disposed towards other people, and our relationships with others will gradually improve.
In order to reduce stress you may like to try the following: First decide on how long you will meditate for - 10, 15 or even 20 minutes is fine for starters. Make a strong determination that for the chosen period you will give your mind a holiday and think of nothing but your breath entering and leaving your nostrils. Having sat down in your chosen meditation posture you can mentally leave the room (just use your imagination) and put all your stresses and negativities in a box outside the door. Lock it tight. Mentally return to your room closing the door behind you. Imagine the room is floating in space and that there is nothing outside of the room.
In your imagination walk around your room noting small details like where the furniture is positioned.
Having done that mentally return to your cushion or chair and focus your attention on your body and become aware of first your head then your shoulders, then your chest, working down to your feet then back up again.
When you have done this you will have put your problems out of your mind and shut out the outside world and you will be better able to begin your breathing meditation. There is a strong link between the mind and breath. Mind your breath and breathe your mind.
After you have been meditation single-pointedly on the breath for your chosen period of time bring your attention back to your body, then the room and open your eyes. It will feel like waking up even though you have not been to sleep. You will be relaxed, focussed and refreshed. What detail did you notice about the breath as it entered and left your nostrils?
As for the stresses, negativities and worries in the box outside. Leave them there and enjoy the rest of your day.
I have copied most of the following from a Buddhist website but I have edited it to remove any Buddhist references or practices. The following can be practiced by anyone regardless of their religion indeed there is no religious element at all and no requirement for faith of any kind. I have added a bit of detail here and there.
Why learn to meditate?
The purpose of meditation is to make our mind calm and peaceful. If our mind is peaceful, we will be free from worries and mental discomfort, and so we will experience true happiness; but if our mind is not peaceful, we will find it very difficult to be happy, even if we are living in the very best conditions. If we train in meditation, our mind will gradually become more and more peaceful, and we will experience a purer and purer form of happiness. Eventually, we will be able to stay happy all the time, even in the most difficult circumstances.
Usually we find it difficult to control our mind. It seems as if our mind is like a balloon in the wind - blown here and there by external circumstances. If things go well, our mind is happy, but if they go badly, it immediately becomes unhappy. For example, if we get what we want, such as a new possession or a new partner, we become excited and cling to them tightly. However, since we cannot have everything we want, and since we will inevitably be separated from the friends and possessions we currently enjoy, this mental stickiness, or attachment, serves only to cause us pain. On the other hand, if we do not get what we want, or if we lose something that we like, we become despondent or irritated. For example, if we are forced to work with a colleague whom we dislike, we will probably become irritated and feel aggrieved, with the result that we will be unable to work with him or her efficiently and our time at work will become stressful and unrewarding.
Such fluctuations of mood arise because we are too closely involved in the external situation. We are like a child making a sandcastle who is excited when it is first made, but who becomes upset when it is destroyed by the incoming tide. By training in meditation, we create an inner space and clarity that enables us to control our mind regardless of the external circumstances. Gradually we develop mental equilibrium, a balanced mind that is happy all the time, rather than an unbalanced mind that oscillates between the extremes of excitement and despondency.
If we train in meditation systematically, eventually we will be able to eradicate from our mind the delusions that are the causes of all our problems and suffering.
Breathing Meditations
Generally, the purpose of breathing meditation is to calm the mind and develop inner peace. We can use breathing meditations alone or as a preliminary practice to reduce our distractions before engaging in more advanced meditation practices.
A Simple Breathing Meditation
The first stage of meditation is to stop distractions and make our mind clearer and more lucid. This can be accomplished by practising a simple breathing meditation. We choose a quiet place to meditate and sit in a comfortable position. We can sit in the traditional cross-legged posture or in any other position that is comfortable. If we wish, we can sit in a chair. The most important thing is to keep our back straight to prevent our mind from becoming sluggish or sleepy.
We sit with our eyes partially closed (I prefer to close them completely) and turn our attention to our breathing. We breathe naturally, preferably through the nostrils, without attempting to control our breath, and we try to become aware of the sensation of the breath as it enters and leaves the nostrils. This sensation is our object of meditation. We should try to concentrate on it to the exclusion of everything else.Only when we are concentrating single-pointedly are we meditating properly.
At first, our mind will be very busy, and we might even feel that the meditation is making our mind busier; but in reality we are just becoming more aware of how busy our mind actually is. There will be a great temptation to follow the different thoughts as they arise, but we should resist this and remain focused single-pointedly on the sensation of the breath. If we discover that our mind has wandered and is following our thoughts, we should immediately return it to the breath. Notice distracting thoughts but dont follow them - just let them go and return your concentration to your breath. We should repeat this as many times as necessary until the mind settles on the breath.
If we practise patiently in this way, gradually our distracting thoughts will subside and we will experience a sense of inner peace and relaxation. Our mind will feel lucid and spacious and we will feel refreshed. When the sea is rough, sediment is churned up and the water becomes murky, but when the wind dies down the mud gradually settles and the water becomes clear. In a similar way, when the otherwise incessant flow of our distracting thoughts is calmed through concentrating on the breath, our mind becomes unusually lucid and clear. We should stay with this state of mental calm for a while.
Even though breathing meditation is only a preliminary stage of meditation, it can be quite powerful. We can see from this practice that it is possible to experience inner peace and contentment just by controlling the mind, without having to depend at all upon external conditions. When the turbulence of distracting thoughts subsides and our mind becomes still, a deep happiness and contentment naturally arises from within. This feeling of contentment and well-being helps us to cope with the busyness and difficulties of daily life. So much of the stress and tension we normally experience comes from our mind, and many of the problems we experience, including ill health, are caused or aggravated by this stress. Just by doing breathing meditation for ten or fifteen minutes each day, we will be able to reduce this stress. We will experience a calm, spacious feeling in the mind, and many of our usual problems will fall away. Difficult situations will become easier to deal with, we will naturally feel warm and well disposed towards other people, and our relationships with others will gradually improve.
In order to reduce stress you may like to try the following: First decide on how long you will meditate for - 10, 15 or even 20 minutes is fine for starters. Make a strong determination that for the chosen period you will give your mind a holiday and think of nothing but your breath entering and leaving your nostrils. Having sat down in your chosen meditation posture you can mentally leave the room (just use your imagination) and put all your stresses and negativities in a box outside the door. Lock it tight. Mentally return to your room closing the door behind you. Imagine the room is floating in space and that there is nothing outside of the room.
In your imagination walk around your room noting small details like where the furniture is positioned.
Having done that mentally return to your cushion or chair and focus your attention on your body and become aware of first your head then your shoulders, then your chest, working down to your feet then back up again.
When you have done this you will have put your problems out of your mind and shut out the outside world and you will be better able to begin your breathing meditation. There is a strong link between the mind and breath. Mind your breath and breathe your mind.
After you have been meditation single-pointedly on the breath for your chosen period of time bring your attention back to your body, then the room and open your eyes. It will feel like waking up even though you have not been to sleep. You will be relaxed, focussed and refreshed. What detail did you notice about the breath as it entered and left your nostrils?
As for the stresses, negativities and worries in the box outside. Leave them there and enjoy the rest of your day.
quote:Originally posted by Fisbey:
Where does all the stress go?
The box
Seriously, all joking aside, why don't you tell me? Do you have any ideas? What is stress? Can you show me a bucket of stress?
quote:expensive Naim hifi or drinking, watching films, getting laid, getting stoned, going to church or retail therapy
Leave out the church, other than that....
How do you avoid feeling drowsy which has been my previous experience. Is there a best time of day?
quote:Originally posted by Simon Matthews:quote:expensive Naim hifi or drinking, watching films, getting laid, getting stoned, going to church or retail therapy
Leave out the church, other than that....
How do you avoid feeling drowsy which has been my previous experience. Is there a best time of day?
Feeling drowsy? Yes, I know all about this. I have perfected the art of looking like im meditating whilst zzzzzzzzzing for england.
When meditating one must always have an object of meditation - the object of meditation in the above example is the breath (which is a neutral object insofar it is not an object of virtue per se unlike say meditating on compassion)there are a number of buddhist practices to help with identifying and holding the object of meditation but insofar as we are talking about a non religious approach here I will not go into these methods.
Meditation involves working with the mind and you must use your mind to watch your mind. You must become very familiar at watching your mind - watching thoughts pop up (seemingly from nowhere) and disappearing (seemigly into nowhere)and taking control of this usually uncontrolled process. In the breathing meditation example given it is best to start with a strong determination to identify the breath as it enters and leaves the nostrils and hold that concentration single-pointedly TO THE EXCLUSION OF ALL ELSE)watch your mind and note everytime you lose this concentration (as another thought pops up)and simply let it go, dont chastise yourself for having lost concentration, simply bring your mind back to the breath. Limit yourself to an achievable duration for your meditation. 5 mins of real concentration is better than 30 mins of vegging out.
Meditation is NEVER about vegging out. 5 mins of pure concentration is very difficult to achieve at first. In fact, if we are honest, and if we check very carefuly, we will see our mind is all over the place and even when we think we have pure concentration there are subtle levels of obsurations present.
I'm not sure there is an easy answer to your question. You have to start with a recogniton that there is benefit to you and that therefore you are motivated. You must start with a strong determination to succeed. You must be clear as to what your object of meditation is and you must check constantly that you are focussing on that object. Dont be too ambitious. If you are flabby and unfit do you run a marathon to get fit or do you work up to it? A little and often is a good approach.
As for the best time of the day you will find the morning is best as later in the day the mind tends to be full of the happenings of the day thus the mind is clearer in the mornings. As far as meditating for stress relief is concenred that is up to you depending on your situation.
I hope this helps.
quote:Originally posted by Yo-yo Master:
Not exactly meditation, but certainly meditative.
Steve
Steve,
That's great. Being totally absorbed in what you do with the 'chatter' turned off is beneficial (as long as what you are absorbed in is not negative and hifi is certainly not negative - its aint positive either but nicely neutral).
Most peoples heads are full of the past and the future and rarely, single-pointedly in the present. Interestingly there are a number of therapies such as Gestalt Therapy that encourage being in the moment in exactly the same way as buddhism encourages.
Just eating lunch with the 'chatter' turned off and concentrating on every mouthful is a joy most of us never experience. I can easily imagine how your TT meditation did this for you.
BTW if anyone thinks meditation is a bit girlie I can tell you with absolute authority that meditation is taught to the SAS.
BTW if anyone thinks meditation is a bit girlie I can tell you with absolute authority that meditation is taught to the SAS
Hey meditations non sexual unless of course you meditate about sex
,being able to focus your mind could hardly be percieved as effeminette I don,t care what anybody else thinks anyway .
Learning to be ok with whatever happens and watching from a slight distance i.s very benificial ,slowing down is good .
Regards Rube .
Hey meditations non sexual unless of course you meditate about sex
,being able to focus your mind could hardly be percieved as effeminette I don,t care what anybody else thinks anyway .Learning to be ok with whatever happens and watching from a slight distance i.s very benificial ,slowing down is good .
Regards Rube .