How Can Meditation Help With Holiday Stress?

by:  Laura Bonetzky-Joseph
© 2008-2009

With the hussle and bussle of everyday life compounded with the every day news of a doom and gloom economy, how does meditation help with these stresses on top of the seasonal holiday stresses? 

Meditation is a practice used to relax the body, calm the mind and center yourself. It is the process of clearing the mind from all its chaos. In short, meditation is the ability to relax the mind and give it freedom to be.

In order to be a successful meditator, you have to be gentle with yourself and do a little meditating each day, until it comes as naturally as breathing. Practice makes perfect.  

When you become one with your body, relax the mind,  and release any tensions, a sense of strength and clarity will emerge. 

Think of a room completely cluttered.  So much so that you are unable to see the floor.  Picture that as your mind completely cluttered.  Just as cleaning that room takes patience, focus, & organization so does your mind.  Now in order to get started on your room, you will need to know what to throw away or if we are talking meditation, what to release from your mind and body.   

As we get started on our room, we remove what we don't want and create a room that we do want.  Meditation can help do the same with your mind and body.  With proper breathing, posture, and technique, you will be able to relax your mind to gain clarity as to what you want and what you want to release. 

If you have ever had a cluttered room, how did it feel once you were able to turn it into what you want?  That same feeling of peace, relaxation and accomplishement can be done as well with meditation. 

Meditation:  It's not what you think!

Meditation is medicine for the mind.

© 2009 All Rights Reserved. May not be printed, reproduced or published without author's permission.

What is Meditation?

"Meditation... It's not what you think!"

I love that quote. If you think about what that means, it says it all in many ways.

Meditation has been scientifically studied throughout the years to aid in the healing process associated with stress, mental & physical health. The most recent study ended in December 2008, by the US ARMY. Their study was on the effectiveness of meditation in treating soldiers coming back from the Iraq War suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.

With the hectic pace and demands of today's society especially in this economy, many of us feel stressed and over-worked. The stress and tiredness has a significant impact on our bodies and minds, and we feel unhappy, impatient and frustrated. This often transitions over into our health.

One of the most common reasons that people cite wanting to learn meditation is to reduce stress. Life is always going to be full of challenges, and a life without some turmoil is not only impossible but is also undesirable.

A considerable amount of research has shown that meditation has benefits on mental and physical 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 a relaxation. 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 loving kindness, compassion, patience, and energy.

"Who has the time?" By meditating you actually gain more time by calming your mind, and staying focused. A simple ten or fifteen minute breathing meditation can help you to overcome your stress and find some inner peace and balance.

Look at it this way, if you were diagnosed with cancer, would you seek treatment and find the time? Many of us can not seem to recognize that the greatest cancer is stress. Without unmanaged stress, our health and quality of life would be a lot different.

Meditation can also help us to understand our own mind. We can learn how to transform our mind from negative to positive, from disturbed to peaceful, from unhappy to happy. Overcoming negative minds and cultivating constructive thoughts is the purpose of the transforming meditations. This is especially effective with those suffering with ADD/ADHD, Depression, Anxiety, and more.

Each meditation group session is geared toward the needs of the individuals of the group itself. Every week is not the same.

copyright 2009 Laura Bonetzky-Joseph