Meditation: A simple, fast way to reduce stress

Meditation can wipe away the day's stress, bringing with it inner peace. See how you can easily learn to practice meditation whenever you need it most.

If stress has you anxious, tense and worried, consider trying meditation. Spending even a few minutes in meditation can restore your calm and inner peace.

Anyone can practice meditation. It's simple and inexpensive, and it doesn't require any special equipment.

And you can practice meditation wherever you are whether you're out for a walk, riding the bus, waiting at the doctor's office or even in the middle of a difficult business meeting.

Meditation has been practiced for thousands of years. Meditation originally was meant to help deepen understanding of the sacred and mystical forces of life. These days, meditation is commonly used for relaxation and stress reduction.

Meditation is considered a type of mind-body complementary medicine. Meditation produces a deep state of relaxation and a tranquil mind.

During meditation, you focus your attention and eliminate the stream of jumbled thoughts that may be crowding your mind and causing stress. This process may result in enhanced physical and emotional well-being.

Meditation can give you a sense of calm, peace and balance that benefits both your emotional well-being and your overall health.

And these benefits don't end when your meditation session ends. Meditation can help carry you more calmly through your day and may improve certain medical conditions.

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Meditation: Take a stress-reduction break wherever you are ...

This article is about a variety of mental disciplines used to induce specific modes or states of consciousness. For other uses, see Meditation (disambiguation).

Meditation is a practice in which an individual trains the mind or induces a mode of consciousness, either to realize some benefit[1] or as an end in itself.[2]

The term meditation refers to a broad variety of practices (much like the term sports) that includes techniques designed to promote relaxation, build internal energy or life force (qi, ki, prana, etc.) and develop compassion,[3] love, patience, generosity and forgiveness. A particularly ambitious form of meditation aims at effortlessly sustained single-pointed concentration[4] meant to enable its practitioner to enjoy an indestructible sense of well-being while engaging in any life activity.

The word meditation carries different meanings in different contexts. Meditation has been practiced since antiquity as a component of numerous religious traditions and beliefs.[5] Meditation often involves an internal effort to self-regulate the mind in some way. Meditation is often used to clear the mind and ease many health issues, such as high blood pressure,[6]depression, and anxiety. It may be done sitting, or in an active wayfor instance, Buddhist monks involve awareness in their day-to-day activities as a form of mind-training. Prayer beads or other ritual objects are commonly used during meditation in order to keep track of or remind the practitioner about some aspect of the training.

Meditation may involve generating an emotional state for the purpose of analyzing that statesuch as anger, hatred, etc.or cultivating a particular mental response to various phenomena, such as compassion.[7] The term "meditation" can refer to the state itself, as well as to practices or techniques employed to cultivate the state.[8] Meditation may also involve repeating a mantra and closing the eyes.[9] The mantra is chosen based on its suitability to the individual meditator. Meditation has a calming effect and directs awareness inward until pure awareness is achieved, described as "being awake inside without being aware of anything except awareness itself."[10] In brief, there are dozens of specific styles of meditation practice, and many different types of activity commonly referred to as meditative practices.[11]

The English meditation is derived from the Latin meditatio, from a verb meditari, meaning "to think, contemplate, devise, ponder".[12]

In the Old Testament, hg (Hebrew: ) means to sigh or murmur, and also, to meditate.[13] When the Hebrew Bible was translated into Greek, hg became the Greek melete. The Latin Bible then translated hg/melete into meditatio.[14] The use of the term meditatio as part of a formal, stepwise process of meditation goes back to the 12th-century monk Guigo II.[15]

The Tibetan word for meditation "Gom" means "to become familiar with one's Self" and has the strong implication of training the mind to be familiar with states that are beneficial: concentration, compassion, correct understanding, patience, humility, perseverance, etc.[16]

Apart from its historical usage, the term meditation was introduced as a translation for Eastern spiritual practices, referred to as dhyna in Buddhism and in Hinduism, which comes from the Sanskrit root dhyai, meaning to contemplate or meditate.[8][17] The term "meditation" in English may also refer to practices from Islamic Sufism,[18] or other traditions such as Jewish Kabbalah and Christian Hesychasm.[19] An edited book about "meditation" published in 2003, for example, included chapter contributions by authors describing Hindu, Buddhist, Taoist, Jewish, Christian and Islamic traditions.[20][21] Scholars have noted that "the term 'meditation' as it has entered contemporary usage" is parallel to the term "contemplation" in Christianity,[22] but in many cases, practices similar to modern forms of meditation were simply called 'prayer'. Christian, Judaic and Islamic forms of meditation are typically devotional, scriptural or thematic, while Asian forms of meditation are often more purely technical.[23]

The history of meditation is intimately bound up with the religious context within which it was practiced.[24][clarification needed] Some authors have even suggested the hypothesis that the emergence of the capacity for focused attention, an element of many methods of meditation,[25] may have contributed to the final phases of human biological evolution.[26] Some of the earliest references to meditation are found in the Hindu Vedas.[24] Wilson translates the most famous Vedic mantra 'Gayatri' thus: "We meditate on that desirable light of the divine Savitri, who influences our pious rites" (Rgveda: Mandala-3, Sukta-62, Rcha-10). Around the 6th to 5th centuries BCE, other forms of meditation developed in Taoist China and Buddhist India.[24]

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Meditation - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

With the hectic pace and demands of modern life, many people feel stressed and over-worked. It often feels like there is just not enough time in the day to get everything done. Our stress and tiredness make us unhappy, impatient and frustrated. It can even affect our health. We are often so busy we feel there is no time to stop and meditate! But meditation actually gives you more time by making your mind calmer and more focused. A simple ten or fifteen minute breathing meditation as explained below can help you to overcome your stress and find some inner peace and balance. 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 found in the Buddhist tradition. This is a profound spiritual practice you can enjoy throughout the day, not just while seated in meditation.

On this website you can learn the basics of Buddhist meditation. A few books are mentioned that will help you to deepen your understanding if you wish to explore further. Anyone can benefit from the meditations given here, Buddhist or not. We hope that you find this website useful and that you learn to enjoy the inner peace that comes from meditation.

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How to Meditate - Guided Meditation Techniques - Buddhist ...

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Learning Meditation at LearningMeditation.com

If sitting on a cushion bend your legs in. If sitting on a bench or chair, plant the soles of your feet on the floor or ground for balance. Either way, fold your hands in your lap or place them palms down or palms up on your thighs. Keep your back erect, close your eyes.

Say a prayer or positive affirmation. If you have a request, now is the time to make it. The silence of meditation will be for listening for information that may surface up in your consciousness.

Breathe in deeply and slowly release your breath. Then begin even, regular cycles of breathing, such as one count to inhale, and one count to exhale. Keep up this pattern throughout the rest of your meditation, without actually saying the counts.

Even and regular breathing is like a river of peace that washes through you and carries you along on its gently ripples, flowing gently and supporting all your efforts. For this meditation pay attention to the swelling breath on the inhalation, and observe it ripple from you as you breathe out.

Continue to watch the rippling effect of the tide of breath and align your thoughts with peace, by taking peace in on the inhalation, and releasing peace to the world on the exhalation.

Finish your peace meditation with thoughts of gratefulness for what you have, and wishes of peace for others. Take a deep inhalation, slowly exhale, open your eyes, stretch out, and go forth peacefully.

I invite you to join me in a daily world peace cyber group meditation. Click the article here to read about it.

Meditation Lessons for Teens and Adults More than 70 offerings, from guided meditation techniques to on-the-go stress relief and relationship meditations interspersed with verse, and a section of special occasion prayers. 114 pages. PDF Ebook | EPUB | Paperback | Mac Users | B&N NOOK eBook | Kindle

Meditation for All Kids Sitting, walking, dance and group circle meditations, along with positive affirmations, verses and benefits of meditation for kids of all ages and abilities in a 100 page book with illustrations. PDF Ebook | EPUB | Paperback | Mac Users | B&N NOOK eBook | Kindle

Article by Susan Helene Kramer

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Flowing on the River of Peace Meditation