Fell Stressed? Tips For Meditation in Busy Life

In these troubling times, many people are focused on what's not working and what they do not have. With the pressures of bills, the job or the job hunt, the practices we most need to combat stress are the most neglected. We don't have time to exercise, to connect with friends or to meditation.Meditation is one such thing. We don't have time to neglect personal maintenance. And although research on meditation is still scattered thousands of "average" people can attest to the power of meditation in reducing pain, stress and depression while increasing their ability to focus and respond to challenges.Meditation comes in many forms. You can focus on your breath, a single thought, or a mantra to clear your mind. You can also do guided meditation focusing your breath to different parts of your body, or guiding your imagination to a peaceful place. A great way to reduce stress, meditation is essentially about strengthening the relationship between your mind and body.
If sitting with your eyes closed and trying to think of nothing sounds overwhelming, try to meditation for a minute. Simply sitting and breathing for only 60 seconds can really revitalize your brain.
Interested in trying meditation, but still don't think you have the time? Beginning meditation isn't as difficult as you might think. So, without taking any more of your time, here are five ways to fit much-needed meditation into your schedule.

• Keep it short. You don't have to set aside half an hour; you can start to feel the benefits with even a few minutes of regular meditation. Most advice on meditation for beginners suggests that you start with only 5 minutes.
• Have a focus. If you don't think you can focus while sitting with your eyes closed, it's okay to focus on an intricate object or a candle flame. Or you can close your eyes and listen to music. The important part for beginners is to be in the moment, rather than thinking about your to-do list.
• Have a regular time - or take time right before you go to bed. Even if you don't go to bed at a regular time, you can always make time right before you sleep. Your sleepiness might even help your meditation, clearing your mind. And your meditation will certainly help you relax so that you fall asleep faster and sleep better.
• Try some quick exercise and stretching beforehand. If it's hard to shift gears from paying bills to meditating, try a very quick exercise routine. It can be as a short as a few push ups and then holding some basic stretches for 10-20 seconds each.
• 5. Take meditation time where you find it. After a full day of work, heading to my three-hour evening class (and then to helping a friend with a late-night art project), I realized my best bet for mediation time was the train. Of course it wasn't the best of surroundings, and I was distracted. But I sat down, meditated to the screech of the train instead of to music and left the train much more relaxed and energetic than I had entered it. Take what you can get!

As for particular technique (position, chanting, breathing exercises or other aids), there is plenty of advice on the web. I prefer to sit cross-legged, but not in Lotus position, with my back against a wall for support. I close my eyes and focus on taking deep breaths, in through my nose and out through my mouth... and I let go of my worries.



Courtsey: Odemagazine.com

Exercise and meditation help matrics prepare

While most matric pupils are burning the midnight oil in the final countdown to exams on Tuesday, Nondumiso Gwala is consumed with exercising.

The Grade 12 pupil at Inkamana High School in Vryheid says exercise is helping to prepare her mind for the crucial exams taking place over the next month.

Apart from training twice a day, the 17-year-old girl from KwaMashu township in Durban says she is also praying “big time”.

“You have to relax and try not to stress a lot. You know you’ve been doing your work throughout the year,” she says. “Most people stress a lot and focus on stress more than what they should do.”

Her fellow pupil, Thabile Zuma, 18, from Oribi in Pietermaritzburg, prefers meditating and drinking black tea to boost her energy and concentration levels.

“But I’m more of an indoor person. During the holidays I spend most of the time doing my assignments and revisions so that I can understand the things I didn’t understand previously,” she says.

Gwala and Zuma have two things in common: they are more than ready for the exams and they both hope to pass with flying colours.

Their optimism may not be far-fetched if their school’s reputation for outstanding academic achievement is anything to go by.

Inkamana is renowned throughout the country for academic excellence: last year the school achieved a 100% pass rate for the 27th consecutive year. The school’s 26 matriculants all bagged matric exemptions too.

This year only 22 pupils will sit for the final year matric examination and the school is expected to achieve the same result as the previous years.

For the principal of this farm school, Isobel Steenkamp, the secret of their success is proper utilisation of available time during the year.

“We start from day one, using every minute for educational time. We take a lot of stress off our children and that’s one of our tricks.” Another trick up Steenkamp’s sleeve is her emphasis on developing the students’ life skills.

“Our emphasis is not just on academic performance because we believe that, if you develop the whole person, everything will fall into place,” she says.

Steenkamp, who has been at the school since 1982, says their focus on life skills prepare the pupils well for tertiary education. “We believe that, by helping them to get skills to manage life, they can manage their studies. We also try very hard to help students in their personal lives. We believe it doesn’t help to develop the brain and leave the person behind.”

Steenkamp takes the view that the Department of Education could play a major role in helping students develop “as a whole person and emotionally”.

“As a farm school we make a difference to SA society with the quality of students we produce. A school can be proud of its record when its former students are successful and coping in the working environment, ” says Steenkamp.

source: thetimes.co.za