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.
Stress is of course unavoidable, and the point of stress reduction and stress management programs is not to eliminate stress from our lives entirely. Life is always going to be full of challenges, and a life without some turmoil is not only impossible but is also undesirable.
Many stress therapists, of course, recognize that regular meditation and relaxation can be of significant help in reducing stress to manageable and healthy levels, and relaxation and meditation exercises are now widely taught. Many therapists and psychiatrists are taking up meditation themselves, not only so that they can teach it more effectively to others but in order to deal with the very stressful demands of their own jobs, which can result in burnout.
A considerable amount of research has shown that meditation has benefits on mental health, including a reduction in proneness to depression, an increase in emotional positivity, and an increased ability to deal with life’s inevitable stresses.
People often think of meditation as being nothing more than relaxation, and there is a famous book on meditation and health entitled “The Relaxation Response.” Meditation, however, 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, and also involves the active cultivation of positive mental states such as lovingkindness, compassion, patience, and energy.
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.
Comment from charlotte
Time: July 30, 2008, 5:48 pm
im a writer and i suffer from a fair amount of stress and tension. this can make my head feel overloaded and prevents me sometimes from connecting with what i want to put down on paper. i think it also makes me procrastinate at times! what would be the best meditation to help me to focus and shut out other distractions?
thanks in advance for any suggestions you may have!
Comment from Bodhipaksa
Time: July 31, 2008, 11:08 am
The two most common forms of meditation (both taught on this site) are mindfulness and lovingkindness.
Mindfulness of Breathing will help you to let go of unhelpful patterns of thinking that lead to stress and tension.
Lovingkindness meditation will help you feel more positive about yourself and help you to judge yourself less.
You also might want to read the book “Wild Mind” by Natalie Goldberg — it’s about writing, and it deals a lot with the ways in which our inner critic can end up strangling our inner creator. She of course offers exercises that helps us to prevent this from happening.
Comment from charlotte
Time: July 31, 2008, 5:11 pm
thats great, thank you so much for the advice, and for this great website – so handy to find so much information in one place.
Comment from Jane
Time: October 29, 2008, 1:17 pm
Hi
I’m very new to this. I am a single mum with 3 children of 15,12&9. I work part time, have a very busy life and quite often feel overwhelmed with every day life. I so wish I could learn to relax. I worry what other people think of me and my situation and I wish I didn’t worry so much about how I may appear to others. Will meditation help and what type?
Comment from Bodhipaksa
Time: October 30, 2008, 8:37 am
Hi Jane,
Meditating can certainly help you become more relaxed and cope with the stresses of your life. You’ll have to set aside a little time — maybe 20 to 30 minutes a day. The two main practices we teach on this site — mindfulness of breathing and development of lovingkindness — would both help you. I’d suggest starting with mindfulness of breathing; it’ll help you to calm your mind and to let go of thoughts that induce stress. The lovingkindness practice is great for becoming less concerned about what we think others think about us.
I know this might sound shamelessly self-promotional, but my first CD (Guided Meditations for Calmness, Awareness, and Love) teaches both these practices and gets good reviews on Amazon. The meditations are each about 25 minutes long. I have another CD (Guided Meditations for Busy People) which has shorter sessions on it — mostly 8 to 9 minutes — and you could maybe fit a couple of those in each day.
Good luck! Three kids: don’t know how you do it! One’s a handful for me.
Comment from deep
Time: November 6, 2008, 12:02 pm
hi,
i cannot keep my mind concerted in any thing. when i am thinking about anything my thinking track will be changed.
so i am interested in medidation. by which medidation i can keep my mind concerted in any thing.
Comment from Bodhipaksa
Time: November 7, 2008, 10:00 am
I’d suggest that you look not only at meditation but at how you live your life in general. Watch out for multitasking, which fragments the mind, and try doing one thing at a time. Allow yourself periods of quiet. Have contact with nature. Read real books and not just the web. Keep your attention in the body throughout the day. Meditation helps, but it’s not a lot of use if the rest of your life is what’s creating the problem.
Comment from Sharmila
Time: June 29, 2009, 6:34 am
HI, Just came across your website,at this moment I am going through a very rough patch, a relationship of 8 yrs just ended,he just closed the door shut without giving an explanation also things snowballed because i left my job to start my own business.Now I am so restless and anxious that i cant sleep and suffer from griping stomach and shortness of breath. i have tried hypnotherapy but it hasnt helped can you suggest a meditation that would help me rise above the pain and be peaceful and relaxed in everyday life. Thanks in anticipation. Shar
Comment from Sunada
Time: July 1, 2009, 10:30 am
Hi Sharmila,
I’m sorry to hear about all your difficulties. It does sound like you have many things going on that would cause you restlessness and anxiety. First of all, I’d like to say that the pain you’re feeling is a perfectly human and natural reaction to the loss of your relationship — there’s nothing wrong with it at all! Grieving is a necessary part of healing ourselves after a loss.
But I sense that things have snowballed for you because now you’ve become anxious about the anxiety as you try hard to make the pain go away.
I’m sorry to have to say this to you, but meditation will not make pain go away, nor will it make you peaceful and relaxed if the pain and grieving is real and necessary. It’s not an anesthetic, nor should it be. What it DOES do is help us to see into our minds more clearly — so that we can separate out what is real pain and grieving (that we need to work with directly) vs the added anxiety that we put on ourselves by worry about it. As such, there is no meditation that will make the pain go away in and of itself. The closest I can suggest is the mindfulness of breathing, which is simply about slowing down our minds enough so that we can see more calmly and clearly.
I do think your situation is very complex, and I don’t feel it can be fully addressed in a simple blog comment or a meditation practice suggestion. I would suggest that you seek professional help, such as a therapist. If you think it might be helpful to speak with a Buddhist life coach, I would also be happy to talk with you further. You can reach me through my website at http://www.mindfulpurpose.com.
My best wishes to you,
Sunada
Comment from Sharmila
Time: July 2, 2009, 4:17 am
Thank you Sunanda.I will get in touch with you.
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