Disclaimer: General meditation practice and services like Meditation Rocks are not a replacement for, or a form of therapy, nor are they intended to cure, treat, or diagnose medical conditions. Meditation can, however, be a component of an overall treatment plan, when monitored by a healthcare professional.
April is Stress Awareness Month which has been running for the past twenty years to raise awareness of the causes and symptoms in stress in us all. We have all suffered stress at some point in our life and for many people the last two years have been challenging.
Here are eight popular questions on how meditation can help us to manage stress.
1. How can meditation help to relieve stress? Numerous studies have shown that when meditation practiced regularly (daily) it is an effective stress-management tool, ultimately reprogramming the brain of meditators. People who practice meditation regularly end up with more capacity to manage stress, even after just 8 weeks of regular practice. Meditation is about managing, not getting rid of stress. By altering our mindset, we can change our perception of stress and thus help our health and wellbeing.
2. But how does it actually work? When we meditate we train the brain to be less reactive, so we can cope better when life’s stressors build up. We can’t eliminate stress, but through meditation we learn to reframe how we view it.
3. What is the difference between Stress v Anxiety? Stress kicks in due to a situation we can see and comprehend — we tend to know what we’re dealing with and what’s building up and stressing us out. Anxiety, is a visceral feeling that can linger, and it is not always clear why it’s happening. While the terms are used interchangeably, they are different states.
4. What’s happening in the brain? It’s important to understand the role of the amygdala, (essentially 2 almond-sized processing chips in the brain that govern our senses, decisions, and moods). The amygdala works a bit like our emotional thermostat, regulating our reactions to stress and fear. Based on the level of threat it senses, it either remains on a cool and calm setting, or maybe cranks up like it’s supposed to in reaction to normal stressors, or it may overheat when we feel overstimulated, making us irrational and reactive. As we have evolved as humans, the amygdala has alerted us to life-and-death situations — like an approaching wild animal — and triggered our fight or flight response. But in modern times, it has been conditioned to react in a similar way to day-to-day causes of stress, so an approaching deadline, or breaking news alert can start to feel just as threatening as a hungry wolf.
5. How can we retrain the brain? The drip, drip, drip effect of stress actually reshapes the structure and neural pathways of our brain — a process called neuroplasticity. In other words, the brain gets reprogrammed by the experiences it is continually subjected to.The good news is that our minds can be trained to manage stress better. Studies using MRI scans have shown a regular meditation practice can shrink the amygdala, which helps us respond rather than react to stressful situations. So, think of meditation as a tool for self-regulation of the amygdala, helping it return to its baseline state — a more rational reaction to stress and fear. And so the more we meditate, the more we build this mental resilience that can increase our capacity to manage stress and be more aware.
6. Do we need stress? We actually need a level of stress, if we didn’t have the distress signal that makes us flee from danger, or feel that pressure to finish a project or homework on time. Some people even thrive in high-pressure careers, feeling completely in control in the fast lane and totally stressed out when things slow down. Stress feels very different to us all.
7. But isn’t meditation just sitting there doing nothing? That will stress me out even more! You are actually doing so much, by doing nothing. During stressful times, it can feel counterintuitive to sit still and do nothing — meditating can feel like the last thing we want to do. But when we feel like the pressure’s on, pressing pause is the best way to unwind the mind. The point of meditation in these circumstances is to get some head space. And in that space, we become aware of our stress. We don't resist it or try to push it away. We simply sit and let all thoughts and feelings rise to the surface and, when they do, we let them go by returning our attention to the breath. We get some perspective. This becomes easier over time, with practice and we can learn to rely on the breath as a release valve for stress.
8. What is I don’t want to meditate? There are other tools, such as physical exercise and breathing techniques which can help us in the moment. But when it comes to seeing long-term benefits in managing stress, and when we meditate consistently on a daily basis for at least 8 weeks, the science demonstrates that meditation is an effective intervention capable of altering the physical anatomy of the brain, with as little input as 10 minutes a day.
Meditation Rocks
The theme for this year's Stress Awareness Month is Community.
Meditation Rocks has a thriving members community of people who join the live meditation sessions each weekday morning at 8am, with Founder, Lucy Stone, but can also access the private members area of Meditation Rocks where there are almost 200 Meditation videos and audio files, written and presented by Lucy for you to access on demand.
All of the Meditations are around ten minutes long, and playlisted by mood so you can weave them into to your life whenever it suits you. You can also access all the recordings of the live sessions from the past month, in case you miss them live.
Stress Awareness Month
The charity behind Stress Awareness Month, the Stress Management Society, has set up a 30 Day Challenge for April, which (if it won't add more stress to your life) is encouraging us to pick one action each for your Physical, Mental and Emotional Wellbeing to carry out every day. You can download the 30 Day Challenge, a Daily De-Stressing Planner, a Stress Guide, 7 Steps Achievement Plan, useful infographics on stress and much more here.
Meditation Rocks membership is £8.08 a week or £25 a month, or you can take out a 3 month, 6 month or annual membership. All the information is here. We also work with schools, offering some free content here, and we run mindfulness sessions and training for businesses, more details here.
You can contact us for more information here.
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Bath, Bath And North East Somerset, England, United Kingdom
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