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How Can Better Breathing Banish Stress?
Isabelle Boulay
One form of natural stress relief is meditation techniques,
which often involves the use of specific breathing techniques.
This stress relief technique helps calm the mind and create
an overall sense of peace and relaxation.
Meditation doesn't need to have a spiritual or religious agenda.
To be more precise, it is a natural treatment for stress and
anxiety that is accomplished by getting the mind, body, and
spirit in balance.
To achieve this, a person using meditation as a form of natural
stress relief should first find a quiet place. There are no
strict rules regarding body positioning when meditating, but
many people who use meditation as natural stress relief use
the lotus position. Which is sitting with the legs crossed
while keeping the back straight and the shoulders level. No
matter what position chosen when using meditation for natural
stress relief, it is best to keep the spine straight throughout
the meditation process. This encourages circulation and makes
it easier to breathe in the deep, slow fashion that is often
necessary for meditation.
After finding a quiet place to perform meditation, and after
assuming a position that is comfortable, it is time to begin
this process of natural stress relief. Some people prefer
to remain quiet while meditating. Still others close their
eyes and hum or make other repetitive noises to help clear
their minds and to block out thoughts and outside noises.
Many prefer to use specific breathing techniques and specific
thoughts in order to reach a meditative and relaxed state.
One method is to focus on each individual part of the body.
Give your self permission to relax until your entire body
is relaxed. At the same time, this method calls for taking
a few deep breaths. After these initial breaths, subsequent
breaths should be inhaled to the count of four, and then exhaled
to the count of eight.
There is no limit to the number of times meditation can be
used. This natural stress relief technique can be used as
often as necessary and for as long as needed because it does
not have the negative side effects of medication. In fact,
it is possible to gain relief from stress and anxiety with
just a one-minute session of meditation, though 20-30 minutes
of meditation is most common.
Many studies have been performed on the use of meditation
as a form of natural stress relief. These studies have shown
that meditation does, indeed, lower the biochemical byproducts
of stress. Meditation has also been proven to reduce blood
pressure and heart rate, as well as increase favorable brain
waves. This is unlike many stress-relieving medications, which
may temporarily reduce feelings of stress, but can cause long-term
harm to the body.
Studies at the Mind-Body Medical Institute, which is affiliated
with Harvard and several other Boston hospitals, has found
that meditation causes several biochemical and physical changes
associated with relaxation, including changes in heart rate,
metabolism, blood pressure, respiration, and brain chemistry.
With all of the positive research surrounding meditation and
relaxation breathing techniques, it is easy to see why thousands
of people use the techniques every day to relieve stress and
improve living.
Isabelle Boulay writes for Medopedia.com,
which has information on lasik
Wavefront surgery and sleep
apnea treatments
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