If you are a student, the chances are that you often find yourself stressing over one thing or another. Be it the mounting class assignments, high academic expectations, or your career prospects – there is plenty to worry about these days.

Eliminating stress entirely from your life is no easy task. Instead, what you can do is take steps that can help you alleviate the symptoms. And unquestionably, one of the most established methods of finding peace is meditation.

If you are thinking about how to start meditating, here are some of the different meditation techniques that you can use to reduce stress from your studies.

Breath Awareness

Ultimately, the purpose of meditation is to train awareness and attention. In the process, you will find yourself relaxing and forgetting about the things that concern you.

One of the ways to keep thoughts at bay is to focus on your breath. In this technique, you will be mindful about your breathing, slowing it down and taking deep breaths. You can choose to count your breaths which will help ignore thoughts like ‘how will I write my research paper‘ or when is the next test. Instead, you will find yourself getting more calm and relaxed.

Mantra Meditation

This type of meditation has many similarities to that of the Breath Awareness meditation.The key difference is that you will concentrate on a mantra instead of your breath. 

You will silently repeat a calming word, such as ‘Om’ – in your mind or out loud. By focusing only on the sound, you will learn to control your thoughts and other distractions. Eventually, by maintaining your concentration, you will be able to attain a state of complete relaxation. 

Progressive Relaxation

You might come across the progressive relaxation technique, also called ‘body scan.’ As you can gather from the name, this guided meditation encourages you to shift your focus to different areas of your body to loosen the tension. When you do, you might find any underlying tension and allow the muscles to relax.

Many of our muscles – especially the jaw and the neck – are almost always tightened in our normal posture. In a progressive relaxation session, you will start from one end of your body, usually the feet, and work your way up. You can also find several guided meditations that will suggest which parts of your body you need to focus on. 

Man practicing yoga on the mat at home

Yoga

Yoga aims to cultivate mental, physical, social, and emotional well-being. This is done through the regular practice of a range of techniques. It includes not only postures and movement but also breath awareness, relaxation, and meditation. 

In other words, yoga is one of the best ways for you to incorporate exercise into your daily routine that will help you achieve internal peace. In addition, practicing yoga can prepare you to focus on your body parts, making it easier for you to hold your attention during meditation.

Chakra Meditation

Chakra is a word derived from Sanskrit that means a wheel. According to disciplines such as yoga, there are seven chakras in our bodies. Each of these represents different energy centers. The goal of Chakra meditation is to focus your energy on these wheels that are situated along the spine – from the bottom to the crow of the top of the head.

If you are not used to this technique, it is best to go for a guided meditation first. You could benefit from some help on where you need to concentrate. Chakra meditation can be immensely powerful when done right. However, it will also take some time to get used to.

Walking Meditation

For students, another efficient method is to incorporate walking meditation. The traditional form of Kinhin walking meditation might be difficult for you to practice without guidance. Instead, you can try to derive the essence of it and incorporate it when you are walking.

The idea behind this is to focus on different aspects – such as your breath, the different parts of your body, or even your surroundings while you walk. By being more mindful of the activity, you will be able to alleviate the stress that comes from your thoughts.

Simple and Effective Breathing Meditation Technique

If you are completely new to meditation, here we have a quick technique that will help you right away.

To get started, you can choose a simple 4-7-8 breathing meditation by following these steps:

  • Sit in a comfortable position and empty your lungs. 
  • Breathe in through your nose for 4 seconds. 
  • Hold in your breath for 7 seconds. 
  • Exhale through your mouth for 8 seconds. 
  • Repeat this process four to five times. 

Even though it might be a bit of a struggle to get started at first, you will find that it rejuvenates your senses instantly. You can start by doing this twice a day. The more you do it, you will find it easier to handle, and the results will become more noticeable.

Meditation can be an effective practice for you to eliminate the stream of thoughts that causes stress from studies. With focused attention, it can help to enhance mental and physical well-being. You will feel refreshed instantly and will feel more prepared to attend to your tasks.

Most importantly, all you need is a quiet space and some free time for you to get started on this simple relaxation technique.

 

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Betty Bugle
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