Meditation is a form of alternative medicine that promotes relaxing and mental calmness through the use of guiding or suspending thoughts for a certain period of time. Since meditation involves physical and mental relaxation, it’s a great way to relieve stress.

Meditation is actually a practical tool to reduce stress.

When some people hear about meditation as a way to relieve stress, they laugh and think it’s a bunch of baloney. They think that meditation is not a viable solution to eliminating stress. But research has shown that meditation works and is a practical technique for stress management.

The most notable research on meditation’s usefulness in relieving stress was done in 1968 by Dr. Herbert Benson of Harvard University. He conducted a series of experiments on popular meditation techniques and published his findings in the book “The Relaxation Response.” He discovered that meditation has a “real effect on reducing stress and controlling the fight-or-flight response.” Dr. Benson wrote that meditation increased the skin’s resistance to damage or infections, slowed the heartbeat and breathing rate, and reduced oxygen consumption.

Meditation is all about consciously relaxing your mind and body for a period of time. Meditation means that you need to focus inwardly so that your mind is basically so busy concentrating on breathing and body form that there’s no time to think about the events that are causing you stress.

Meditation doesn’t require hours of it to receive a benefit.

When you prepare yourself for meditation, be sure to set aside a certain amount of time where you’re guaranteed not to be interrupted. Meditation doesn’t require hours of practicing at a time for it to be effective in reducing stress. Practicing meditation in five- ten- or twenty-minute time slots is definitely helpful (even a couple minutes can help).

Effective meditation requires that you’re in a comfortable, quiet environment. This means that when you practice meditation, you should make sure that you’re wearing comfortable, unrestrictive clothing (although it can really be done in business attire too). The temperature (whether you’re indoors or outdoors) should also be comfortable for you in order to make your meditation session as effective as possible.

It’s normal for your mind to wander.

Stress-relieving meditation is all about concentration. Once you’re fully comfortable (you can sit or lie down) close your eyes. Focus your attention on your breathing throughout your entire meditation session. Count your breaths. You can even say the numbers out loud to discourage your mind from wandering to other thoughts.

Another way to help reduce wandering thoughts when you’re in a meditation session is to use imagery. Imagery is very popular in meditation. All you have to do with imagery is focus on something you consider refreshing or pleasant. Music is also a popular way to help mind concentration during meditation. You can do a monologue hum. Or you can use some soothing music that features plenty of nature sounds.

The key to meditation is mind management. When you learn to manage your mind, you can have a different relationship with your thoughts, and you’ll be able to help alleviate the physical and mental symptoms of stress. Sometimes it takes a bit of time to learn not to let your mind wander to other thoughts while you’re in a meditation session. Please know that it’s okay and normal for your mind to wander.  Gently chaperone those thoughts back to what your point of focus.  When you notice that your mind wanders, which it will, and then you gently bring it back, the more you will build that self-command muscle.  So, when life throws you a curve ball, you’ll have a better chance at finding the gift or opportunity in that challenge and be able to handle it with more ease.