Meditation

If you manage a lot of stress daily, you’ve probably been told or heard that meditation is an excellent tool for managing stress. You might envision meditation sitting crossed-legged on the floor with your eyes closed while listening to soothing instrumentals, but did you know meditation comes in many forms? Different forms of moving meditations, such as running or yoga, breath work (i.e., taking deep breaths to calm down), or guided meditations.

Meditation may come easy to some but not so easy to others. Either way, the most important thing is to start, especially since stress is a regular occurrence in many of our lives and it can negatively impact our overall health.

Whether we know when we will encounter a stressful situation or whether it’s unexpected, it is essential to have access to the tools of meditation when you need them. A great example of how powerful meditation is for managing stress is when a boys’ soccer team in Thailand was stranded in a flooded cave in 2018. Although this was unexpected, they used meditation techniques to help them survive the highly stressful ordeal until they were rescued.

This is no different than when we have a last-minute presentation, impromptu meetings, or a personal crisis. Things happen unexpectedly, and many times we have no control over them. However, we DO have control over how we respond to the situation. Charles Swindon once said, “Life is 10% what happens to you and 90% how you react to it.” So why not attempt to shift your thinking and actions using meditation? It’s even helped children in the school system to manage stress and focus better in the classroom.

To get started with meditation, try the following:

• Review links on guided meditation or breath work

• Schedule time to go for a tech-free walk/run outside

• Sign-up to take an in-person or virtual yoga class to focus inward on those “unexpected situations.”

• Start your home yoga practice by viewing one of my free 30-minute yoga sessions