Meditation for your heath

How can MEDITATION help you relieve your stress?

Being a busy person and relieving your stress by practicing meditation.

Majorelle Garden path Morocco 2008

I have been self-employed for many years now and I can understand what you may feel as busy people: sole traders, managing directors, CEOs, if you are in charge of running a business whether small or larger, or if you are a mother, a father, or just a human being trying to do his/her best to cope wit everyday life.

When you feel that work pressure is building up and that you wonder how you are going to overcome it, to keep going without becoming exhausted.

I have a hint for you!

Buddha Bodhgaya India, 2007, photo ML

Just spare a moment for you, just with you to give you the opportunity to replenish your energy, the energy you need for yourself (and for your business).

I have been regularly practicing meditation for about 16 years. It is a real treat!
It allows me to observe daily events from a distance without withdrawing from reality and without indulging in a "dreamy state".

What is important is to practice it regularly, meditate for at least 15 minutes a day to really benefit.
It is slower than smoking a joint or drinking a glass of whisky but it is really a lasting and safe process !!
It is definitely better than taking drugs, pills, etc. or getting into any other form of addiction.

Meditating is not that complicated. Just sit on a chair ensuring your back is straight. You can also sit in zazen (as shown in the above picture) as you would do on a tatami (Japanese mat) but it is not compulsory. Keeping your back straight will help you breathe correctly and will let your energy flow through your body.

Breathe slowly, concentrate on breathing in/breathing out cycles. Count cycles of 4 or ten for example, that is to say that a "breathing in/breathing out" counts for 1. When you have reached a cycle of 4, just repeat it again and so on.

The fact you concentrate on your breathing, calms your mind down by keeping it busy doing something else. Should you have any thoughts coming in while you are meditating, do not pay any attention to them just let them go and observe them « from a distance ». for instance, should you think of what you are going to cook tonight (you know I'm French !!), "well what about cooking some "Bourguignon beef tonight" do not attempt to work out what the recipe was the last time you made it, just forget for a while about this tasty prospective event. Let the thought go, observe it without giving it any energy and get back to your breathing. I noticed that when I slow down my breathing in/breathing out, my mind calms down more easily.

Every meditation session is unique. There are times when I feel really happy, when at a given time I feel emptiness, vacuum, though it is neither disturbing nor worrying. This process is difficult to describe, experiencing it is enough to understand.

There are times when I feel « cleansed » from inside.
I like meditating in the forest or on the beach. During your meditation you can either close your eyes, or not, but if you are used to it, it is better to leave them half open, while you are looking at the waves coming in and out, if you are sitting on the pebbles at the beach, watching the sun slowly diving into the sea. it's really a treat !
Of course, you can meditate at home, it is good to do it often in the same place, either inside or outside, this acts as an anchoring process, a structuring ritual.

Some people meditate in front of a small altar. Whether you are a religious person or not, I think the fact you meditate in a familiar environment helps you centre yourself, by retrieving your landmarks each time, whether you are at home or away. I like meditating in front of an altar with the Buddha’s picture, a great inspiring meditator.

You can burn some incense or play some music designed for meditation, this is optional, but reinforces the anchoring process and meditation depth.

Afterwards, you can concentrate and visualise chakras but this is another step that I will address later.

I would like to share here, other people's meditation experiences.
I wish you all the best in the development of your capacities through meditation.
And as François Rabelais, a French philosopher said: "Just enjoy life!"

Pictures:

Majorelle Garden - Marakech - Morocco february 2008
Seiza -sitting meditation
Great Buddha Statue BodhGaya India November 07

Note: English adaptation from an original article I initially wrote in French, modified and updated for Steemit. Quotations are allowed provided you mention the source.