How To Lower Stress As We Get Older

How To Lower Stress As We get Older!

As we get older one of the most important questions in our minds is
how to lower stress?

If stress and worry about all manner of things haunts our every moment, then changing our focus could ease those symptoms and eventually help us to cope much better.

This beautiful photo is courtesy of Glenys Morgan ©
Focus On Flower Photography

Before we look at how to lower stress, a few words from Martha Beck:

“These days, I love silence….
For the first few minutes, my brain clatters and clangs like a stovetop of agitated, boiling pots and pans. But then I begin to hear the great silence around me, the stillness that underlines all sound. It seems to awaken a version of the same silence that lives within me. The two pools of quiet reach out for each other like magnets, like water droplets on a windshield. When they meet, the cacophony of my mind slows, calms, and on a good day, for a moment, stops.” from Leaving the Saints

Stillness and Wordlessness
Simply finding the quiet inside you.
If I used the word meditation, you might think Oh no, I’m not a yogi and I don’t understand mystical things.
But this is a shame because whilst meditation has been praticed for thousands of years to deepen the understanding of the sacred and mystical forces of life.
Today it’s widely used for relaxation and stress reduction.

Meditation or call it “relaxation technique” can be as formal or informal as you like it. It’s an unfussy way to relax the body and reduce stress. It is especially beneficial if you have a medical condition that is worsened by stress.

Anyone Can Practice Meditation
and it could answer the question “how to lower stress“
During meditation you focus your attention and eliminate the stream of jumbled thoughts that might be crowding your mind and causing you stress. Choose a quiet location and a comfortable position and allow yourself 10 minutes of calm, peace and balance. With a little practice your breathing will become deeper and more relaxed, giving you a feeling of wellbeing that will stay with you throughout the day.

“I’ve heard it said that prayer is the act of talking to God,
while meditation is the act of listening.”

Elizabeth Gilbert from Eat, Pray, Love

Where to Begin
There are many ways to begin practicing meditation alone. A CD with beautiful, relaxing music might help to calm your thoughts and reduce stress too. Or choose a guided meditation geared to a specific goal, relaxation, better sleep or reducing stress. These are available on CD or as a download and all you have to do is listen to your guide while they lead you through a series of relaxing visualizations . This is a very pleasurable experience and can bring about very positive changes in your body and mind.
It is always possible to listen to an excerpt from each meditation just make sure to listen to this quietly to get the feeling of calmness.
Another option might be to buy a book with the basics on how to lower stress with meditation and relaxation techniques.

Below I have listed the main streams of meditation and though they are very different they all have the same goal of inner peace.

• Guided Meditation is generally led by a therapist who will help you to visualize a relaxing place. Imagining colors, tastes, smells and feelings focuses all the senses and progressively deepens the meditation.
• Mantra meditation uses the repetition quietly or silently of a calming word or phrase to induce a deep state of relaxaton.
• Mindfulness is based on having an increased awareness of living in the present moment.
• Qi gong, part of traditional Chinese medicine combines, meditation, physical movement, and breathing exercises to restore and maintain balance.
• Tai Chi is a form of gentle Chinese martial arts, uses a self paced series of postures and movements in a slow graceful manner with deep breathing
• Yoga uses postures and controlled breathing to promote a more flexible body and calm mind. There are many forms of Yoga and some are excellent for beginners and those who wish to work on balance and flexibility.

More pages are planned to help beginners with relaxation and meditation techniques and how to lower stress. I hope to get experts in the various forms of meditation to explain each one in more detail. I will announce future pages on Facebook and in my Anti Aging in Action monthly Newsletter.

Carol Engelmann