Meditation: The Solution to Modern-Day Stress-Related Problems
For thousands of years, religious leaders, priests, and monks have used meditation as they search for salvation, revelation, and enlightenment.
Now, ordinary people who want to attain inner peace can utilize the same principles, and through meditation, be better equipped to deal with the everyday stresses they face.
There are many benefits of meditation, including the removal of stress from the body. This is the reason why a lot of people consider taking up the practice.
The original purpose of meditation, when it was solely practiced for religion-related traditions, was to facilitate the attainment of a deeper spiritual state as well as an understanding of the mysteries of faith.
Today, meditation is a scientifically proven method of inducing mind and body relaxation, benefiting people of all ages and cultural affiliations.
How Regular Meditation Helps
Meditation is a means of attaining calm and tranquility. There are so many meditation techniques available to people who want to de-stress and relax.
Anyone who knows what to do to meditate can perform meditation anytime and anywhere. These days, you can meditate while participating in a meeting, going out for a walk, waiting in line or riding the subway.
There are also classes specifically for the purpose of teaching people how to mediate the right way. It involves breathing exercises and proper posture.
One of the ways that meditation benefits practitioners is the way that it produces a deep state of relaxation, which enables the person to focus and attend to one thought or object.
With the different techniques of meditative practice available to everyone, it is now possible to eliminate chaotic thoughts and the usual mind clutter that leads to frustration and confusion. The mind is often crowded by nagging worries and negative emotions, which affect a person’s judgment.
Meditation succeeds where other approaches fails. Since it has been introduced to the West, meditative practices have benefited millions of people who lead happier lives because they are better equipped to deal with any challenge they encounter.
Meditation: The Anti-Stress Antidote
When the human body is subjected to either psychological or physical stresses, there are physical changes that occur that negatively impact the body.
The fight-or-flight response kicks in. This is the body’s way of preparing the person to “survive” the situation. This physiologic response can be harmful when the stress is applied continuously, like what happens to people who live a stressful lifestyle.
It is therefore not surprising that the incidence of heart disease, hypertension, and other diseases due in part to stress is increasing in modern society.
Western medicine is successful in alleviating these conditions and improving quality of life, but only to a certain degree. Because of this, some people are looking for other ways, or alternative approaches to help them deal with stress and make themselves much more capable of dealing with any situation that arises without kicking into high gear all the time.
Scientific studies have shown that meditation has the opposite effect as that of the fight-or-flight response. Based on research, the following are the physiological effects of meditation: lowered muscle tension, decrease in blood pressure, heart rate, and respiratory rate, as well as lowered oxygen consumption. These effects are proven to be very good for the body.
These are the immediate psychological benefits of practicing meditation regularly. Based on this data, meditation may well be the “de-stressing agent” that people are looking for.
Practicing meditation is therefore an effective approach to promoting emotional balance as well as overall good health. Experts today recommend it as a way to deal with stress and to lessen the symptoms of some body ailments.
For more articles on wellness and your personal well-being, you’ll find them under the Wellness category in my blog archives.