Saturday, August 23, 2008

Stress is part of life and in fact the human body has a natural way of fighting stress. However, excessive or constant stress is harmful to one’s wellbeing and is one of the top causes of serious illnesses such as heart disorders, hypertension, and cancer. This is because stress weakens the immune system and disrupts the chemical balance in the body.

A highly effective way to reduce stress levels is to find a stress relief activity that will relax your body and mind as well as give you an inner sense of calmness. The stress relief activity or activities that you choose should be simple and easy to do. Otherwise, you may not have the energy to go through with it.

Stress is often the result of overworking or spending too much time and energy on a task. Thus, a stress relief activity is intended to distract you from your daily work grind or take your mind off work for a short time every day to give your body time to relax and recover from stress.

A simple but effective stress relief activity is walking. Get out of the building or your home and walk around a couple of blocks or do a quick stroll in a nearby park just to refresh your mind. If you cannot leave your workplace, listening to music is a great alternative stress relief activity. While people have different tastes in music, classical music or instrumental music are the ones recommended for relaxation. Oftentimes, just having a coffee break with friends and talking about other things aside from work is a good enough stress relief activity.

If you are working from home or you are a stay-at-home parent, meditation is an ideal stress relief activity for you. Take some time off from your tasks and go to a quiet place in the house. This stress relief activity can also work for office workers and students if they can find a suitable place to meditate. Meditating is simply being still both physically and mentally for a few minutes, from 5 to 20 minutes or more depending on your preference.

Sit comfortably on a chair or on a mat on the floor. Make sure your back is straight. Close your eyes and concentrate on your breathing. Keep other thoughts away from your mind. Take deep, long breaths through your nose and each time you inhale, hold your breath for 3 seconds and then exhale slowly. Just keep doing this until you feel relaxed.

There are many other activities for stress relief including writing, stretching, gardening or doing some other hobby. The key is to find the stress relief activity that will suit you and will easily fit into your daily routine.

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Friday, August 22, 2008

Yoga is more than a physical discipline of keeping fit. It's an ancient concept, and has a lot to do with the philosophical and the spiritual. Various types of yoga are being taught and practiced in today’s world and it is very important to choose the correct type of yoga. Each type has its own philosophies and practices. Some styles of yoga are meditative and focused on spiritual centeredness. Other styles of yoga are more physical and based on poses or exercises. Yogas that are more physical are called Asanas. Hatha yoga is a popular type; it focuses on breathing control. Mantra yoga focuses on chanting and can be a very spiritual practice. Power yoga is great for building stamina and strength. At any rate they all seem to provide similar benefits for your mind and body.

The varieties of poses flow one into another, always breathing through the nose. Kundalini yoga aims to awaken the potential energies at the base of the spine (Symbolised as a coiled snake) and direct this energy upwards through the spine and the Chakras thus bringing about increasing degrees of enlightenment. Bikram Yoga is the method of yoga that is a comprehensive workout that includes all the components of fitness: muscular strength, muscular endurance, cardiovascular flexibility and weight loss. Ashtanga, or power yoga, is designed to build strength and endurance. It is an aggressive workout where you move quickly from one pose to another. Ashtanga is for you if you're looking for a tough, physically challenging workout.

Mantra Yoga involves the practice of chanting words or phrases repeatedly either aloud or internally thus influencing the consciousness. Jnana yoga is another popular type of yoga. This type of yoga generally emphasizes on mind in order to discern the mind. The main goal of Jnana yoga is to make an effort eternally to know, to understand and to explore more and more knowledge. Kriya Yoga is a very systemised form of yoga from the Tantras. Kriya yoga increases concentration and leads to meditation and ultimately to enlightenment but this is done more through awareness than pure concentration. Iyengar yoga is best type of yoga for beginners and for those who have not exercised at all. One can even use pillows and chairs to balance in case of lack of flexibility and if one is suffering from joint or back problems.

Wednesday, August 20, 2008

Stress is often referred to as the curse of modern era. Meditation is one of the proven methods for stress management. Meditation is a natural healing therapy, famous for its multifarious effects on a person. The routine practice of meditation therapy in the daily life has been seen to remove most of the ill effects of stress. The reasons of stress include busy schedules, change in working patterns and revisal of the relationship concepts. However stress management techniques are given much importance because of the serious impact of stress in the physiological, psychological and social aspect of the person. The relevance of meditation in stress management is mainly due its capability to provide alleviation to the effects of the stress.

Meditation is primarily a concentration technique, in which you focus to provide relaxation to mind. The relaxation of the mind is the basic necessity of stress management. Meditation is not a new technique; it prevails from ancient times as the method to bring tranquility to the mind. The increased acceptance of meditation in stress management is mainly because of the scientific evidence that support its effectiveness in that area. Experiments have shown that meditation will shift the brain waves from the right frontal cortex to left front cortex, which helps to change the mind from a tensed condition to a calmer state. With this practice, the body can switch the brain waves to resting alpha state or relaxing theta state and the stress inducing endocrine secretions such as cortisol and adrenal hormones can also be suppressed. The secretion of endorphins is also substantiated, which is a natural stress and pain reliever.

You can manage your stress through meditation effectively by including it in your daily routine. There are many different types of meditation techniques such as mindfulness meditation, concentrative meditation and transcendental meditation. Meditation practice is simple irrespective of the technique and requires only 15-20 minutes daily. It will be an effortless procedure and does not require any other probes to perform the meditation. To begin your meditation, simply sit or lie down and concentrate on a particular object or your breath.

Meditation is actually referred to as a fourth state of consciousness and regular attainment of the state will reflect in your outlook about the life positively. Not only your mind, but the body is also well maintained by the meditation. Meditation will reduce the psychological symptoms of stress such as depression, anxiety and panic attacks. This will provide behavioral and social changes, which will make you more creative and boost the talents to increase productivity.

The regular practice of meditation will help to manage stress as well as to avoid stress inducing situations. The natural enhancement of talents and mental capability will help for better planning, time utilization and proper management of the situation.

Monday, August 18, 2008

When you slow down to examine and experience your consciousness, you will discover that there are no hard, rigid or definable edges. Your consciousness is a vast, open space in which your thoughts come and go without making waves, albeit, as long as you let them go by neither attaching to them nor repressing them.

As you notice your thoughts form and let them go, you can breathe deeper and more easily, thus noticing that your body is more open to the breath as it relaxes with your mind. Thus, the space you recognize through meditation creates space in your body, allowing you to feel lightness and a connection to the universe.

Your mind and body are interconnected, and the condition of one affects the condition of the other. This is precisely why meditation is a powerful tool for healing the body, as powerful as physical therapies. When your mind is cluttered with thoughts, information, plans and a plethora of worries, your body responds by taking some kind of action. When your body has clear direction from your mind, it knows what to do, but a cluttered, unfocused mind creates a confused, tense body. Your muscles tighten, your breath quickens and you find yourself feeling constricted without knowing why.

When meditating, you let your body know that it is okay to be still and rest. This is a clear directive from your mind, and the body recognizes exactly how to respond. Thus at the beginning, you have created clarity for your body and mind. As you move deeper into meditation, the state of your mind reveals itself. You then have the opportunity to consciously settle it. Your thoughts settle down peacefully if you provide yourself with enough space, and your body will follow.

Dorothy M. Neddermeyer, PhD, Life Coach, Hypnotherapist, Author, "101 Great Ways To Improve Your Life." Dr. Dorothy has the unique gift of connecting people with a broad range of profound principles that resonate in the deepest part of their being. She brings awareness to concepts not typically obvious to one's daily thoughts and feelings. http://www.drdorothy.net