Stress and Meditation.

 Stress takes energy away from the body’s needs, and distracts the mind. It also creates toxins in the body, attacking our immune system. Just listening to the ‘news’ causes us stress and worry: it’s also interesting how ‘sexed up’ news has become. We can do without this added stress in our lives!

Maybe stop listening and watching like an addict. The ‘news’ hasn’t changed in years: it’s all about terror nowadays, and it feels as if the media (and those behind the media) are doing the terrorising! It’s all about ‘what if?’ instead of ‘what is’!

Our lives are also stressed with work, and the expectations of family and neighbours, who still believe everything they hear in the media/programming.

This bring us to meditation, which of course is meant to de-stress – but if we are not careful, that can also be stressful, as we become fixated upon our practice, and caught up in do’s and don’ts, so losing our inner peace.

We have to be clear about the stages of meditation. To start, meditation is calming the body and mind, so that we are not taken over by circling, stressful thoughts. To do this, we either focus on a ‘support’ or rest in the gap of nowness.

The first stages of meditation are about relaxing and healing wounds – and feeling better. If we can calm down, we can cope better. It’s similar to applying an antidote to situations or emotions: these are only a temporary fix, as the situations and emotions will arise again. This is why we have to “upgrade”.

Mingling meditation with daily life.

This the main reason I write – because not everyone has the good fortune to hear about the “upgrade”. Meditation is more than sitting in peace on a comfy cushion, while expecting the world to conform to our needs (I’ve witnessed many students putting themselves under stress about being too cold or too hot – about things being not quite perfect…).

Once we have the experience of Empty Awareness (which is so ordinary, it’s shockingly missed), we can then allow thoughts to arise, as we no longer fixate upon them. Thoughts now become an expression of Emptiness, for the benefit of all sentient beings.

And that’s how we love!

In empty awareness

there is nothing to be stressed.

The only thing to be stressed

is that there is nothing to be stressed!

.

(Strange I just happened to come across this article this morning on stress,

http://www.naturalnews.com/040144_stress_hormones_weight_gain_supplements.html

And, this one on terrorism,

http://www.naturalnews.com/034321_war_on_terror_paranoia_hoax.html)