The Importance Of Meditation And Stress Management (Essay Sample)

Meditation
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Meditation
Meditation and Stress Management
Costs as a result of diseases can be totally avoided. Research has shown that quite a number of diseases are caused by stress. Among them, there is hair loss, infertility, heart problems, emotional imbalance, and diabetes. Quite a number of people today are subjected to stress. Stress is brought about by a difficulty in life. It can be caused by nervousness, anxiety, anger or frustration. Stress is the emotional or mental response towards something that is disturbing you.
One of the ways of managing stress is through meditation. It is the process whereby one focuses on or pays attention to something for some time in his/her mind. This is believed to have some positive effects on one’s health and emotions. Research has shown that meditating reduces anxiety and depression. People who meditate socialize very well with others. The process enables one to understand his/her feelings, emotions, and thoughts. This in turn assists one in having emotional stability and calmness. With emotional stability and calmness, one ends up feeling more confident and is able to face life. It also makes people empathetic and thus able to understand others’ emotions, actions, and behaviors (Davidson, 2008).
Meditation is thus a very important tool to manage stress. We can use different types of meditation to manage our everyday stress if there is any. There are following types of meditation.
Mindfulness
This is a very popular type of meditation especially among Indians who practice Buddhism. It involves just accepting anything that comes in your mind and not meditating on a particular issue. One practices detachment from each thought that comes in your mind. We can use this method to manage our stress at any time.
Transcendental Meditation
This is a type of meditation that is popular within the Hinduism tradition. It involves sitting up with your back straight. It is believed to be involving even mindfulness. This method involves change of breath and even transforms one’s state of being. The one meditating leaves the body and starts meditating even about something that is not near to him or her. For instance, a husband may meditate about his wife who is far away from him. He can even join her wherever she is in his mind. This can help us deal with stress in our daily life especially if stress is associated with something that is not close to an individual.
Guided Visualization
It is the type of meditation that involves one’s concentration on an imaginary image. For instance, you can imagine that you are sitting by the lakeside and enjoying a cold breeze. This is usually done while listening to something recorded like music. Breath is not really a concern in this type of meditation. In case one is stressed, he can do this. One can listen to his favourite genre of music and imagine himself in one of the places he would enjoy and relax so much like the beach.
Heart Rhythm Meditation
This type concentrates on the heartbeat and the breath. While meditating, the individual is trying to identify himself with the heart. You try to feel the pulse of your heartbeat in all the parts of the body while you are relaxed. By so doing, you are controlling the energy supply in your body and become more sensitive. This relaxes all your muscles, and you fell more relaxed. As it was said earlier, stress makes use of a lot of energy from your body, and practicing heart rhythm meditation diverts the energy and stabilizes the energy circulation in the body thus managing stress (Mirahmadi, 2005).
Spiritual Meditation
This type is usually practiced by those who pray to God when they have problems. It involves one becoming calm and quiet when communicating with God. You concentrate on your problem and tell it to God. This type of meditation makes you feel relaxed since you believe that the problem is going to be solved by the most high. It is also rewarding and very useful to manage our daily stress.
Focused Meditation
This type involves one concentrating on only one thing. You focus on something like music and forget about everything. This is of great help to people who are stressed of having nothing in their mind. This will give you something to focus your mind on.
Movement Meditation
This is where you sit and close your eyes focusing on a certain movement of your body ...