Stress is a natural human response to difficulties and cannot be completely avoided. However, if stress begins to run our lives, it can be truly detrimental for our mental, emotional, social and physical (even spiritual) well-being. What do you do when you feel stressed out? Take deep breaths? Count down the hours until you can go for a run or have a bath? Call a trusted person and talk it out?
We each have coping mechanisms that support us through stressful moments—and here are just three (of the many) reasons why meditation can be a powerful tool to add to your anti-stress toolbox:
scientific evidence. Physical relaxation lowers the speed of our breath, pulse and blood pressure, which supports the body to tap into the relaxation response rather than be gripped by fight-or-flight response.
present-moment awareness. By teaching ourselves to stay in the present moment we begin to notice that many of our stresses are about what already occured in the past, or what is yet to happen in the future. This noticing allows us to remember that we can only ACT in the here and now, and gives us the opportunity to let go of that which we cannot control.
response vs. reaction. When we are stressed we are more likely to be reactionary in our circumstances: saying or doing things we may regret later, or internally creating unhelpful emotional and mental turmoil. Meditation teaches us to pause, breathe, and choose our response, rather than react out of habit.
If you haven’t already given meditation a try, next time you are stressed we invite you to take a mindful moment: pause, stay still, close your eyes, and breathe mindfully for one minute. Your stress levels will go down. We guarantee it! —Taraneh Erfan King
Taraneh Erfan King, founder of Mind on Spirit, is a wellness and spiritual writer, educator and speaker based in Vancouver. Register now for the September edition of her 30 Days to Mindful Living meditation course.
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