Guest Post: How to De-Stress

Atrialfibrillationblog.com: MAY 3, 2012 AT 6:48 AM.

One of the dictionary definitions of stress is “a force that deforms a body.” Anyone with atrial fibrillation understands how stress deforms a body.  Over the long run, stress accumulates, whether by littles (like a taxing commute) or by lots (losing a job, getting a divorce). As we age, we are less and less able to combat its effects, until something bad happens, like afib.

To reduce the cumulative effects of stress, we have to chip away at it every day. A vacation once a year with a few holidays sprinkled in between doesn’t do the job. I have found meditation to be an effective antidote to chronic stress.

Over the 15 years I have taught meditation, I have found that many people give up on meditation because they find it impossible to empty their minds of thought.

Emptying Your Mind

Often meditation instruction includes the direction to “empty your mind of thoughts.” Most people find this a difficult thing to achieve. How do you NOT think? Right now, don’t think about a lemon. Don’t think about the yellow color or how it makes your mouth water. Our minds think, that’s what they do. Trying to stop our thoughts just puts us in a wrestling match with our minds that we can’t win. Read more