Every day, we typically encounter things that stress us out. Either it is an issue at work, family problems, or just a simple traffic, we might regard this as a challenge or threat to our well-being. Such things are expected as we go on with our daily routines. However, if we don't take care of them, they can become a full-blown anxiety. You may be suffering from an anxiety disorder if your worries, fears, or anxiety seem overwhelming and are already interfering with your daily life.
In some people, it is so frequent and severe that medical treatment is already required. Today, there are a number of treatments and self-help strategies that can help you reduce or eradicate anxiety. But one effective way for an anxiety treatment is through meditation. There are a number of benefits why a meditation is a natural way to treat an anxiety disorder.
Control Your Thought Process
The practice of meditation and clearing out your mind is a good way to treat anxiety. While performing meditation, your feelings that are hard for you to control such as anger and resentment, will be put aside. One great benefit of meditation is that it teaches you to control your thought process. Thus, the next time that you recognize you are starting to feel out of control, you can then do something about it.
A Way to Relax Your Muscles
With meditation, your mind will be calm and your body will be relaxed. Your muscles will also begin to feel less tense. By selecting a quiet location where you are more conscious of yourself, you can achieve this. Try to choose a place that is peaceful, quiet, tranquil and pollution-free. Your aim here is to lessen and relax anxiety. Thus, you have to do it in a place wherein you won't be interrupted and distracted.
Other Health Benefits
There are already a number of studies that proved that meditation helps in reducing the effects of anxiety. With this practice, you can lower your heart rate and you will be kept calm. The key here is to practice for about 15 to 20 minutes a day. You can either do it early morning or late in the evening. You just have to find a time of the day which works for you. Practicing it before going to bed is even one way to beat insomnia. To reap the full benefits of meditation, you have to do it regularly.
On the other hand, there is a particular kind of meditation which separates from the rest in treating an anxiety disorder and its associated symptoms: the Qigong meditation. It is a traditional Chinese medical technique which focuses on improving the flow of qi (life energy) in a person’s body. This kind of meditation has certain ways to teach you to avoid negative thoughts and control your thinking pattern. For instance, it states that anxiety is a sign of agitated heart energy and a heart energy imbalance can lead to physical symptoms of anxiety. Qigong then treats the anxiety by unblocking the Qi pathways in the heart. As a result, it can calm your mind, restores your mental balance, moderates your response to your surrounding environment, and lessen your body’s stress hormones.
Joseph E. Wright is a Qigong Meditation expert in Melbourne, Australia. MX Qigong is a Chi Kung Meditation Program with its roots in Chinese medicine, martial arts and philosophy. It is a health and meditation technique for inner healing and stress relief.