Meditate your stress away

Coral Freedman's life is hectic. As a full-time manager at a technology company, she is also studying for her MBA and still manages to find time for running, yoga, friends and countless other activities. Like many women, there is always some sort of stress beating down her door. But Freedman, 29, knows something a lot of women don't -- how to use daily meditation to ward off stress.

After being introduced to meditation through her yoga classes, Freedman began to practise meditation on her own to help gain control over her thoughts and keep stress at bay.

For nine minutes in the morning and nine more at night, Freedman sits cross--legged on her bedroom floor, closes her eyes, and touches the tips of the thumb and middle finger of each hand together. Inside her head she repeats her mantra: Om Namo Narayanaya. The phrase is meant to keep her mind focused so she doesn't think about anything except what is happening at that exact moment, allowing her mind and body to relax.

After a month she noticed that her stress level decreased. "I notice it in terms of the attachment and detachment to things. Instead of feeling like I'm riding the roller coaster of other things, I feel like I'm seeing the roller coaster happen and realizing it doesn't have to bug me as much."

Freedman also notices that she is more focused and can concentrate on the task at hand without being easily distracted.

Peggy Trainor says 85 per cent of the students who come to the Primordial Sound meditation classes she offers from her home, north of Toronto, are women. Trainor says these women, like Freedman, are searching for a better way to relieve the stress and anxiety in their lives.

The benefits of meditation
Trainor believes women need meditation because they often do things for family, friends and co--workers, without taking the time to replenish their own energy.

When you meditate you go into a very deep state of rest and calmness, one that is beyond sleep, explains Trainor. People feel better and they really are better because their blood pressure and heart rate is lower and they aren't pumping so much adrenaline into their bodies when they encounter stressful situations. "The most important part of meditation is integrating the peace that you get from the meditation into your daily life," explains Trainor. "So when the milk gets spilled you mop it up and just go on."

Page 1 of 2

Carrying this peaceful feeling over into your daily life is effortless, according to Trainor, and she believes if you commit to taking the time to meditate, the body takes care of the rest.

Lynn Cardinal, co-founder of The Kaivalya Centre in Ottawa, says meditation taught her about the power of the mind. Through the meditation teachings of philosopher Patanjali, she learned that any limitations she thought she had were self-imposed. Through meditation she learned to control her thoughts and use positive thinking to overcome obstacles she had perceived as insurmountable. Although French is her first language she was able to learn English, something she thought she could never do.

How it works
The most basic definition of meditation is "learning to guide my thoughts," says Trainor. It is a way for people to reach a deep state of relaxation that allows them to release deep-seeded stress. It is about spirituality -- not religion -- and getting to know your inner self.

There are two main types of meditation. Mindfulness meditation requires keeping your mind quiet and free of thoughts so you can release stress and relax. Listening to music or repeating a universal mantra, such as "Ohm," are common techniques used. Concentrative meditation involves listening to your thoughts, in order to learn about yourself, and knowing how to control them. Deep-breathing and positive thinking are utilized.

You can open or close your eyes and just sit comfortably. Lying down is not recommended because you may fall asleep and sleeping is not meditating. You can meditate with a group or alone, using an instructional tape or even listening to guided meditation over the Internet. There are many different options and the only way to find the best one for you is to experiment with different types.

Although both Cardinal and Trainor say the learning curve is higher when an instructor teaches you meditation, they both believe people can teach themselves how to meditate. Cardinal suggests spending 20 to 30 minutes meditating every morning and evening but if you're too busy, any amount of time is better than nothing.

Page 2 of 2