I started meditating about 10 years ago, and I have found over the years that it has helped me to get a grip on those crazy thoughts that circle around my head as well as being an invaluable tool to help me sleep. Meditation is one of the techniques often used for stress management. A person who is riddled with problems often finds it hard to focus, which often leads to more problems. Meditation techniques can help you to achieve a calm state of mind without having to resort to drugs. Remember that meditation is not a one-shot deal. It is almost impossible to attain a calm state of mind in just a matter of minutes, especially if it’s your first time. It is essential that you keep on practicing meditation until you have conditioned your mind to settle into the gap between thoughts. You can't stop your thoughts, meditation isn't about stopping your thoughts, it's about recognising that you are having a thought and then bringing your focus back to your breath (or whatever your point of focus is) Here are some steps for a beginner to start with meditation as their Stress Management strategy. 1. Find A Quiet Corner To Start Your Meditation. Distraction is a hindrance to those who are still starting out with meditation. When you close your eyes, your sense of hearing will be twice as good, so almost any noise in your surroundings 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 non-existent. Close your windows, turn off your phone and lock your door. If possible, you can tell everyone in your home to minimize their noise so that you won’t get distracted. 2. Get comfortable. It is advisable for beginners to avoid lying down when practicing meditation. The aim here is not to sleep, and it is likely that you will fall asleep if your mind reaches a relaxed state. To stop this from happening, you can start your meditation in a cross legged position or you can find a chair you can sit on. Make sure that your back is straight and your hands are relaxed on the armrest or on your lap. 3. Begin Your Meditation 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 way, you can come up with a rhythm that you can easily focus on. Also, the amount of oxygen in your body will help to keep you relaxed. Keep practicing your breathing until you can do it easily without having to think about it. 4. Focus On Your Mind. While you are concentrating on your breathing, you will achieve a state wherein your mind will start throwing images at you. These are mostly random- events of the day, future plans, problems and worries, fears and so on. It will be hard to ignore these thoughts and you are not supposed to ignore them. The gist here is to acknowledge these thoughts when they enter your mind and then release them. This might sound hard but here is a simple example to understand the concept. You know that you have furniture at home- you can see it clearly with your eyes, but you are not really concentrating on it.
Focusing on the furniture will usually make you think of its colour, its material, how it looks in that part of your home, and more. You need to be able to look at these random thoughts in a detached state, seeing them clearly in your head but not focusing your attention on it. Imagine these thoughts are on a cloud and then let them drift away. There will come a time that 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 it till you can find a solution for it. With this, you have successfully mastered the basics of meditation for your stress management program. Meditation really is that simple, but so many of my clients say 'I've tried it and I cant do it'! I've been meditating for 10 years and sometimes I cant do it! It takes practice and you may only get a few seconds 'in the gap' but that's ok that's all you need. The gaps eventually get longer and you find yourself having more time on that beautiful peaceful space between all of those thoughts. Start with 10 minutes each morning & evening and then increase the time as you become more experienced. Do you meditate? Have you tried? What do your struggle with? Drop me a comment and let me know!
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