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reduce stress

Relaxation Through Meditation

Meditation in all of its forms is designed to make you more self-aware, more aware of your surroundings, more in tune with your environment, and ultimately more in control of your physical being and the things around you. In the process, meditation is successful in helping to reduce anxiety and stress, because it generates a sense of empowerment, placing you in control of your own destiny.

There are many forms of meditation some more physically challenging, and some quite sedentary, but they all have their strong points. Meditation is very much like a good stretching routine which also has the benefit of allowing you to get in touch with yourself in a positive way.

Meditation is a process that leads to a state of consciousness that brings serenity, clarity, and bliss. During our typical mental state, we receive sensory stimuli and react in a completely uncontrolled way (although we tell ourselves we have great control). We bounce from one thought to another and follow with our emotional and physical reactions. The same thought can bring about diametrically opposite reactions at different times. For instance, we may see a dog and then start a thought process that reminisces about a pet dog we once had and loved. Emotionally, we then start feeling all warm and cuddly; physically, we feel very relaxed. Another time, we may see the same dog and fear it may attack us and start thinking paranoid thoughts, get fearful and uptight physically.

Concentration is the first step in Meditation and is the start of gaining control over the mind and thereby life. The procedure is deceptively simple and seems like it would be very easy to do, but there are few tasks more difficult to master. The idea is to pick an object/subject to place your attention on and then to focus exclusively on it without diversion. Once you pick your subject or object, relax your body, sit in a comfortable position, calm your emotions and begin repeating the word “love” over and over. If you find your mind wandering from your topic, simply bring yourself back into concentration on the original topic and continue your session. If you are successful in concentrating your thoughts away from other distractions you will experience a very liberating feeling that helps you to clear your mind of clutter and have an easing of tension, that will be followed by a sense of relaxation and calm, second only to being fully sleep.

We encourage you to investigate the various forms of meditation and find one that best suits your needs, and perfect it for your total fitness and enjoyment.

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Enhance With Breathing Exercises

An effective weight training regimen can be greatly enhanced not only by including regular stretching as part of the routine, but also by maintaining proper focus on breathing with breathing exercises. Like stretching, breathing is often overlooked as a skill which practiced regularly will enhance a workout routine.

Regular focus on your breathing, even when you’re not working out, can help to restore energy, reduce stress, improve concentration, and otherwise supply a more robust source of energy for the body.

Perhaps the most important principle to keep in mind is that one should never hold their breath during exercise. Not only does this increased stress, but it deprives the body of energy necessary to complete the exercise. The next most important principle to observe is that it should be rhythmic and controlled. Many people who exercise find themselves out of breath (“hyperventilating”), because they have allowed their breathing to the uncontrolled. It is possible however to focus your attention on your breathing in a way that avoids being out of breath, even during intense exercise.

In the Western world, we have a tendency to breath from our chest, which typically is very shallow. The result is that our bodies receive much less energy flow. Breathing from the chest also occurs and has a tendency to promote stress. Asian cultures, especially the Chinese, have typically focused on breathing from the lower abdomen, more specifically an area 1 1/2 inches below the navel. Try this the next time you have a few moments. A better description is as follows:

“Inhale the way that the area just below your navel contracts as you taking the air. Breathing out such that the same area expands as you exhale. Do this in a slow and rhythmic fashion until you can consistently inhale while you’re abdomen presses in, and exhale as your abdomen expands.”

The Chinese have focused significant effort into the study of breathing as it relates to health and martial arts. In the process, a systematic approach to breathing has emerged, and has become a major focus of many martial arts.

Breathing exercises can also be the basis of a meditation session to start and/or end the day. When done for this purpose, the primary goal is stress reduction and conditioning the body to control the process of breathing.

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