Stress and meditation

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One of the most common reasons that people cite for wanting to learn meditation is to reduce stress.

Many stress therapists, of course, recognize that regular meditation and relaxation can be of significant help in reducing stress to manageable and healthy levels.

A considerable amount of research has shown that meditation has benefits on mental health.

Meditation not only involves relaxation (the cessation of unnecessary effort) but promotes mindfulness, which helps the stress-sufferer to recognize unhelpful patterns of thought that give rise to the stress response.

This section explores how meditation can help you to deal with your stress, and gives information on a program called “Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction”, or MBSR, which is a program developed at the University of Massachusetts Medical Center by Dr. Jon Kabat-Zinn, and which uses the principles of mindfulness meditation to help long-term pain sufferers learn to deal with their afflictions.

Comments

Comment from rags
Time: February 15, 2008, 7:01 pm

Which method of meditation is most effective in dealing with low self esteem?

Comment from Bodhipaksa
Time: February 16, 2008, 4:53 pm

Hi Rags,

Without a doubt lovingkindness and compassion meditations are the ones I’ve found to be best at dealing with self-hatred. I actually want to write a bit more fully about that, and when I do (perhaps tomorrow, although I have some childcare issues that may get in the way) I’ll post a link here.

(Later). OK, I had some free time and wrote about a practice that I found useful in the past. Perhaps you’ll find it useful as well.

Comment from rags
Time: February 26, 2008, 2:05 pm

Thank you for taking the time to address my question. I will attempt your method and hope for the best.