How does meditation benefits stress? A way out

How does meditation benefits stress?

In this article I will describe how to bring meditation to your day-to-day life so that you can deal with stress as it arises.

Just yesterday – 20th March 2007 – I was feeling very stressed thinking of all that I had left undone in my website project. My mind was berating me continuously and I was feeling very tensed up as a result.

Also I was feeling a sense of revulsion at the thought of having to start work. I almost decided to take the day off. One of the advantages of being self employed is that you can work whenever you want to. It can easily turn into a disadvantage because if you don’t feel like working then nothing gets done.

I decided to rest for sometime as I had had too heavy a lunch and my stomach was feeling heavy. While lying down I maintained part awareness on my breath. But for most part I concentrated on feeling the feelings in my mind as they arose.

As I felt the waves of feelings (of stress) I reminded myself that this is the Buddha mind. These stressed feelings are also a manifestation of God. So treat the feelings with politeness and respect even reverence. This is the way meditation benefits stress.

And after some time in continuing with this exercise the feelings of stress began to dissolve on their own. The feeling of stress arose; I reminded myself that this is the Buddha mind, and the feeling dropped away on its own.

And what resulted was meditation. A feeling of well being and unfocussed awareness arose in me. I was lying down but I never actually fell asleep. I just rested in this feeling of well being, in this unfocussed awareness. And when I arose I was transformed. I was eager to start work again and the stress had disappeared. This is just one example of how meditation benefits stress. You will have to practice meditation and integrate it in your day-to-day life. But the results are more than worth it.

I use a variety of concepts or tools to deal with the stress in my life. You are free to use the same methods but it takes some work. Be warned – it is not an easy way but it works.

How meditation benefits stress and the concepts I use are explained as follows:-

1) All is Not-Self: According to the Vedanta or Advaita Hinduism, the ego is not the self. It is not you. The Body –Mind –Feeling – Intellect aggregate that you identify with and which forms the ego is not the self. More details on this line of reasoning can be found in The Quest of the Overself by Paul Brunton.

2) All is a manifestation of God: As applied to stress it means that the stressed feeling is also a manifestation of God. So treat it with politeness and respect.

Bodhidharma said that “This very mind is the Buddha”. So the next time you are stressed (or whenever you have a moment to spare) stop yourself and be one with your mind – its thoughts and feelings. It is all the Buddha mind. Tell yourself that this is what the Buddha mind requires of you at the moment. This is what God requires of you at the moment.

Treat the stressed feeling with respect and reverence. Do not try to thrust it away or reject it. Deal with it with love and non-violence. This is the way meditation benefits stress.

3) Awareness of the breath: At the same time you can be aware of the breath it’s coming and going. A simple exercise is to say to yourself as your breathe:-

“Breathing in I am aware of a feeling of stress, Breathing out I am aware of a feeling of stress”.

Do not grasp at the feeling, do not reject it or thrust it away. Just be aware of the feeling and the breath and have the feeling drop away of its own accord.

This will transform the energy of the stressed feeling. You will be one with it and the energy will be available for your use.

Thich Nhat Hanh says that this is similar to a skilled gardener using organic manure to grow roses. Like the gardener we can transform the negativity in our mind to roses of our choice.

It is a simple matter of transformation of energy and once you are comfortable with the method you will see that it is both possible and easy. So, this is how meditation benefits stress.

4) Impermanence: All is transient, all is unsatisfactory: What to talk of our feeling, experiences and achievements, we ourselves are going to pass away one day. In fact science tells us that the Universe itself will cease to exist in time to come.

Remind yourself that this stressed feeling will soon end and continue with the exercise described earlier in this article.

So, this again is how meditation benefits stress.

5) Mindfulness on Death: One quotation that has struck with me is this (I forget who said these words, but that is not important):-

“The Human mind is as much an organ for finding food as a pig’s snout”.

In other words our habits of compulsive thinking and the feelings of anxiety that keep coming up, all these arise because we wish to ensure the survival and comfort of our body.

But we cannot avoid death, no matter what we do. All our efforts to survive are ultimately going to be defeated. So there are sound reasons for not taking this whole drama so seriously.

Through mindfulness on death, if we can learn to be at peace with the prospect of our own passing then we can more easily dis-identify and not get caught up in our thoughts and feelings. This is the peace that passeth understanding and it is ours through the mindfulness on death practice.

For learning this practice, please refer The Tibetan Book on Living and Dying by Sogyal Rinpoche and No Death No Fear by Thich Nhat Hanh.

So these then are the ways how meditation benefits stress. These are the methods I have used to deal with stress and they work. And it is a long-term cure. You can use these methods and practices again and again whenever you need them.

It will take some work. You will have to read and think and do the meditation practices. But it is more than worth it.

Stress is extremely unpleasant. You know it; I know it, so make an effort and give it a shot. These methods work. I have practiced them in my own life. And I know that meditation benefits stress.

I hope you enjoyed this article and that it will be useful to you.

Stay tuned for more in this continuing series.

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