Stress is one of the main current problems. We work and live in a stressful environment, and the pressure overload is disrupting the lives of young and old alike. Although stress is not inherently bad, being overloaded can damage your mind and body. Problems at work, broken relationships with co-workers or family members, unbridled ambition, and financial worries are some of the stressors that bombard the nervous system, affecting work, family life, and wealth.

Stress is cumulative. Little problems can build up until the nervous system can’t take any more. Behavior changes follow and coping mechanisms fail. Some can handle stress better than others. But there are people who worry chronically and anticipate problems even before they arise. There are others who keep their emotions bottled up until there is a sudden outburst in the form of a nervous breakdown.

Medications can provide temporary relief from anxiety. But after the effects wear off, the person may feel more anxious than before. This can lead to drug dependency.

Although stress cannot be completely eliminated, it is possible to correct wrong assumptions and incorrect responses to stress. Various exercises and relaxation techniques have been prescribed. But what is gaining ground for stress and stress related problems is meditation and meditative prayer. Meditation helps one to focus on something other than what is causing stress. Relax your mind and change the way you react to difficult situations. Meditation has been practiced for thousands of years, primarily as a means of gaining spiritual enlightenment. It regained popularity in the 1960s when the Beatles and other pop musicians embraced Eastern music and spirituality.

Various forms of meditation have been tried.

• Putting oneself in a trance state by visualizing a pleasant, peaceful scene and even experiencing the sights, smells, sounds, and colors of the scene.
• Chanting mantras: repeating a word over and over again until it gains its own momentum and expels all disturbing thoughts. This is a form of self-hypnosis and is accomplished through one’s own effort.
• The Silva Method was launched in 1966 by José Silva, a Mexican-American. It is a combination of positive thinking, visualization, meditation, and self-hypnosis. Silva claimed that this would help to take conscious control of the mind and even tap into one’s higher consciousness.
• Tai-Chai technique (totality). Here slow circular dance movements are performed in the open air. Flowing, graceful movements are effective against anxiety and stress because participants are encouraged to let go of stressful thoughts.
• The mantra meditation propagated by Maharshi Mahayogi contemplates the involvement of “a supernatural power”. He called it a “supreme self-help method” to control thoughts and calm the body through the use of a form of mantra and achieve a calmer style of mental functioning.
  In all of these methods, the focus is on one’s own effort.
• However, true meditation is a silent communication with God to the exclusion of all else. As Morton Kelsey said: “The journey of inner meditation is not a weekend excursion to a land of sunshine and happiness. It is a way of life for people who really feel the need for it and who become aware of their need “.

Morton Kelsey was an Episcopal priest and counselor, who at one point in his life suffered from anxiety and depression. His meeting with a Jungian Jew named Max Zeller convinced him that God is real and that meditation and prayer can relieve stress. Zeller had spent time in a Nazi concentration camp and attributed his peace of mind and his eventual release to God’s providence.

How to make meditation effective:

1. Have a firm belief in God.

2. Be aware of your deep sense of need and cultivate a keen desire to converse with God.

3. Find a quiet place where there is no disturbance. This quiet period is a time to expose your emotions of fear, insecurity, anxiety, jealousy, hate, or resentment. Only then can you take your mind off the burden of these stressors. As you sit comfortably and wait in silence, each part of the body is told to relax, so that the mind can focus on God.

4. Gradually, an inner stillness invades the mind and body, and one becomes deeply aware of God’s transforming presence.

A stressed young pastor turned to psychologist Carl Jung for a remedy.

“Simple,” said Jung, “Stick to a daily routine of eight hours of work, eight hours of sleep, and eight hours of silence in your study.”

After a month, the pastor returned to Jung.

“I have followed your advice: eight hours of work, eight hours of sleep and eight hours of quiet in my studio listening to soothing music by Chopin or Mozart and reading works by Herman Hess and Thomas Mann. But I find no improvement. I am still very stressed “.

“No wonder,” said Jung, “they asked you to be with yourself.”

“Oh! I can’t think of worse company,” exclaimed the pastor.

“However, this is what you impose on others for fourteen hours every day,” Jung said, “This should have been a contemplative experience and union with the Divine, in which no other external elements were involved.”

Stressed people can’t find even five minutes of time to sit quietly and commune with God. Worry and anxiety are your constant companions and take up most of your time. Meditation becomes easier through daily practice. One finds the strength to overcome stress and build a positive image of oneself. The maelstrom of problematic emotions dissipates. The French writer Senancour said: “Let us keep our sanctuaries silent, for in them eternal perspectives are revealed.”

5. Once a person has learned to meditate, meditative prayer becomes easy. One can disconnect from the world around him and pray while walking, driving or working, to get a spiritual adrenaline rush and overcome stressful moments. Bernardo de Clairvoux said: “Wherever you are, pray secretly within yourself.”

Meditation and meditative prayer are powerful anti-stress. They contribute to a healthy and satisfying life.