How to meditate to relieve stress and anxiety? That is an amazing question. Meditation is one of the things that could help to reduce stress and anxiety. So today we will explore it more.
Stress is pretty constant in our lives, it could be short-time stress and it could be chronic stress. The latest type of stress is really harmful to our bodies, our health, and well-being so we need to be careful and make sure we deal with any type of stress accordingly so it would not become chronic stress.
Meditation is a pretty great method to deal with stressful situations and that could help with relaxation and be good for your well-being. Let’s see how you can use meditation for stress and anxiety relief!
How to Meditate to Relieve Stress and Anxiety?
In my opinion, meditation is one of the best stress management methods and can help you rest and relax. I am not the only one thinking that way. It is not a question of whether meditation can help with stress relief and anxiety, it is a question of how.
How to meditate to relieve stress and anxiety? What is the best meditation technique for reducing stress and relaxation? Here we are going to explore these questions and get the answers for you.
I think the best way to help yourself and reduce stress and anxiety using meditation is to do it daily and every day to take time to connect with yourself.
Some meditation techniques, ways, elements are pretty simple and easy to do, and remember that doing meditation doesn’t mean you need to sit in a special pose in silence. Let’s explore more!
1. Walking and Meditation
One time when I was talking with my mom about the need to meditate I said that basically, the best meditations I had been outside. I like to go for a walk and meditate.
How does it work? Basically the same as inside, but there is movement. It is an amazing way to relax. Of course, if you do the walking mediation, you need to slow down and walk slowly.
I try to be in the present moment when I am doing that. Technically that is what meditation is – being in the present moment. Being aware of sounds and smells, being aware of my movement, how my legs take steps, how wind touches my hair, and so on.
It is pretty refreshing actually, especially in the summer evening when it is not too hot.
2. Breathe Deeply
Breathing is really important in meditation and natural function to all of us so it may be much easier to understand it.
It is a great way to start to understand meditation and include it in everyday practice.
Idea is to focus all our attention on our breathing. Breathe slowly and deeply concentrating on inhaling and exhaling. If something else comes to your attention, return your focus on your breathing again.
3. Use Prayer
Prayer could work as meditation too because you are focusing on yourself and connecting to a higher power.
For people who are engaged in any religion could be easy to understand and prayer could give peace.
Pretty often when I meditate I start it with inviting cosmic light beings to help with my meditation and yeah, I sometimes ended up asking them for help when I was feeling down and that is called prayer, right? After all that I felt renewed and lighter, like all my worries, a little bit went away.
Do prayers if it helps for you and your stress could go away even for a moment.
4. Repeating a mantra
Only one time I was doing meditation by repeating a mantra and it was group meditation.
To be honest, I really enjoyed it when all 15 people repeated the same mantra. It seemed powerful and calming too.
The thing is you can create your own mantra or take one from religious practices, like om mantra of Hinduism.
5. Focusing on Gratitude and Love
I really have enjoyed this type of meditation, especially in times when I was still going to school and I believe it helped me to get rid of some physical issues that stress and anxiety.
Basically in this type of meditation, you need to focus your attention on feelings of love and gratitude. You can imagine a specific place or beings.
I imagined our beautiful planet Earth and how much I love this place and the people I care about and reflect that on all the planet, all beings, all people. I imagined everyone, everything surrounded by blue light and wishing peace, love, and happiness to all. It always made me feel better and I usually fall asleep with this meditation.
6. Scan Your Body
This technique asks for you to focus on different parts of your body, becoming aware of the body’s sensations, pains, tension, and relaxation. Keep in mind that it is great to combine this technique with breathing exercises.
7. Reflection and Reading
There are people who read some sacred texts or poems and take time to quietly reflect on their meaning and they seemingly benefit from it.
I personally would not call this meditation, but in a way, it is meditation, I guess.
You can also listen to some relaxing music or spoken words. Music can be used for meditation too, not always sitting in silence.
Writing could be like meditation too and especially if you think about some spiritual text you read and then think about it, reflect it and write those reflections in a journal.
Conclusion
Today we talked about how to meditate to relieve stress and anxiety. Hopefully, these tips could change something in your daily life and help with meditating daily and that way relieve stress and anxiety that you are experiencing.
Meditation is one of the best ways to reduce stress, connect with yourself and feel better. Nowadays there is a lot of stress around and meditation is one thing that could help you deal with everyday stress and anxiety.
Do you meditate to help with anxiety and stress relief? What kind of meditation practice, techniques, ways, or elements you are using to calm yourself in times of stress? Please let me know in the comment section below!
Would you wanna know more about meditation, please CLICK HERE to read it.
Do you wanna know more about guided meditation, CLICK HERE to check it out.
Thanks! Until next time!
Have a great and stress-free day!
Linda Mo
Founder and owner of How To Reduce Stress Naturally