Friday, June 12, 2009

Meditation for Treating Anxiety

By Gordon Dalwood

Anxiety remains a serious condition that many millions of people must contend with. With such high scores of people, there will be varying degrees of severity with the anxiety they must contend with. For some, the anxiety levels are quite minor but troubling. For others, the anxiety levels they face are severe enough that they face the constant threat of panic attacks. Regardless of the levels of anxiety one faces, it is important to seek treatment for the condition.

The most common treatments for anxiety include prescription medication and therapy/counseling. However, there are those that profess a different, holistic approach to treating anxiety. This approach entails engaging in meditation therapy and it has been known to provide excellent results for even those that deal with incredibly high levels of anxiety.

Unfortunately, there tends to be somewhat of a misconception with regards to meditation therapy, in that many people see it as being slightly weird, believing that it has little value to offer in a real world. To the contrary though, meditation is renowned for its ability to help one relax and this in itself, is the very foundation of dealing with anxiety. It is the resulting calmness which helps to block out all the "mental noise" which people have to cope with when anxiety strikes.

Contrary to what many people believe, basic meditation can in fact be done even when you're walking or moving. For the most part, meditation requires that you clear your mind of thought, primarily by distancing yourself from images, thought, events and people. Furthermore, in addition to being able to meditate on something in particular, one can also meditate with a totally clear mind instead. Interestingly enough, one method which has proved to be extremely popular, is to meditate on a Zen koan

What is a Zen koan? Essentially speaking, it's simply a rhetorical riddle which has no real definitive answer. The purpose of this is to help one develop skills for critical analysis in order to gain an insight into your own personal nature. Far from being as complex as it sounds, only simply has to relax while allowing your mind to relax simultaneously.

Meditation practices are not difficult to learn. The Internet is full of resources that describe this process in detail. The steps can be followed which will lead to a basic understanding of the best way to benefit from meditation.

Naturally there are some people who will be leery of meditating alone. Many people would rather be with other people to experience this. A solution to this is to sign up for yoga classes. The process of combining meditation with yoga will help to calm the mind and relieve the feelings of depression, anxiety, stress, and pain.

Furthermore, even when you are not participating in a yoga session, you should still continue practicing it at home as this will help you to get accustomed to meditating on your own in order to deal with anxiety attacks.

Whether or not this is the first time you've heard about meditation therapy, you can be rest assured that it's been in use for thousands of years already. Surely, if meditation didn't work, it wouldn't still be around today. If you suffer from anxiety, give it a try because after all, you have nothing to loose.

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