5 Ways to Do Meditation for Stress & Positivity

For most people, starting with meditation is a long overdue process. They do want to develop a habit of doing it regularly but often struggle with how to start. Well, worry not! 

Here are the best five ways to build your meditation practice. And if you are looking for a schedule for the entire month, I’ve posted it below to help.

1. Gratitude Meditation: In this meditation, you focus on the things you're grateful for in your life. You can reflect on specific people, experiences, or aspects of your life that bring you joy and appreciation. Cultivating gratitude can help shift your focus toward positivity.
2. Stress Reduction and Relaxation Meditation: This meditation aims to reduce stress and induce a state of relaxation. You can use techniques such as progressive muscle relaxation or guided imagery to release tension and calm your mind.
3. Self-Compassion Meditation: Self-compassion meditation involves treating yourself with the same kindness and understanding that you would offer to a friend. By practicing self-compassion, you can reduce self-criticism and develop a more positive and forgiving relationship with yourself.
4. Mindful Breathing for Stress Relief: Mindful breathing techniques can help you manage stress by bringing your attention to the present moment. Techniques like the 4-7-8 breath or deep abdominal breathing can be effective in calming your nervous system and reducing stress.
5. Positive Affirmations Meditation: Positive affirmations are statements that promote a positive mindset and self-belief. In this meditation, you can repeat affirmations that resonate with you, focusing on cultivating a positive self-image and reducing negative self-talk. To start with, if nothing comes to your mind, read these meditation quotes to give a direction to your thoughts. 

These meditation practices are specifically designed to promote positivity and manage stress effectively. Regular practice of these meditations can help improve your overall well-being and resilience to life's challenges.

These meditation practices are easy to build because they require minimal resources and can be adapted to fit any schedule. It doesn't demand elaborate equipment or special settings, making it accessible to virtually everyone. Moreover, listed above are flexible practices that can be tailored to suit individual preferences. Whether it's a short five-minute session or a more extended practice, meditation can be integrated seamlessly into daily routines. The simplicity of focusing on the breath or a chosen point of attention makes it approachable for beginners. Additionally, the benefits of meditation, such as reduced stress and enhanced mental clarity, provide immediate positive reinforcement, motivating individuals to establish and maintain this valuable practice. 

How to Calm Yourself

Finding moments of calm and inner peace has become essential for overall well-being. The practice of meditation has gained popularity as an effective means of achieving this tranquility. One unique approach to meditation is Rajyoga, which promotes offbeat spirituality and connects individuals with their inner selves. 

The Importance of Meditation

Meditation is an ancient practice that dates back thousands of years and has been embraced by various cultures and religions. It involves training the mind to focus and redirect thoughts, leading to a heightened sense of awareness, self motivation and a deep state of relaxation. Numerous studies have demonstrated the benefits of regular meditation, such as reduced stress, improved emotional well-being, enhanced concentration, and increased self-awareness. In our fast-paced society, where stress, anxiety, and distractions are prevalent, meditation serves as a powerful tool to help individuals regain control over their thoughts and emotions. By practicing meditation, one can learn to stay present in the moment, accept things as they are, and cultivate a sense of inner peace even amidst external challenges. 

Rajyoga: An Offbeat Approach to Spirituality

Rajyoga is an ancient meditation practice that originated in India. Unlike traditional forms of meditation, Rajyoga emphasizes a unique approach to spirituality that seeks to establish a direct connection between the individual soul and the Supreme Soul (often referred to as God or the Divine). This connection is believed to foster spiritual growth, inner strength, and a sense of purpose in life.

 In Rajyoga, meditation is not seen as an escape from reality but rather a way to engage with it more deeply. By acknowledging the eternal nature of the soul and its relationship with the Divine, practitioners of Rajyoga strive to embody virtues such as love, peace, and compassion. This offbeat spirituality encourages individuals to move away from external rituals and dogmas, and instead, explore their inner self for genuine transformation. 

Learning Meditation: A Personal Journey

Embarking on a meditation journey with Rajyoga and offbeat spirituality requires dedication, patience, and an open mind. The following steps can guide you in establishing a regular meditation practice:

• Embarking on a meditation journey with Rajyoga and offbeat spirituality requires dedication, patience, and an open mind. The following steps can guide you in establishing a regular meditation practice:
• Set a Regular Schedule: Dedicate a specific time each day to practice meditation. Consistency is key to reaping the full benefits of meditation.
• Adopt a Comfortable Posture: Sit in a posture that allows you to stay relaxed yet alert. You can sit cross-legged on the floor, use a meditation cushion, or sit on a chair with your feet flat on the ground.
• Focus on Breath: Begin by paying attention to your breath. Observe the inhalation and exhalation without trying to control it. This simple act helps calm the mind and brings you into the present moment.
• Listen to meditation Commentary: In Rajyoga, meditation commentaries are often used to give a direction of thoughts to the mind.
• Embrace Silence: As thoughts arise, let them come and go without judgment. Return your focus to the effect of meditational thoughts.
• Gradual Progression: Start with short meditation sessions and gradually increase the duration as you become more comfortable with the practice.
• Seek Guidance: If you find it challenging to meditate on your own, consider joining a meditation group or seeking guidance from a qualified meditation teacher.

Conclusion

In conclusion, meditation is an invaluable practice for cultivating inner calm, self-awareness, and spiritual growth. The unique approach of Rajyoga and offbeat spirituality, with its emphasis on establishing a connection between the individual soul and the Divine, offers a transformative path to inner peace. By incorporating meditation into our daily lives, we can navigate the challenges of the modern world with greater resilience and find solace in our journey of self-discovery.

Remember, meditation is a personal journey, and it may take time to experience its full benefits. Patience, perseverance, and an open heart are essential as you embark on this path to inner tranquility and spiritual awakening.

Is Mindfulness Meditation Dangerous?

Sit, breathe, watch your thoughts – the daily practice of mindful meditation is not as simple as it seems. If done with focus, it helps in more ways than one can imagine. For example, some patients with chronic pain have used mindfulness to manage their suffering. Mindfulness doesn’t make the pain go away, but it certainly makes it manageable, pushing it to a place where it can be dealt with.

 What is meditation?

For years, scientists have used techniques to study the effects of meditation. In an experiment done by BBC, a patient’s MRI was conducted in which she was first asked to let her mind wander and later meditate. The technology captured her mind waves in both the scenario, with the right one showing significant reduction in the thoughts during and after meditation.

This shows the physically consistent proof of the benefits of meditation. One of the major advantages of mindfulness it that it helps to reduce the ‘me bit’ of a personality. Called ego in common language, it shifts in the pristine range, thereby making it possible to act to a situation and not just react to it.

Here's how to act & not react

How we pay attention?

It is easy to overlook, it shapes our world. But with digital culture, our attention spans have reduced significantly. Reaching to our phones compulsively, checking news headlines several times a day, or wandering off to Instagram pages – all the fuss of digital distraction is real.

Is Mindfulness Meditation Dangerous?

No, not if done with proper guidance. Research shows that after practicing mindfulness, the grey matter in your brain's amygdala – a region known for its role in stress – can become smaller. Mindfulness and creativity. The pre-frontal cortex is the area of your brain responsible for things like planning, problem-solving, and controlling your emotions.

Read More:

Happiness is a Decision

Be The Hope

Managing Distractions  

Demystifying The 4:00 am Morning Routine

What happens when you get up early?

That’s a question I have researched many times. I like getting up early and knowing that it does good for my body & mood; I get that extra strength to keep this habit. In this article, I explore some of the deeper mysteries of how the mind works when it is activated earlier than usual. Hope you feel as inspired reading it as much as I loved writing it.

Making the morning routine

To those who can get up early without setting alarm, I say you are blessed. Not many have that much of control over the self. To me, the greatest thing that made me develop this habit was reframing my idea of it. I had tried everything. From putting up a running gear in bed for the morning to setting puzzles as the alarm on the phone, I did it all. Some days I got up before the alarm even rang, but other days were a pain. I slogged out of bed, put down the alarm, and slept again. The intoxicating morning sleep had me in its ever-long grasps. Every night I would go to sleep while making a promise to myself about getting up early, and most times I bailed when the actual moment of the test arose.

Then I began a routine. I started writing a gratitude journal. Every night, I wrote 3 things I was grateful for. I never repeated. I thought of different things for every day. And when I slept, those pointers started getting registered in my mind. I did this for about 21 days, which is the time a person takes to develop a new habit

Then I began noticing change in my happiness level

This was the changing point, because it gave me the motivation to carry on. Being a freelancer, I need high energy throughout the day. In my work there is no one else to talk. I am alone every day, working on with words to create sentences that someday become part of a story. I can’t afford to be spiritless. It directly affects my work quality and reduces my client retention capability.

The amount of energy each one has is the same. You can learn to save it by not plugging into activities that drain it out. I call it Maintaining The Higher Connection. During the day, I take a moment away from work to sit in absolute silence. During this minute, I feel myself as a being who is in touch with the Higher Power. It is just like charging a phone. If a phone is not charged when its battery is about to end, it dies. When a non-living being thing needs energy to work, don’t we – the most beautiful creation of God? I use this as a basis to converse with the Higher Energy, sharing my thoughts and observation of that hour. This relaxes me, gives me new perspective on  the projects I am working on and removes negativity. This is a fun thing to do. Doesn’t take much time, but has hell lot of benefits.

You don’t need extra time to meditate. You have it already.

Meditation has to do more with state of mind than anything else. When I began getting up at 4:00 am, I realized I have more time on my hands than the rest. It made me happy. I had extra hours because others were sleeping. The whole world around me was still in dreams. I could go for a jog, write, do yoga/stretching and use that time better than others. I did all of it, making sure that I did not repeat any activity for a week. That ways, I always had diversity in my morning routine. This gave me a reason to get up before sunrise and build up a consistency that I still take pride in.

Like anything you read? Want to experience meditation? I am one crazy-about-meditation kind of person who likes to experiment it as much as I can. Give me a shout at sood(dot)nitima(at)gmail(dot)com & I’d love to share! 

Love,

Nitima

www.writingroutes.com 

10 Commandments to Be Happy

1. Thou shall always give. If you have nothing else, give peaceful vibrations.
2. Thou shall smile at atleast five strangers every day.
3. Before thou sleep at night, thou shall spend 10 minutes in deep breathing.
4. Thou shall make an effort to contact those with whom you aren’t on speaking terms at least once an year.
5. On festivals/birthdays/important days, thou shall call friends/family members and wish them personally instead of sending a WhatsApp message.
6. Thou shall not lie or take advantage of any person/position.
7. Thou shall not corrupt your mind with wasteful thoughts that drain energy. 
8. Thou shall learn to identify your negative emotions – irritability, anger, hatred, jealously, indifference and offer yourself for redemption to the higher power.
9. Thou shall walk/tender to plants/play with pets/jog/run/dance/workout/play thrice a week for 20 minutes. 
10. Thou shall cooperate with/extend help to at least one person every day.

Why is Meditation Important?

How do you feel when your opinion is rejected? I get dejected. Even if I don’t want to fall in the trap of emotional anger, I still do. Then what follows is a series of self-improvement talks with self. I sit in meditation, emerge that person in front of me and try to give some of my positive energy. From where I started 10 years back, there is a lot of difference in the way I handle a conflict. But there’s a long way to go. And that’s why meditation is important to me. 

"The more elevated thoughts you create, the more your value increases."

Meditation has taught me self-control. It has given me the power not to spread negative emotions. If there’s a conflict, I try not to drag it beyond a point. Meditation for is a transformative power which makes living better. It is not just about sitting on a floor and concentrating hard on a single point, but being aware about everything. It is the most direct way to generate intimacy with your own thoughts, cultivating deeper experiences and an understanding of others’ behaviours. It transcends innate capacities to bring about an affair of love with the connection with self. 

A study by Harvard researchers shows benefits of meditation against multitude of conditions both physical and mental. Common physical ailments like irritable bowel syndrome, anxiety, blood pressure, depression, chronic pain, and stress can be controlled. Numerous patients have shown significant improvements by engaging in meditation program, with some of the results becoming better than other existing treatments. The act of letting your inner self take a seat, ponder on thoughts that your mind generate and filtering out what gives you energy on a regular basis is a profound expression of self-care.  

Thoughts for Meditation

From my experience of learning and teaching mindfulness, I am listing 15 thoughts for meditation. You can take a single thought and create your own version of feelings with it or combine a few together for a greater depth of your meditation experience.

1. I am a soul, a point of light, an energy with infinite potential.
   
2. I am a peaceful soul. Peace is my nature. It defines me.
   
3. I will treat everyone with care, compassion and courtesy today. This is how I’ll make the world a better place today.
   
4. My life is worth my peace. I will not let go of my peacefulness. 
   
5. I am in clouds, flying above the disturbances of everydays’ disturbances. This is my peaceful state and no one can move me from it. I will not allow myself to come down from this lightness.
   
6. From these eyes, I see the beauty of this world. From colourful flowers to the sound of raindrops and twinkling stars in the sky – I see and feel everything.
   
7. My existence is just for this moment. Let me savour this.
   
8. Today is the day I will let go of my anger. I will not be irritated or disturbed.
   
9. As I sit in the stillness, I am getting free from overthinking. I will not disturb anyone today or get disturbed by anyone.
   
10. I will not react to anything today. 
    
11. I accept everyone as they are. 
    
12. I will think only useful thoughts today. I am light. I am peaceful.
    
13. I will not give sorrow to anyone today, nor will I take it.
    
14. I will speak with care. I will not hurt anyone with my words.
    
15. My thoughts create my feelings. To save myself from useless and painful feelings, I’ll not think about useless or painful thoughts.
    

Some thoughts for meditation before I close this post. Meanwhile, if you want to read more, here’s my previous post on Finding Your Calm.