It’s a well-known fact that meditation is a great way to relieve stress, and is recommended widely by mental health professionals to help relieve anxiety, stress, depression, and safeguard mental health. It almost seems like there are as many types of meditation as there are people in the world, including Transcendental Meditation, Heart Rhythm Meditation, Kundalini, Guided Visualization, Qi Gong, Mindfulness, and the list goes on.
In fact, if you Google “meditation types” to find one that’s best suited to your personality, you’ll come up with no less than 284 million entries. That can be pretty overwhelming in itself and can undoubtedly add to the stress you’re already feeling and trying to relieve.
But what if I told you choosing the type of meditation that’s best for you is much simpler than paging through all those entries? What if it was as simple as doing something that helps you relax. After all, isn’t relaxation the opposite of stress?
Below you’ll find a list of activities that don’t often show up on a list of meditation styles. But for those who can’t get comfortable sitting still for long periods of time and focusing on your breathing, you’ll most likely find something here that you can do on a regular basis. Any one of these activities, when done regularly, will have the same or better effect than regular meditation practice.
Self-Care
Breathe –When you’re under a lot of stress, you may be holding your breath longer or breathing more shallowly that normal. Set a timer to remind yourself to take a deep breath every few minutes. Get some good oxygen into your blood and let it do its work.
Massage/Facial– Full body massage can loosen tight muscles and help you to relax. A good facial can be relaxing and restorative and give you some quiet time.
Physical Activity
Exercise – Whether a robust workout or a gentle walk, any type of body movement gets your nervous system working and releases positive hormones.
Play – Hang out with kids and follow their lead. Kids can be a challenge when you have a lot of responsibilities and when you’re trying to get them to fit into what you need to do. BUT, follow their lead and they’ll take you into their world of imagination and play. Allow yourself to travel back to a simpler time when you didn’t have adult responsibilities.
Gardening – There’s lots of bending, stooping and squatting while creating a garden. Enjoy the smell of the rich garden soil, dig in the dirt, nurture plants from seedlings, feel the satisfaction of having grown a beautiful garden. And get into better physical shape, while doing it.
Walking or sitting in nature – walking through the woods, through a community garden, taking a ride out into the countryside can all have a calming effect when the daily pressures get to you.
Walking or sitting on the beach – listen to waves, smell the sea air, watch the birds do their dance as they catch their daily food. A relaxing walk on the beach will have a profound effect on your stress level.
Sports – Physical activity of any kind will get your body moving, take your focus off your current stressors and work out all that built up tension. Playing sports also includes human connection and satisfies your competitive spirit.
Creativity
Art – You don’t have to be an accomplished artist to do art. You can do spin-art, yarn art, macaroni art and still get the benefit of creating something. Focusing on your creation provides that much needed stress relief.
Colour – The act of colouring involves colour therapy that has an effect on your brain activity as well as provides focused repetitive motion that helps to calm your mind.
Knit, Crochet, Sew – Repetitive hand movement is believed to affect the brain circuits to induce relaxation
Paint, Draw –Focus, stretch your imagination and sense of accomplishment.
Journal – Expressive writing can help to get whatever’s building up in your mind out onto paper. Once those thoughts are out of your brain, they’re more manageable and you no longer have them building on themselves. Stretch your creativity further and use what you write to create a story or self-help article or book that may eventually help someone else.
Read – Get lost in a book that takes you away from your daily grind and puts you in a world of fantasy. Allow your imagination to stretch beyond its current limits.
Self-Expression
Sing – Get in the car, roll up the windows, blast the radio and sing at the top of your voice. Or if you’re brave enough, sing wherever you are.
Laugh – A good belly laugh has no comparison when it comes to relieving stress. Hang out with funny people, watch funny movies or TV shows, go to comedy clubs, read funny books. Find something that makes you laugh and indulge excessively.
Dance – Put on your favorite music and dance like no one’s watching. And if someone’s watching and starts to criticize, invite them in (dare them) to dance with you. Chances are, they’re too embarrassed to be themselves. Show them how.
Laughter Diary – When you hear something funny, write it down. Make note of things that make you laugh during the day. When you find yourself in a slump, open your laughter diary and read through it.
Listen to Music – Music is very calming. It doesn’t matter what type of music you like. Even rap music has a basic rhythm that gets you moving to the beat.
Acknowledgements List – How often do you acknowledge all the good things about you. Start a list of all your good qualities and add to it each day. Take it out and read it at the end of each day or when you need a self-esteem boost.
Connection
Connect with friends – It’s easy to lose track of friends when you get caught up in your day to day life. Make a regular appointment to get together with friends and let go of your daily routine.
Pets – Spend time with and connect with your pets. If you don’t have a pet, spend time with a friend’s pet or volunteer at an animal shelter. People who have pets tend to have lower blood pressure, heart rate and heart-disease risk than those who don’t.
Hugs – You can’t beat a good hug. It provides a close connection, calms your nervous system and boosts your positive emotions. And it has a double effect in that it benefits both the hugger and the huggee.
Volunteer at a shelter, food bank or nursing home – Takes the focus off your troubles and provides a different perspective. Provides human connection for yourself and for them.