How Does Meditation Relieve Stress & Anxiety?

Meditation isn’t just about realigning your chakras and seeking answers from the universe. It is an exercise in relaxation, as you already know, but how does that reduce anxiety and stress? It’s in the act of meditation itself.

How it works

• Meditation is not just another activity it is an investment that will give you a fantastic return.
• In addition to being mentally and physically calming, you mind will develop greater focus leading to greater productivity.
• There are no barriers to meditation. It can be at any time and in any place.

Essentially, by forcing your body to relax, your emotions relax as well, and in turn this reduces the tension that causes your anxiety and stress.

Think about it this way, when you take a deep breath in and out, your body relaxes a little more, and the building tension in your head dissipates a little as well. Now, imagine spending a few minutes taking deep breaths. Not only will your body be much more relaxed than when you started, but whatever situation you’re worried about becomes less urgent.

So, meditation is a great and natural way to reduce stress and anxiety, but of course, not everyone knows how to start. So, here are a couple of ways you can consciously use to reduce stress and anxiety through meditation.

Mindfulness – A Common Practice

One of the most common practices in meditation, especially for beginners, is mindfulness. Mindfulness helps with letting go of your stress and anxiety. It doesn’t always mean that it’ll completely eradicate it, but it does help you see the bigger picture. Essentially, it means that you accept that you cannot control the situation, and eventually, you’ll understand that you don’t need to.

When you meditate, you open yourself up to what’s literally around you, the air, the floor, gravity, the noises in the room, the noises outside the room, spiritually and the universe. When you meditate using mindfulness-based practices, you’re reminding yourself that the universe is bigger than your problems, and while they may seem urgent and important, in the grand scheme of things, it’s just another drop in the ocean. With more relaxed thinking, you’ll eventually come up with solutions to your problems and simultaneously reduce your stress and anxiety, because you’re not overly focused on it.

Chakra Blockages

Another concept in meditation is chakra blockages and their effect on your stress and anxiety levels. It’s believed that when a chakra is blocked or misaligned, it can be detrimental to our physical body and our mind. In most cases, the chakra most associated with stress and anxiety is the solar plexus chakra, which governs our digestive system and our self-esteem or confidence.

Similarly, our throat chakra affects our mouth and throat as well as our communication abilities. So, if you’re anxious about what you want or need to say, then unblocking and realigning this chakra can help you clearly communicate what it is you want. Of course, other chakras can affect your anxiety and stress as well ,so when you meditate, try focusing on your chakras. You don’t have to focus on all of them at once. In fact, it might take you several sessions to realign your chakras, but by realigning your chakras, you will be able to lower your stress and anxiety, as having properly aligned and balanced chakras, allows energy to flow unhindered through the body.