The Best Way to Reduce Stress Naturally Without Meds

“Between stimulus and response is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and freedom”—Dr. Viktor Frankl

This is my favorite quote for managing stress. Stress is something that we can control. It is in our power to control stress, because stress is our own response to external factors. Symptoms of stress include; overthinking, heart palpitations, chest pain, headaches, hyperventilation and the like. This means that stress is our way of coping with perceived threats.

Meditation is a great way to reduce stress. It involves calming the mind and improving your mood. Meditation is not only for monks or spiritual people. It can be done by anyone. Don’t feel disheartened if you can’t focus on meditation. Start small, with 2 minutes of meditation and keep improving.

 Meditation can be done anywhere and however you like. Learn how to meditate by closing your eyes, focus on your breathing and enter a state of nothingness. Acknowledge random thoughts but do not dwell on them. Read on to find out how meditation reduces stress.

The Best Way to Reduce Stress Naturally Without Meds

Below are 5 ways how meditation reduces stress:

1 | Meditation manages how you respond to stress

Meditation helps you to reduce stress naturally by increasing the amount of oxygen in the body. Certain symptoms of stress such as hyperventilation and light headedness are combatted by meditation. It improves circulation of blood by bringing down the heart rate and thus supplying more oxygen and nutrients to the brain.

2 | Meditation increases emotional intelligence

Meditation is a way of practicing mindfulness. Mindfulness refers to a state of being aware of yourself, your surroundings and your emotions. When practicing mindfulness, you should observe your thoughts without any judgement. This helps you to get to know your feelings better. Mindfulness also helps you to live in the present rather than dwelling in the past or the future. This increases emotional intelligence. Emotional intelligence is important for reducing stress naturally. It helps you to recognize your feelings and react in an intelligent way.

3 | Meditation helps you find yourself

What better way to find yourself than to spend a lot of time alone with yourself? A lot of us don’t know who we really are. Do you ever really have a conversation with yourself, or observe your feelings with no bias? Meditation can help you learn things about yourself that you simply never knew. It brings you closer to the person you have become over the years. It makes it easier to communicate with yourself about your response to feelings and stress.

4 | Meditation improves sleep and relaxation

Meditation increases the circulation of blood in the body. Blood carrying oxygen and other nutrients is distributed throughout the body. This results in calm and rest. It helps you to let go of tension in your muscles and smooths out worry lines. Meditation causes stress to leave your body.

5 | Meditation improves memory and focus

Meditation trains your mind to concentrate better. Meditation is basically a workout for your mind. It improves cognitive functions such as memory, focus and attention. Meditation is also capable of boosting your mood. Take a deep breath right now and feel the good energy entering your body. The next time you feel stressed out, take a few deep breaths in order to boost your cognitive performance.

The best advice you can get on meditation is to keep practicing. If you start small but keep increasing your meditation time, you will learn to effortlessly hit one hour of pure meditation. All it takes is practice and consistency to reap the benefits of meditation to reduce stress naturally.