Meditation to get rid of fears and find harmony. An example of a meditation technique
Hello, friends. In the hustle and bustle of life, we often encounter worries and stress. Accumulating, they negatively affect our peace of mind cause irritation and anger. In this article, we will talk about meditation for stress and anxiety.
Most meditation practices have an anti-stress effect. Let's consider a few of them.
You will need a candle. It's better if it's beautiful scented candle from the store. But a simple church or household one is also suitable.
Retire in a room. Sit comfortably and relaxed in an armchair, sofa, or chair. Turn off the lights or close the curtains to darken the room. Light a candle.
Make sure your body is relaxed. If you feel tension in any part of the body, for example, in the cervical region, gently massage this place.
Look at the candle flame, admire it. The element of Fire helps us burn negative emotions and experiences. Watch the change in the light, its movements and impulses.
Try to stop extraneous thoughts. If work questions come to mind again, gently move away from them, plunging mentally into the warm and soft flame of a candle. You gradually get rid of the accumulated stress.
Watch your breath, slow it down, feel the inhalation and exhalation. Let your breathing become calm and deep. You will enter a state of meditation. Stay in this state for as long as you want, but not less than 15 minutes.
Dancing makes the soul happy
Dancing is a great meditation to relieve stress. But not any dance can become a full-fledged meditation.
To achieve the desired state, you need to perform a sequence of actions.
- Stop in the center of the room, breathe slowly and deeply. Close your eyes for a minute.
- Then turn on any rhythmic music you like.
An important condition is music without words. Words will distract you and force you to delve into the texts. And this will not allow you to enter a meditative state.
- Dance! Express your emotions in motion. Move your arms and legs and hips and head. Immerse yourself in the dance, let all your attention be focused on the movements.
- Throw out the accumulated negative energy through dance. It will be great if you make some jumps. Don't be afraid to fool around. This is your time.
- If you wish, you can sing or shout out sounds. Only negative words, swear words, etc. are prohibited. Leave only the positive.
Mandalas against stress
Mandala is a geometric pattern with sacred meaning. However, there are modern interpretations that do not carry religious significance. The contemplation of many small elements of the pattern draws you into meditation.
Mandalas for coloring can be bought at a bookstore or found on the Internet and printed on a printer. Here are a few examples (click on images to enlarge):
Retire where no one will disturb you. By the way, in the summer this practice can be carried out in the park on a bench.
Get your mandala drawing and colored pencils ready. Look at the drawing for a couple of minutes, think about what it might mean.
Then start painting the pattern. There is no need to approach this process rationally. Trust your instincts when choosing colors. Do what comes from the heart. During the concentrated coloring of the mandala, you will immerse yourself in meditation.
After completing the drawing, you will feel peace and satisfaction. A positive charge will appear that will not allow stress to take over your mind again.
It's time to take a walk
Walking in nature serves as a natural meditation against stress and anxiety. However, in order for the effect to be complete, it is important to adhere to some rules.
- Walk in parks, squares or in nature. It makes no sense to wander along a busy avenue.
- Walk slowly and calmly. There's no hurry.
- If thoughts about business, problems or work appear in your head, tell yourself: “All this is very important, but I will think about it later ... And now there are trees, flowers around me ...”
Look at leaves or tree branches. If you have flowers in front of you, be sure to enjoy them, inhale the aroma, admire the beauty of each flower.
Enjoy the diversity of nature. Find the features of the time of year during which you walk. In spring, these are the blossoming buds of trees and blooming trees. In summer, lush greenery. Autumn is the carnival of colored leaves. And in winter - the kingdom of snow or gloomy tree trunks, which also have their own charm.
You will certainly feel the meditative effect after half an hour of walking. In order not to have to interrupt it ahead of time, dress for the weather so as not to freeze. Take a bottle of water with you. And take this time for yourself.
A walk in the rain has a special effect. If it's pouring rain, then walk no more than 10 minutes under an umbrella.
Let yourself be in the middle of the elements, be inspired by its strength and power. Then return home, take a hot shower and drink warm tea.
During a light rain, you can walk longer, the main thing is not to get wet. When the whole world is washed with raindrops, washing away all pollution from it, it is good to dream and immerse yourself in contemplation.
The most effective method learn meditation is to trust the teacher. Friends, I want to recommend you my mentor, with whom I once learned to meditate. This is Igor Budnikov, he himself studied meditation in the monasteries of Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia. Igor will teach you meditation with amazing simplicity and ease and help you avoid common mistakes.
I suggest you go 5 short free lessons, during which you will meditate under the guidance of Igor. I'm sure you'll like it the way I did.
Physical exercise has a positive effect
Perhaps you thought about physical exercises. But to enter into a state of meditation, we need something else. Here are some options.
If all this unsettles you, and when you come home, you fall off your feet, and you can’t relax on weekends, then we will teach you some meditation techniques that will help you from melancholy, fatigue and will the best prevention from nervous breakdowns.
Meditation for stress
What is the effect of meditation?
According to Buddhists, they never experience depression or insomnia. And all because meditation is their way of life. By making meditation a habit, you will learn to quickly focus on your work, you will worry less, you will be able to have a good rest, you will find inner harmony, because it is so important for a woman.
Meditation Conditions
It is common knowledge that one should not meditate on a full stomach. Decide for yourself whether or not to turn on calm music. Some people meditate in total silence.
Meditation technique
At the heart of effective meditation lies maximum relaxation. This is not as easy to achieve as you think. After all, some muscles of the body do not relax even in a dream.
Relaxation Meditation Technique
Lie on your back (do not use a “high” pillow for this) and try to relax. Breathe in and out a few times. When you exhale, you will feel how the air comes out, the body sinks deeper and deeper into the bed and becomes heavy. Next, let's focus on separate parts body from bottom to top.
Let's focus on each leg in turn, starting with the feet. Let's order them to relax, imagine how the tension subsides. We are gradually moving up. The more carefully you approach this meditation, the “smaller” the parts of the body on which you focus your attention, the more relaxed you will be. We use this technique both before going to bed (especially if you can’t fall asleep quickly), and when you want to relax for a short time.
Concentration Meditation Technique
We use the concentration meditation technique when there is a lot of information in the head, but you need to focus on one thing. Let's sit or lie down more comfortably, believe that the lotus position will be comfortable for those who have been meditating and practicing yoga for a long time, it's better to start with comfortable chair or just lie down on the floor.
Mentally and completely focus on some phenomenon or object. It could be anything, starting with the rain houseplant and ending with a cup on the table. The main thing here is that your thoughts should be occupied with this subject and nothing else. Keep this in mind for as long as you can. Soon you will find that the thought quickly returns to what you are going to cook for dinner, or to the movie you have watched. Again we return to the chosen subject. After several workouts, the concentration time will increase. By practicing this meditation, you will be able to easily concentrate in any conditions (for example, it helps to get ready for the exam).
Breath meditation technique
The technique of breath meditation is the observation of the breath. You don't have to deliberately change the rhythm of your breathing, just feel the air flow out and in. As you inhale and exhale, count to 10 and back to one. This method will allow you to pass the time well in a queue or transport.
Meditation technique that combines walking and breathing
This technique can be used when you go home or to work. It's good when you have plenty of time not to walk very fast. Inhale for four steps, exhale for six. The body breathes normally, and thoughts are focused on the score. If you are surrounded by beautiful landscapes and Fresh air, then the benefits of this walk will be double.
Meditation technique to help solve the problem
First, let's relax as much as possible. Then we “lose” the conflict or problem in our head, starting from the very end. We are gradually approaching the origins, you will understand why this happened. We will find “along the way” an action, word or reason that led to certain consequences, and then you will have a chance to fix everything.
Autotraining is also meditation
It is best to engage in auto-training if you learn to mentally focus and physically relax. You need to use it before going to bed so that you don’t have to be distracted by anything else.
Relax and focus on positive thoughts. The meditation technique depends on the situation you are trying to improve. If you need to increase your self-esteem, mentally tell yourself: "I am confident in myself." Avoid the "not" particle, it carries negative character. If a tyrant appears in the office, think: “My fear of Larisa Mikhailovna (driving instructor, director) disappears.” Instead of saying something like "I don't want to smoke," it's best to say "I don't want to smoke."
After all, it is proved that our thoughts have a material force. During auto-training, imagine in all details the achievement you are striving for, and as if it has already happened. "Work" in the place where you want to work, "live" in the house or city of your dreams, "feel" the thing you want to own. There are cases when people with the help of such meditations were cured of incurable diseases.
Now we know what this meditation technique and meditation against stress are. Choose your own meditation technique. Make it your habit, try to live here and now, and your self-doubt, difficult tomorrow and the raging Larisa Mikhailovna will not be afraid of you.
Each of us would like to live easy, interesting life when all things are going well, all troubles bypass the house. And the problems exist somewhere in another reality.
But, unfortunately, few people can boast that in his life there are no problems that occasionally arise and spoil life. But, the ability to cope with emerging difficulties tempers us and gives us new experience. However, if the difficulties that arise are not resolved in a timely manner, then this can cause serious psychological discomfort, literally poisoning our lives.
Accumulating, they cause a state of anxiety and fear, which penetrate us and fetter us, causing numbness.
In some cases, these anxiety conditions can be dealt with on your own. But sometimes you may need the help of a specialist.
What determines the appearance of anxiety in our lives, and where do the fears that poison our existence come from?
Let's find out what psychologists advise.
Where does fear come from?
Fear is a reaction of the signaling system to a possible danger.
Fear can act as a defense, for example, by preventing us from wandering around dimly lit back streets at night. But it can also be destructive. If the state of fear and anxiety does not go away for a long time, this can lead to the development of depression. Dealing with depression isn't easy. Sometimes getting out of a depressive state can only help contacting a qualified specialist.
Especially often, fear arises in men who, being by nature defenders, subconsciously prepare for a meeting with some kind of enemy, from which he must protect himself, his wife, and children.
Often, fear arises when you are not in control of the situation. The fear that something might go wrong, or that you do not have the ability to somehow influence what is happening in your life, which may threaten you or cause some kind of damage. When circumstances are stronger than you and you have no one to find help. Anxiety develops into a feeling of fear.
Sometimes fear can arise from fear of the unknown. This is how the fear of the dark arises, the fear of entering the water at night to bathe in the light of a fire, the fear of being alone in the house, especially when it gets dark outside the window, the shadows lengthen, and the visible area that we can control noticeably narrows.
If you are afraid to be alone, for example, in country house, in which, with the onset of darkness, something begins to crackle, creak, reminiscent of someone's steps, you can turn on the light, music, radio. But you're not going to sleep with the lights on and the radio on. Therefore, fear must be overcome, get rid of it, so that it does not interfere with peaceful sleep, creating frightening pictures in our imagination.
Manifestations of fear and anxiety
Fear of anxiety causes changes in the body, affecting not only the psychological state, but also the physical.
There is a rapid heartbeat, sweating increases. Breathing becomes more frequent.
The psychological state is also strongly affected. During anxiety and stress, attention is dispersed, there is a feeling of unreality of what is happening, the mood undergoes rapid changes.
If you have a fear of public speaking and are covered in sweat as you head to the speaker's booth, you can use the technique of looking at yourself from the outside. Try to see yourself, the people around you, as if you are looking from the side.
When you see that there is nothing wrong with the fact that some person (you) is planning to tell other people something, fear will fade into the background, and you will simply see yourself as you saw it from the side of another person who delivered a report to you.
Translation of fear into grotesque
Bringing fear into your mind to some ridiculous exaggeration can also be a useful technique that you can use in some situations.
To do this, you need to imagine something very ridiculous that can happen in a situation that causes fear. For example, going to the podium for a speech, you can imagine how you are walking, falling, breaking your nose, stuffing a bump on your forehead, tearing your trouser leg and climbing to the podium in this form. If you manage to create such an image that causes a smile, fear will disappear by itself.
Children's fear of punishment
Many fears originate in our childhood, when our life depended entirely on our parents and their mood. They could praise, but they could also punish.
The fear of being punished by many people persists for many years, turning into a real problem.
Fear of this kind underlies the “excellent student syndrome”, when a person tries to be the first in everything, to do everything better than others, tries his best to be noted, singled out from the rest of the team, praised.
If this does not happen, the person falls into depression, the cause of which may be completely incomprehensible to him. Life loses its meaning, he tries as best he can, takes on additional responsibilities, but does not see any praise from his superiors, and even more so from his colleagues, who see this only as a desire to curry favor.
To get rid of this kind of experience, one should understand that it is possible to exist quite comfortably without receiving a diploma for every holiday, that many live like this all their lives. And there is nothing wrong with that. And all the experiences are just the result of an attitude from childhood, when strict parents, who often have not reached any heights in this life themselves, begin to bully the child, trying to compensate for their failures.
Fear of being worse than others
Also, quite often from childhood, the fear of being worse than others originates. When parents, instead of praising, cite other children as an example - better performers, more physically developed, etc.
This can be fixed in the brain for a long time, preventing you from living, preventing you from becoming successful. After all, the subconscious will constantly pull up - this is not for you, that this is for others, more worthy.
People, even being good specialists, well-read, erudite, possessing skills and a wide variety of skills, they are constantly afraid to say something, do something, so as not to look stupid, funny or otherwise somehow prove themselves.
Having not found support and approval from parents in childhood, in adulthood such a person feels insecure.
Fear prevents him from trying to change something. He is afraid that something might go wrong, and does not risk trying something new, changing something in his life, continuing to hope that a quiet, inconspicuous existence will help to avoid failures, aggression from other people, conflict situations at home and at work.
To get rid of this fear, it is enough to observe those around you and understand that “it is not the gods who burn the pots” and those who have achieved success in life are no smarter than you. They were simply not afraid to do something in order to be realized in work, business. And if you do the same, then you will become successful. Don't be afraid to lean out from behind the backs of the people around you. Do not forget that life is one and so you can sit in the bushes until its very end.
Even if something doesn't work out, it's always better to try and regret it. What did not work, than to regret that I did not even try.
The morning is wiser than the evening
Everyone is well aware of the saying from old Russian fairy tales - "the morning is wiser than the evening." And there is a lot of truth in it. Psychologists have found that anxiety increases at night, with the onset of darkness, and weakens with sunrise.
Therefore, in the evening before going to bed, do not wind yourself up, driving different thoughts in your head, but try to let go of the problem until the next morning. As a rule, in the morning yesterday's problem, which seemed so terrible, looks much less terrible, and it is much easier to find ways to solve it than tossing and turning under the covers at night.
Reach out to loved ones for support
If you feel that you cannot cope with anxiety on your own, seek help from your loved ones. If you live in different cities, take a couple of days off, go to visit, chat, stay together.
Imagine that everything has already happened
Another good way to get rid of the fear that torments you is to imagine that what you are so afraid of has already happened. Are you infuriated by the unbearable situation at work, but are you afraid of losing your job? Imagine that you are no longer working. Life is not over? Of course not. And nobody got hurt.
It will just take a little time to find another job. Prepare a good resume and think about whether it is worth winding your nerves at an unloved job if you can find a job you like?
The same applies to any other problems, the protracted solution of which literally exhausts all forces, and there is no end in sight. Just imagine that everything has already happened. At the same time, life will continue, but there will no longer be that fear that daily ate you from the inside.
Meditations to get rid of fears
If a feeling of anxiety and unreasonable fear does not allow you to live, you can try such an effective tool as meditation.
To meditate means to let go of everything around you and allow your consciousness. Do not “boot” with awareness of what is happening around you and completely disconnect from all problems, allowing yourself to experience a feeling of harmony and peace that fills the body with calmness and inner strength which allows us to overcome everything that happens to us in this life without negative emotions and experiences that weaken the spirit and lead only to mental disorders and body diseases.
To meditate, you need to sit in a comfortable position, close your eyes and completely stop thinking about anything. Meditation is "doing nothing" in its purest form. Focus your attention on your breath.
To achieve a noticeable effect, it is enough to devote 15-20 minutes of time to meditation daily in the morning and evening. After a while, you will notice that you have become much calmer about everything that surrounds you, you will be able to switch off from experiences, sitting in office chair standing in a traffic jam or sitting in line at the clinic.
Below you can listen to an example of meditation against fear:
Just close your eyes and imagine everything the affirmation says.
To achieve the best effect, it is recommended to meditate, relaxing and freeing yourself from oppressive thoughts, accompanied by special music.
Reiki Healing Music is often used for meditation, the sound of which sets you in the right mood and allows you to quickly relax, renouncing negative emotions.
You can listen to Reiki music in this video (click on the triangle to play):
Affirmations for Fear and Anxiety
Also very useful tool fight against uncontrollable attacks of anxiety and causeless fear are affirmations (auto-training).
Affirmations are positive statements made up of one or more sentences. Their impact is based on the fact that repeated listening, reading or pronouncing these statements gradually forms our attitude towards any phenomenon, object or situation.
To cope with internal anxiety, affirmations can be composed by yourself and then regularly pronounce them to yourself, for example, before going to bed.
The main rule for compiling affirmations is that they should not contain negative statements. Here is an example of an incorrectly composed affirmation:
- I don't need money, I'm not poor, I don't envy the rich.
Here is an example of a well-written affirmation:
- I have enough money, I am provided, I calmly treat those who have more money than me.
You can read more about these nuances in the article on making affirmations, after which you can make affirmations yourself and have a targeted impact on what worries you.
You can also use ready-made affirmations to improve your life. An example of such affirmations is shown in this video:
Just listen to them daily and repeat to yourself to achieve a positive result.
On the net, you can find many ready-made affirmations for getting rid of fear, for attracting money and good luck, as well as for improving relationships with people around you.
Anxiety exercises
A good way to distract yourself from momentary problems that cause mental discord can be visiting the gym, exercising at home on a simulator, or just rhythmic movements to music.
Produced during physical activity Endorphin is called the “hormone of joy” for a reason. Literally 15-20 minutes of physical exercise can radically change your mood and improve your mental attitude.
Choose the type of training that you like best and try to start regular training. Changes in mood will not keep you waiting. Soon there will be no trace of fear and anxiety.
Yoga is good for relieving anxiety. An example of performing exercises to get out of a depressed state is shown below:
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As you can see, there are many various ways deal with anxiety and fears. Most importantly, do not try to hide from the problems that arise. Believe me, difficulties happen in the life of every person. And only on how you treat them will depend on how your meeting with them will end.
Don't give up, don't lose heart. Remember that most problems exist exclusively in our heads and only how we feel about them determines the degree of their negative impact.
Do meditation and exercise, communicate with loved ones, make new friends, expand your circle of friends and you simply will not have time for fears and anxieties. And you can always solve the difficulties that arise with the help of old and new friends.
But, if you feel that you cannot get out of a state of fear or anxiety on your own, be sure to contact a specialist to get qualified help. Modern medicines can quickly bring you to your senses and help you forget about fears and anxieties.
Hello dear readers!
Today we will talk about effective meditations for fear, which will allow you to overcome this feeling.
Every person has their own fears. Only they interfere with someone's life, and someone knows how to control them. Uncontrolled fear can completely ruin your life. This feeling makes it impossible for us to adequately assess what is happening.
Every day, every hour, every minute - this situation repeats itself. Maybe it's time for a change? Use meditation for fear. A person who knows how to manage his fears is able to achieve more from life. Regular fear meditation- will change your life.
See also The right approach to meditation practices can radically change your life for the better. Meditation helps to achieve goals, get rid of psychological and mental disorders, development positive thinking and, of course, spiritual growth.
If a person says that he is not afraid of anything, then he is lying. Each of us has a couple of annoying fears that negatively affect the body. Most people do not want to deal with this phenomenon.
Years go by and human development is in a terrible state. In this case, you have two options: overcome this feeling or continue to live on, while pretending that nothing is happening.
In order to overcome your fear, you need to understand the causes of this phenomenon. Let's start with a scientific definition. Fear is a set of reactions of the body at a subconscious level, when the conditions for a threat to human life are met.
If it is in more accessible words, it is a subconscious reaction of our body to a dangerous situation. In this case, our body makes a decision and reacts on its own without our participation.
Imagine that you are a person who is afraid of dogs. Imagine that you have a small and harmless dog in front of you. Think and imagine. Do not read further if not presented. It is true that now you felt your sympathy for her.
However, as soon as you begin to approach her, her body size began to increase. You saw how small teeth turn into a huge mouth with large fangs. Its dimensions are so great that you begin to feel that same sensation. And now she starts to approach you. With every second, the distance is shrinking, and she runs faster and faster. Feel this moment. It's really scary.
But will this situation seem scary for a professional trainer? I think no. Why? Because on this situation, his nervous system(NS) reacts correctly. After several fulfillments of such conditions (subconscious reactions), our NS allows the brain to make decisions. That is, our body does not resist, but completely accepts it.
All professional boxers, entering the ring, experience great excitement. But how does that compare to the feeling he had when he was an amateur? Most likely, having reached professional fights, he learned to control his emotions.
To learn to control your emotions, you can use special meditations. With the help of such exercises, you can momentarily lose this feeling. In addition, some exercises work in the long term, and allow you to forget about fears forever.
Consider two popular meditations that are widely used as a fight against fears. During these exercises, you need to remove all external stimuli that may distract from this process.
You must have seen in the movies how ancient people or monks meditate. An environment of complete silence and a minimum of distractions are ideal conditions for you. When using meditation methodologies, this feeling should not be confused with stress, insecurity, irritability.
1. Affirmations
Any belief can be overcome with the help of affirmations. They allow using self-hypnosis to replace the usual way of thinking. Due to periodic repetitions of meditations, it is possible to completely replace this feeling with a feeling of confidence. Affirmations only work if you repeat them over and over again.
As a result of such repetitions, the habitual paradigms of perception of the brain are replaced by new ones. For affirmations to work effectively, first-person wording is essential. (I, me, me, mine). For instance:
- I'm not afraid of anything
- I don't need my fear
- You won't defeat me
- My brain is stronger than my body
How to apply affirmations? You need to try to fully feel the feeling of fear. This must be done in such a way that every tip of the body, every finger, every hair feels the burning pressure of fear. When you achieve "total immersion" in your feelings, begin to repeat one of the selected affirmations.
For example, "I don't need my fear." You need to repeat this procedure until you yourself believe in it. When fear overtakes you again, start repeating this phrase. I assure you, he will definitely back down.
2. Work with the subconscious and the body
Working with the subconscious and the body requires constant practice. Having achieved good results in this practice, you will be able to overcome any fear. This exercise is used by professional UFC fighters. It allows you to face your fear before entering the ring. This text must be recorded in audio format, or ask a good friend to read it.
Now you need to sit down. Sit in any comfortable position. Close your eyes slowly. Feel your body. Feel how many fingers you have on your hands and feet. You don't need to move them, just feel them. Slow down your thoughts and don't think about anything. Don't open your eyes. Let's start.
Imagine that you are standing in front of the entrance to a cave. This cave is your fear. And now you are going into it. you see in front of you stone wall on which the reason for your fear is written. You start walking towards this wall to get a better look at this inscription.
You feel that warmth appears inside you. It comes from your heart, and begins to spread throughout the body, to the very feet and palms, to the very tips of the fingers. Feel this warmth... Now you feel the heat starting to turn into fire.
Your body is on fire... It is fear taking over your body. Fear wants to overcome you, but you resist. Resist him. You turn your head and see another wall. Coming closer, you see that your strengths are written on it.
It says here that you are not afraid of anything, and any fear cannot overcome you. As you read this, fear begins to transform into energy within you. You feel how your body is filled with strength. This power makes you an invincible warrior who will destroy everything in his path. Open your eyes. Your fear is a weapon. You feel strength and great energy. Now you are free.
Share this article with a friend:Text: Karina Sembe
This is done by Katy Perry and Lena Dunham, Anna Dello Russo and even David Lynch and Jeff Bridges. You don't need special clothes or high-tech shoes, you don't need a dedicated space, and in fact, you don't even need a coach. Besides, no side effects. Meditation is said to be the new yoga (and perhaps even more). Having migrated to our post-modernity from ancient religious practices, concentration techniques have proven their potential in terms of mind training.
Meditation "teaches" the brain to concentrate, cope with stress and anxiety, helps to return a sober look at the world. You can perceive meditation with skepticism and suspect practitioners of sectarianism, or you can, following thousands of scientists, recognize an effective brain simulator in the new trend and use it to learn to distract yourself from painful thoughts about the deadline.
What is meditation
The word "meditation" comes from the Latin meditari, which in different contexts means "to think over", "to mentally contemplate", "to develop ideas". The term "meditation" was also used as a translation of the name of eastern spiritual practices (in Hinduism it is dhyana, and in Buddhism it is zen). These concepts have the same meanings: “mentally contemplate”, “reflect”.
In dictionaries, meditation is defined as a deep reflection on an object or idea, with a distraction from external circumstances, the elimination of all factors that scatter attention, both external (sound, light) and internal (physical, emotional, intellectual stress). You can also find meanings that are closer to the everyday understanding of meditation, for example, the state of inner concentration or various actions to achieve it.
Meditation techniques are taken from the arsenal of Eastern religious culture, where attention concentration techniques were used to transcend over the outside world. One of the first mentions of meditation goes back to the Vedas, ancient Indian scriptures of a religious and philosophical nature, which were created from about the 16th to the 5th century BC. e. V ancient tradition the practice of meditation was ritualized, implying the repetition of phrases, often rhythmic, and the adoption of certain postures. Scientists distinguish not only Buddhist and Hindu, but also Christian, Islamic and Taoist traditions of meditation.
It has been proven that regular meditation Helps fight stress, improves sleep and develops empathy.
How did the phenomenon take root?
in the West
Meditation as an element of Buddhist practices was discussed in the West already in the Enlightenment, and from the end of the 19th century, meditation techniques began to be actively promoted in the West by popular gurus like Swami Vivekananda, friend and like-minded Nikola Tesla. Secular meditation as a Western form of Hindu meditation techniques emerged in India in the 1950s and made its way into the US and Europe almost immediately. By the early 1970s, only English language There have been over a thousand studies on meditation.
Secular meditation involves a variety of techniques and instead of focusing on spiritual growth, it offers an emphasis on stress reduction, attention control and achieving emotional stability. Currently, meditation is actively used for the purposes of psychotherapy and psychological training and also as complementary medicine.
There is a stereotype that meditation is about sitting and doing nothing. In fact, it is profound and painstaking work with your own psyche and physiology - the same training, only not for the muscles, but for the brain. In the West, two main types of meditation have taken root: transcendental meditation, which focuses on a mantra, that is, a word, sound, or phrase repeated aloud or mentally, and mindfulness meditation, during which the concentration is on the breath.
Where did skepticism come from
about meditation
Any culture, and even more so mass culture, is formed from trends that it generates, and it is no secret that these trends are not always friendly with logic. On the net, you can’t take a step without stumbling upon articles with headlines like “The influence of the phases of the moon on the fate of a person”, “How to clean a house from negative energy”, “Top 10 best natural antibiotics”. A fair skeptical look at deep YouTube tutorials on recovery female energy with the help of love meditation often extends to the perception of meditation techniques as such. Of course, everyone has a right to their toys - whether it's a PlayStation or chakra opening. On the other hand, it is worth learning that meditation does not necessarily come with Buddhism, yoga, veganism - and further down the list.
Andy Puddicombe, creator of the Headspace meditation app and former Buddhist monk, never considered meditation as a religious practice: “I did it rather in order to understand my own consciousness, to find a state in which consciousness becomes more calm and clear.” Useful and sound conclusions can be reached in various ways, including through religious and philosophical practices. But in the arsenal of mankind there is also the scientific method, as well as the ability to think logically. There is nothing mystical about closing your eyes and breathing deeply, but a couple of minutes of such simple exercises will allow you to calm down and distract yourself from obsessive thoughts.
Why meditation is considered a cure for anxiety
Physicians are increasingly using meditation techniques to treat anxiety. Anxiety disorder, which often afflicts successful and active people, is being talked about everywhere today - from scientific conferences and medical publications to fashion blogs and TV shows. Professor of psychology at the University of Massachusetts Lisabeth Roemer believes that meditation has great therapeutic potential in this direction: “If people learn to perceive what is happening at the moment with acceptance and kindness, and if they manage to apply this skill in life in such a way as to maintain interest in things that are important to them , it can help solve the problem of anxiety.”
Anxiety can be difficult to recognize. It is easily identified by a cramp in the abdomen or a characteristic pressure in the chest, but often anxiety takes on less obvious forms, hiding behind procrastination, perfectionism, or an increased desire for isolation. And if these are nothing more than ways to escape from reality, then meditation is just aimed at accepting this reality and reconciling with it. Among people who meditate, there were fewer cases of depression, panic attacks and anxiety.
What effect to expect
from meditation
During and immediately after meditation
“Meditation instantly activates areas of the brain associated with areas such as the lateral prefrontal cortex. These zones are responsible for controlling feelings of anxiety, excitement, and fear,” explains Rebecca Gladding, MD, clinical psychiatrist at the University of California, in her book You Are Not Your Brain. And according to research by the Institute of Medical Sciences in India, after 15 minutes of meditation, there is a decrease in heart rate and stabilization of the reactions of the nervous system.
After several weeks of meditation
Scientists from Johns Hopkins University say: the more often you practice meditation, the more actively you "pump" the corresponding areas of the brain - as a result, your emotional condition stabilizes. The fact is that in most cases, stress arises from worries about the little things and thoughts about something that did not happen, but can happen - from the prospect of a missed deadline to the risk of being late for an important meeting. Such anxiety triggers a number of “fight at all costs” mechanisms in the brain, including stimulating the release of cortisol, which is called the stress hormone. It turns out that regular meditation can lead to a decrease in the level of cortisol secretion. Meditation-based exercises have also been scientifically proven to help improve sleep and even develop empathy, literally making us more compassionate.
Long term
Regular practice of meditation can have beneficial effects on changes in the physical structure of the brain. The claim sounds incredible, but is based on quite convincing results. scientific research. Neuroscientist Sarah Lazar spoke about them within the framework of the TEDxCambridge innovation development project, in particular, and scored almost 700 thousand views on YouTube. The brain is capable of neuroplasticity, that is, the construction of new cells and connections. When we meditate, the area of the brain that makes us take things personally relaxes, and the area that is responsible for empathy activates its work. Even two months of regular meditation lowers the density of the gray matter of the amygdala, the focus of fear and anxiety, and increases the density of the gray matter of the hippocampus, which is responsible for the formation of emotions and the transition of short-term memory to long-term memory.
How to start
Professionals say that for beginners, the most important thing is comfortable timing, and they advise you to determine a convenient time for meditation. It is desirable that it be the same time, in the morning or in the evening. Most experts recommend starting with 5-10 minutes of meditation, but coach, yogi, and entrepreneur Gabriel Bernstein suggests trying just 1 minute to start. The simplest and efficient technique is to simply follow the breath. You should not try to forcibly drive away all thoughts - it is better to just try not to develop them, allowing them to come and go.
For those who find it difficult to concentrate on their own or want to be interactive, there are a lot of applications to help. Market leader Headspace can be a complete meditation guide for beginners. True, there is only a ten-minute program in the public domain, and you will have to pay for a variety of exercises. Among the free applications, Calm is in the lead: it contains dozens of meditation exercises of various durations, as well as meditation programs from 7 to 21 days and programs to improve sleep.
