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Yoga and Meditation Are Great Relievers of Stress
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Our lives in today’s world are filled with stress. Yoga and meditation are an effective means to help us deal with the stress in our lives. The real benefits of yoga and meditation lie in what they do not have, as well as their ultimate purpose; to help you get to know your real self. Self awareness will bring a change within you. Yoga and meditation are free. Any solution they give us is permanent and will have no side effects. Yoga helps us to achieve a balanced mind, not swayed too
much by ambition nor dragged down by failure. It teaches you not to over-value
achievement and helps you to push ahead with life when you encounter failure.
Regular practice of yoga followed by meditation can help you find peace within
yourself. Our daily life requires involvement with others. Since we do
not have fully life experiences, we tend to respond in a negative way to
various circumstances which causes the stress to build up. To tackle stress you
can of course practice yoga and meditation; but for long-term results you need to have an understanding of human nature and learn
to cope with circumstances. The important thing is to listen to yourself and thus come to know yourself. Stressful situations can arise because we have to meet deadlines at work, or face relationship difficulties; they can be due to sudden changes in the living pattern. Also, stress can be due to overworking, stretching beyond our limits or being over ambitious without having the necessary skills and drive to fulfill our ambition. Early signs of stress signals are nervousness, irritability, neck pain, shoulder and lower back pain and disrupted sleep. Stress related industrial and traffic accidents often are caused by tension at work, fatigue or too much alcohol.
So the pertinent question is what is the inner cause of
stress? Stress results from selfishness and self-importance; the two sides of
primitive ego. Selfishness makes our life empty by alienating us from others.
Holding things and not sharing with others tends to make a person
over-sensitive to criticism and they become susceptible to stress. Let us
ponder over old Indian proverb: “Everything that is not given is lost”. It is like a wake-up call. We
must learn to be considerate and useful to others and make more space in our
lives for others. We need to develop the ability to see ourselves objectively. One of the most effective means of countering stress is to avoid boredom. We need to find ways of keeping our minds active. To keep our minds healthy we should have something to look forward to – an interesting place to visit, completing a task as best as we can, helping others do their work or exploring new areas of knowledge to mention a few. Deep breathing helps to release tension. So whenever you feel tense, inhale deeply, letting your abdomen expand gently and exhale slowly letting it contract. Do not lift your chest while inhaling. Breath deeply half a dozen times in and then breath naturally for a minute.
In meditation your objective is to reach a state where you
are aware of an inner peace and experience a sense of release from everything impeding that peace. Meditation does not only mean contemplation
but it is also a healing process. You must have your mind in order to do
meditation. The word meditation derives from the Latin word ‘mederi’ and
it means to heal. It means to heal a mental affliction caused by psychological
stress, first by achieving an inner calm and then in a peaceful state of mind
contemplating the problem, its cause and how to resolve it. Do not say I am
right and he or she is wrong, but see how the problem can be solved amicably. When you react you stagnate; but if you act
you progress. Sit quietly in a relaxed posture. Do not feel the need to do
anything. Breathe spontaneously and after a minute become aware of your breath,
the coolness of the in-flow deep inside your head, the warmth of the outflow inside
your lower nostrils. Train your mind to be more and more aware of the breath
and yourself. Be aware of your breath. Keep your back and shoulders
straight so you can breath properly. The more aware
you are of the breath, the greater the consciousness of peace and liberation
will be in your subconscious. While you are following a recovery program you can use yoga
to help your body and mind to relax. During the immediate recovery period
establish routines as this will enable you to feel that you are now in control
of your life. Yoga is very old and has helped in maintaining good health. Yoga has healed headaches, insomnia, migraine headaches, helped diabetes under control, and asthma. Yoga therapy has helped several chronic illnesses. What money cannot help, yoga can and for good health is essential for joyful living. -KSR- |
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©Dr. Ramesh 1999, Charlotte, North Carolina, U.S.A. |
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