Meditation For Anxiety
Many people these days report feelings of uncontrollable anxiety, as well as depression. In fact, anxiety and depression are two of the most common mental conditions facing individuals today. From a broader social point of view, it is an interesting phenomenon.
After all, in privileged developed countries that have high standards of living, you would think that anxiety and depression rates would be low.
Not so! In fact, the opposite is true with many health professionals stating that anxiety and depression are part of the malaise affecting modernized societies across the world.
The problem of depression and anxiety is part and parcel of the failure of modern day materialism and consumerism. Despite having all the things we want and need, people everywhere are still failing to find happiness in their day-to-day lives.
And it isn't surprising really when you consider the costs of our material wealth. Too often these days people are spending more and more of their time working, and losing precious time with their families and friends.
Our urbane existences are hectic, fast-paced and individualized with little opportunity for meaningful social interaction. It's no wonder so many people feel anxious or develop depression. Thankfully, many people who suffer from these conditions are finding meditation a very effective way of treating the signs and symptoms.
1) Do you suffer from an anxiety condition?
But firstly, what are the signs of anxiety conditions? The symptoms of anxiety illnesses are varied and diverse that includes any one (or a combination) of the following problems:
- Breathing problems, or shortness of breath
- Hot flushes or cold sweats
- Numbness or tingling sensations.
- Heart arrhythmia, palpitations or chest pains
- Dizziness or lightheadedness.
- Morbid thoughts, or terror or sudden fear that something terrible will happen.
- A sensation of loss of control
- Agoraphobia
- Inability to socialize
- Avoidance of crowds or open spaces
- General tension and anxiety and an inability to relax most of the time.
2) Do you suffer from depression?
The symptoms that accompany depression include:
- Feelings of sadness, tension, confusion or irritability
- A diminished interest or pleasure in usual activities or hobbies
- Loss of energy, feeling tired despite lack of activity
- Unusually lowered or increased appetite, with corresponding weight gain or loss
- Over sleeping or insomnia or lack of sleep
- Listlessness, restlessness or feeling slowed down
- Decreased ability to concentrate or make decisions
- Feelings of worthlessness, hopelessness, or guilt
- Suicidal ideation
3) How meditation can help both anxiety and depression
Obviously if you experience anxiety or depression-related symptoms in an ongoing way, or in a manner that interferes with normal life, then the very first step is to see a doctor.
There is no doubt that medical attention and treatment is crucial to coping with anxiety or depression. That said, you can use meditation to help alleviate the symptoms and perhaps even cure yourself of both these life-affecting problems.
Unfortunately many people think you have to be part of a particular religion or spiritual tradition to meditate. Indeed meditation is too often associated with unconventional or offbeat eastern or new-age spiritual practices.
This is a common misconception that overlooks the enormous mental benefits that mediation brings to peoples lives every day. You certainly don't have to be a Buddhist or new-age hippie to get the benefits of meditation. In fact, for people suffering from either anxiety or depression, the great weight of medical research suggests that the relaxation techniques taught through meditation are invaluable for coping with the symptoms of both conditions.
4) How do I incorporate meditation into my day?
If you have decided to explore how meditation techniques can help your anxiety or depression, here are a few tips on including meditation into your day.
Start by telling your family that you are going to start practicing meditation every day, at a particular time during which you do not want to be disturbed.
Find a quiet space in your house, preferably a room that can be closed off, giving you maximum privacy and seclusion.
If you wish, you can play soft, relaxing music. Get comfortable either in a cross-legged position or by lying on the floor with your head supported by a pillow or bolster.
Close your eyes and systematically work through every muscle in your body, relaxing each one in turn. Start with your toes, then work up you legs, and so on, relaxing every single muscle so you feel loose, tranquil and as if you are melting into the floor. Even relax your jaw and eyelids!
Once you feel completely relaxed, focus on slow, deliberate breathing. With every in-breath think of a word (for example, "deep") and say to yourself inwardly. In the same way, recite a word inwardly when you exhale (such as "gentle"). Recite these two words as you inhale and exhale ("deep" then "gentle"; "deep" then "gentle" and so on) for approximately 20 minutes.
Control your mind by not letting it slip into analysis, planning or reflection. Simply focus on your breathing, and tune out all other thoughts. This is all it takes to meditate.
If you suffer from anxiety or depression, you can help manage your problem by simply incorporating the deep relaxation techniques of meditation.
About the Author:
Tenzin is an accomplished author/publisher who has helped readers from all over the world to get whatever they want out of life using the ancient lost secrets of the mystics and masters. Learn more about the research of Tenzin Message Of A Master, Instant Wishmaker, and "Free Tarot Reading and Other Amazing Destiny Reading Secrets!
Article Source: ArticlesBase.com - How To Deal With Anxiety and Depression With Deep Relaxation Techniques of Meditation
Anxiety Busting Guided Meditation
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Meditation Exercises
The following exercises range from pretty simple to pretty complicated, but as you develop your abilities you'll eventually find that you can do them all at once and effortlessly. It can take anywhere from a few weeks to a few years to develop this ability, so remember what I said about expectations.
You'll eventually be able to remember how to do these exercises by memory, and then after that you'll get to the point where you just do them without having to think about them.
Grounding
Grounding will always be an important skill, no matter how advanced you become, so take the time to learn this now and to be able to do it effortlessly.
Stand in the "Standing Stake" pose described above. Go through the breathing and Full Body Awareness exercises. Visualize roots growing from your feet down through the core of the earth, just like a tree. In later meditations you can add some variety by seeing the roots flow down to a large crystal at the earth's core. Depending on the effect you want you can vary the crystals and access different energies, but that obviously beyond the scope of the exercise at this point.
As you inhale feel the energy of the earth being drawn up through your roots and up through your body and out through the top of your head. On your exhale, let that energy drop back down through your body and feel all the accumulated stress of your life flow out with it and back down through your roots and into the earth. Feel your muscles relax as the stress flows out. This is a good way to release all your stresses, fears, angers and feelings of inadequacy. Repeat this exercise for awhile, as many times as necessary to clean yourself out.
There's nothing wrong (and a lot of benefit) to stopping at this point and just doing these exercises that I've gone over up to this point, until they become completely effortless. Whenever you feel yourself becoming stressed or angry learn to take a moment and ground yourself and let those feelings just flow out.
Progressive Relaxation
Progressive Relaxation is easy to do and you can do it anywhere and anytime. Assume your meditation position of choice (I like the half-lotus on a zafu) and go through all the exercises I've covered up to this point. Just take a moment and feel the relaxed energy that you should have after grounding and releasing all your stress. Are you ready to get deeper into this feeling?
Feel the energy that flows up through your roots and into your feet. Make fists with your feet by curling your toes in as far as you can until it hurts, then relax. Let that relaxed feeling flow from your toes back over your feet and feel them relax. As you inhale draw that relaxed feeling up over your ankles and feel them relax completely. On the exhale let any residual stress flow back out and down through the earth.
On your next inhale draw that relaxed feeling back up over your calves, letting them relax after walking all day. Draw that relaxed energy up over your thighs with the next inhale. They're the biggest muscles in the body, so let them relax and rest now.
As you inhale feel that relaxed feeling flow up over your hips and buttocks. Feel the stress bleed away. We store a lost of stress here, so take a moment and let this area relax. Draw that relaxed feeling up over your stomach and lower back. Feel the muscles in your back relax and feel your stomach move with your inhale.
Bring the energy up over your chest and the middle of your back. Feel your heart area expand with the relaxed energy and feel all the accumulated stress in between your shoulder blades release and flow out and back down with your exhale.
Draw the feeling of relaxation up over your shoulders and neck. Feel any residual tension flow out with your exhale. Let that relaxed energy flow up and over your head. Let the muscles of your face and those at the base of your skull relax.
Just sit here and feel this relaxed body that you have. Remember this feeling as its how you should feel all the time. Tense muscles store energy, which means that your energy isn't flowing through you, but rather sticking in certain places in your body.
When your muscles are relaxed then your energy flows unimpeded and is continually renewed, leaving you feeling much lighter and more refreshed.
About the Author:
Basic Meditation Exercises is an excerpt from Robert Morgen's book Kundalini Awakening for Personal Mastery (ISBN: 0-9773801-0-6)
His new book Easy Meditation for Martial Artists (ISBN: 978-0-9773801-3-8 ) is also now available.
Article Source: ArticlesBase.com - Basic Meditation Exercises
KRYON channelling by Lee Carroll 11:11
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The Relaxation Response
Stress is a natural part of life. The effects of stress on health is actually good for you - if you didn't have stress, what would motivate you to complete a project or reach your next goal? On the other hand, a prolonged exposure to high levels of can have negative impacts on brain function.
The positive effects of stress on health include a release of the neurotransmitter norepinephrine, which boosts brain power. Norepinephrine helps to improve your mood and is a key neurotransmitter in creating new memories. It helps to promote or stimulate creative thinking and can be a powerful tool in achieving your desired outcome.
Another positive effect is that it triggers our basic instinct of "fight or flight." Our body has natural systems for giving us the energy to make it through stressful experiences and then helping us to return to a more natural homeostasis. The sympathetic nervous system, which triggers the "fight or flight" response, provides a mechanism for our bodies to have increased adrenaline when times of stress arise. This is part of our survival instinct. After the initial stress response, your body also has a system for returning to a metabolic equilibrium. The parasympathetic nervous system springs into action and triggers the relaxation response. It is vital that these two systems work together to help manage the effects of emotional stress.
Effects of stress on health, of course, doesn't always yield positive results. Increased stress response over an extended period of time can have a dramatic impact on your mental focus, memory retention and memory recall. This type can also lead to increased physical issues or mental health disorders such as depression. It is important to utilize stress reduction skills so that stress does not have a lasting effect on your physical and emotional well being.
Stress is a natural part of life. By understanding your body's natural stress response, you can be more aware of the need to keep your body in a state of balance. There will be times of stress and relaxation--just make sure that stress doesn't overpower the time your body needs to recover.
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What do stress management techniques do and what is the relaxation response?
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Meditation Relaxation Techniques
In these times of stressful living, deep relaxation techniques are indeed in demand and, or course, are good ways to combat stress in life. In these times of demanding jobs and busy lifestyle, most of us have probably forgotten how to relax, and this is one major mistake we must correct.
Stress is beneficial in our lives but can be detrimental too - physically, emotionally and psychologically if left unmanaged. Excessive stress in our lives can lead us to many health problems as well as depression and unhappiness. We may not know it but daily stress that we tend to ignore can pile up for long and be the source of our many health problems.
Thankfully, there are easy deep relaxation techniques that you can do to manage stress and live a happier and more fulfilled life. Here are a few of them that you might find useful.
- Meditation. Meditation has been an old practice in calming the mind. Although it has been connected with religious traditions, meditation has also become an effective way to combat stress and has been a technique to relax the mind and the body. Aside from being a stress buster, it also helps you increase concentration and focus which are of course important in your day-to-day living. Deep breathing involved in meditation also helps a lot to attain deeper relaxation.
- Self-hypnosis. Self-hypnosis is also one of the deep relaxation techniques that can also be useful in managing excessive stress in life. In contrast to hypnosis where you will find a hypnotist to guide you to that heightened state of concentration and focus, you can do self-hypnosis conveniently in a quiet place alone. Visualization is an important part of self-hypnosis too. Most often, you can start self-hypnosis by visualizing the tension and stress being removed from every part of your body. Positive affirmation is also used during self-hypnosis, where you tell yourself positive statements. Self-hypnosis also uses the power of suggestion to help you attain a deeper state of relaxation.
- Imagery. Imagery is also a great technique to help you relax especially your mind. Of course, relaxing your mind can also help you relax your body and overcome the stress you encounter everyday. It can also be a simple exercise to do. You can include deep breathing techniques as well as visualization in to clear your mind and bring yourself to heightened relaxation. Imagery is done by visualizing a place or scene that helps calm your mind - a quiet beach, a peaceful mountainous scenery... and any place your find relaxing. Guided imagery is also a popular technique where you listen to audios that help you picture out a calm scene which also allows you to listen to sounds that will help you put yourself more into relaxation.
Whatever technique you wish to follow, it is important to learn about the technique in detail. The correct way of doing deep relaxation techniques is indeed important to help you achieve that calmness of mind and relaxation of the body. Choose a technique that you can do everyday to manage day-to-day stress. One very important factor in starting with any relaxation technique is to give a few minutes of your time each day to get rid of the all the tension and stress before it will wear you out completely.
Carolyn Anderson loves to share resources to help you manage stress and live a happier life. For a tool to help you achieve deep relaxation, check out this meditation audio. Also check out Quantum Mind Power, a specially designed tape to help you experience deep relaxation and manage stress.
Guided Meditation: Relaxation Techniques with Nawang Khechog
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Meditation Tapes
Through the centuries, various techniques on meditation have been developed by its practitioners. Some of them branch out from original religious meditative rituals, while some adopt new philosophies as taught by their founders. Here are some variations in the techniques that are used by persons who practice meditation.
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Descartes Meditation
This meditation describes the principles and philosophical thoughts by renowned philosopher and scholar Rene Descartes. Descartes lived in 1596 to 1650, and is considered to be the father of western philosophy. His interests also lie in the field of science and mathematics, with a number of notable contributions to knowledge pool of the world.
Descartes meditation was written around 1647 as an outline of the philosophies he taught. There are six parts to this meditation, each analyzing various aspects of the school of thought by Descartes. At present, these meditations are available in books and audio tapes, as well as podcasts.
In the first part of this technique, Descartes tries to reanalyze everything that he believed in ever since he was a child to establish truth in science. As a youngster, Descartes was already skeptical about the world around him. In the second part, Descartes’ theory with regards to the real nature of the human mind is expounded, and he introduces a theory called representationalism, which, in simple terms basically means “a person’s consciousness verifies his existence.” Descartes explains that the human mind is more easily understood than the body.
The third part of Descartes meditation states that there are three classifications of thoughts, and they are volitions, affections and judgement. In this third meditation, Descartes also stresses that God exists. In the fourth part of Descartes’ meditation, Descartes basically raises the following questions: If God, who is perfect, is the source of everything that is on earth, then why are there wrongdoings in this world? In the fifth part, Descartes says that all his knowledge of the truth and everything else came from God. And the sixth part of this technique concludes that these three things exist: God, self, and other material things. According to him, these are what reality is comprised of.
Mindfulness Meditation
Mindfulness meditation is like an anti-self destruct form of meditation, most especially when one is faced to deal with life’s stressful situations. Negative emotions such as anger, disappointment, frustrations and stress are harmful to us and our health, that’s why this meditation helps us in being healthy. Instead of avoiding those stressful situations, mindfulness meditation allows us to face and accept them and solve them by using a sound mind.
Mindfulness meditation is done without having to concentrate on one certain thought or object. One simply allows his thoughts to parade through his mind, whether they are positive or not. As the thoughts pass through, the meditation practitioner does not allow himself to react, judge, or analyze what the thoughts mean. This practice should not be confused with concentration meditation, which requires the intent focus on a particular point in order to meditate clearly.
About the Author:
Ace Smith is a prolific writer touching base on topics like Technology, Travel, Health and others. For more information you can drop by his web sites that deals with: Credit & Finance , Teen Pregnancy and Money with Blog.
Article Source: ArticlesBase.com - More Meditation Techniques: Descartes and Mindfulness Meditation
Free Self Hypnosis CD - Guided Meditation.
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