Banish Stress with Meditation

Meditation is a natural stress relieving activity involving specific breathing techniques. It helps to calm and focus the mind, as well as creates a sense of well-being.

There are several forms of meditation with many linked to spiritual or religions beliefs. Hinduism encompasses a number of types of meditation, which includes yoga. Buddhists attain a state of enlightenment through meditation. Many of the Jewish prayers are by their nature meditative. Christian religions use forms of meditation like the Catholics use of rosary beads.

Meditation does not have to be about a religious or spiritual journey. It is however a natural treatment for anxiety and stress that is accomplished by bringing the spirit, mind, and body into balance.

To use meditation effectively as a natural way to relieve stress, the person find a quiet place to practice it in. Although there are no hard and fast rules about the position of the body during meditation, the lotus position seems to be the position of preference for those using it as a natural stress reliever. To get into the lotus position, sit with your back straight, shoulders level and legs crossed and bent across the front of you with your feet tucked under the opposite calf and resting against your inner thigh. Some practitioners prefer to be sitting comfortably, without their legs crossed. The position you take is one of personal preference.

No matter what position is chosen for meditation, the spine should be kept straight. The position facilitates circulation and makes breathing in a slow, deep, rhythmic manner much easier. The breathing is essential to helping calm the mind.

Once a quiet place is found and the preferred position is assumed, you can begin using meditation as a natural stress relief. While some people prefer to meditate in silence, some prefer to chant or hum in order to clear their mind and block distractions and thought.

There are specific ways of breathing and focusing that some use to reach a relaxed meditative state. A popular method is to focus on each part of the body starting at the feet. Concentrate on each body part and give it permission to relax until you find that you are totally relaxed. When you begin to relax your body, take some very deep breaths. These breaths are called cleansing breaths and they help to carry more oxygen to the bloodstream and clear the mind. The breaths, after you take the cleansing breaths, should be taken in to the count of four and exhaled on the count of eight. These counts assist in focusing the mind and maintain the breathing rhythm.

Meditation has no limit on the number of rimes that you use it so you can use it whenever you feel the need to eliminate stress. Medication cannot be used as freely and often has side effects. It is common for people to use 20 – 30 minutes of meditation to relieve stress but the length of a meditation session is a personal preference.

Using meditation as a natural stress relief technique has been the subject of many studies. The studies found that meditation reduces the symptoms of stress. Not only does meditation reduce heart rate and blood pressure, it also increases positive brain waves. Stress-relieving medications do not do this. Although medication can temporarily reduce the feeling of stress, it does not actually eliminate the stress from your body.

Hospitals often incorporate meditation into the treatment of patients with chronic or terminal illnesses in order to reduce their stress. The reduction of stress allows the body to heal and high stress has been found to be a contributing factor to poor health. Dr. James Austin, a neurophysiologist from the University of Colorado stated in a 1999 report that meditation can actually reprogram the brain’s circuitry. Using imaging techniques and viewing the electrical activity in the brain have confirmed these findings.

The Mind-Body Medical Institute, affiliated with Harvard and other Boston hospitals, has found that meditation causes several physical and biochemical changes that are associated with relaxation. These changes include respiration, heart rate, blood pressure, brain chemistry and metabolism,

When confronted with the benefits of meditation, it is not surprising that meditation has such a large following of people that include it in their daily lives as a natural stress relief and to gain a sense of well-being.

Does Reiki Release Stress?

Stress can be extremely harmful to your physical and mental health. Just getting through your day can build your stress to an unhealthy level. Work, traffic jams, family life, and financial worries can all be stressful. Stress causes a broad range of problems like insomnia, headaches, irritability, and muscle aches that just add more stress to you. We all can live without the stress but life, being what it is, often brings us stress. You have two choices, you can live with the stress or you can take measures to minimize it. A great stress reliever is Reiki (pronounced Ray Key), which means Universal Life Energy in Japanese.

An age-old holistic technique, Reiki is used to reduce pain, improve general well being and enhance relaxation in individuals experiencing stress. Reiki refers to the energy or life force that flows through the hands of the Reiki practitioner to the recipient. Designed to tap into the body’s ability to heal and assists in giving the mind balance, Reiki is considered a natural healing treatment. The Reiki practitioner is a conduit through which the energy is transmitted to a recipient. Reiki practitioners also have the ability to treat themselves. The Reiki energy flows through the practitioner’s hands at a rate that depends on a several factors like the recipient’s openness to accept a change, the severity of the recipient’s ailment, etc.

Although Reiki may sound like it is religious or faith healing but it is not. Its effectiveness is not based on a belief system. Although Reiki by nature is spiritual and there are principles that encourage growth and spiritual empowerment, it does not conflict with religious beliefs. It matters not who you are or what your gender, nationality, financial status, religion, or intelligence is; Reiki is energy and vitality offered to anyone. Reiki can give sensations of coolness and warmth, tingling, numbness, throbbing, drowsiness, or itchiness but it does not hurt.

Reiki Masters can perform an attunement in which Reiki symbols are applied in an energetic placement for sequential actions to the recipient’s crown and palms. Each placement of the hand is given five minute to make sure that no body part is overlooked and all are given equal attention. A Reiki practitioner does not lose any of their own energy to the recipients of the treatment. They are simply assisting in opening up the recipient to energy, channeling the energy as it were. If the practitioner chooses to be mentally involved, it can clear a route to allow Reiki to flow effectively to the body part that most needs it.

Introducing Reiki into your life can help diminish stresses and can be a valuable asset in pain management. Practitioners hold Reiki in high regard because of the gift of balance and relaxation that it brings to the recipients. For stressed individuals, Reiki will help dissipate stress and emotional turmoil to help restore a balanced psyche. Reiki practitioners have special energy techniques that are utilized for distance healing. These treatments can be directed toward people or specific environments. Energy treatments can be sent with the intention of creating a calmer, more relaxing atmosphere for special events like family gatherings, job interviews, social events, etc. Those who practice Reiki and those that receive the treatments find Reiki very beneficial.