Meditation Techniques for Students Dealing With Stress

Feb 16

Mark SingleyDepression and Anxiety, General, Health and School, Meditation No Comments

When most people think of meditation, they think of sitting in lotus position for hours at a time, either feeling quite peaceful, or feeling quite miserable, and desperately trying to feel peaceful.

This image of meditation, though partially correct, is not conducive to inner peace.

It is based on two erroneous beliefs.

  1. There is a right and a wrong way to meditate.
  2. You must leave every day life and sit quietly in order to meditate.

Neither of these two beliefs are particularly helpful, and, more importantly, they miss the spiritual principle that Life is the Best Mediation Practice.

Let us examine the above two erroneous beliefs, and see if we can clarify what mediation and “Life as the Meditation” are really about.

Firstly, there is no “wrong” in meditating. If you feel you are doing it wrong, then that feeling should become your mediation. Turn “wrongness” into “rightness.” IN other words, do not try to change what you are experiencing. That is the key to joy. Nothing needs to change on the inside. If you are uncomfortable or worried then let those feelings flow. Take the breaks off. Trying to control them is futile. Instead, be at peace with them. Be at peace with your uncomfortableness.

Deep meditation always transcends ideas of right and wrong. It may sound strange, but just as there is no way to do meditation wrong, there is also no way to do meditation right. This means that deep and true medition is about the integration of apparent opposites. When right integrates with wrong, they cancel each other out. They blend and they merge, just like the yin yang symbol. Who you are, your truest nature lies in the middle. The middle is where the deepest meditation comes from.

One way to help integrate the opposites, and experience the center, is through practicing walking meditation. Walking meditation helps integrate “motion” and “stillness.” In walking meditation, you learn to be still on the inside, while moving on the outside. This is the sacred integration that engenders peace.

Once you get used to walking meditation, it starts to become obvious that anything can be a meditation. Doing dishes, walking the dog, folding laundry, and so on. There is no reason to separate meditation from daily living. You must join the two together. You must unify the poles.

All meditation starts now. It has already begun. Do not look for it in lotus position. It is always right here and now. Do not look for how to meditate correctly, instead let what ever arises be your meditation. You are whole and complete now, uncomfortable feelings and all, and your meditation is a reflection of that wholeness. Ride that reflection naturally and effortlessly, and you will discover true integration in your self.

Major Depression-Signs and Prevention

Feb 16

Mark SingleyDepression and Anxiety, Health and School , , No Comments

College can be long, lonely and isolating. Some students develop depression, which is passing, but if it lingers it can become more serious.

Major depression can be quite severe and rob those diagnosed with this debilitating mental illness of their ambition to live. Unlike passing bouts of depression related to daily occurrences or life events, major depression is persistent and can be accompanied by other mental disorders as well, such as anxiety, paranoia, mania, and suicidal tendencies. Major depression can occur at any age to anyone, gender and ethnicity aside. This mental illness can become so cumbersome that sufferers cannot even get out of bed at times or participate in any favorite leisure activities that they enjoyed in the past.

According to the National Alliance on Mental Illness, which you can visit online at www.nami.org, approximately 9.9 million adults are afflicted with this condition in any given year. Of all mental illnesses, major depression is the most debilitating and is the leading cause of disability in the United States and many other developed countries. More than twice as many women than men are affected, and if untreated episodes can last from six months to a year or more, and lead to more serious situations, such as suicide. One a major depressive episode has occurred, it is highly likely that another episode will occur within that person’s lifetime.

There are different types of treatments for major depression, which usually include prescription drug treatment and psychotherapy. Of course before treatment can begin, the person suffering from symptoms of major depression must seek help or be encouraged to do so by friends and family. Major depression doesn’t just happen over night. It may start from a significant life event or develop slowly over a period of time, and symptoms may be very subtle at first, and the more severe the symptoms, the longer it will take for treatment to be effective. The most common symptoms patients with major depression report are feeling tired, sad, tearful, irritable, lack of appetite, or thoughts of self-harm.

If you or a loved one is suffering from major depression, then seek help from a qualified professional that can initiate treatment and get you or your loved one back on the track of life, and back to being happy. No one wants to spend their life in a bucket of tears, and no one has to, not with all the great new drug therapies and treatments available for major depression. It is possible to live symptom free with the right treatment, not to say that a relapse will never occur, but it will greatly improve quality of life for those who might have never thought it possible.