Concentrative Meditation Essay

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People with GAD dwell on their worries excessively, give to much attention to their fearful thoughts, and respond emotionally to negative images. Meditation can help the person to step back from these thoughts, emotions and images and view them as an observer watching from the outside this helps to reduce the stress response and put negative thinking into perspective. Meditation helps control of physical tension by inducing the relaxation response (Wilson, 2009). Steps for concentrative meditation, (1) find a quiet place, (2) sit in a comfortable position upright, (3) find an object to dwell on, for example your breathing, or on a particular word that is repeated, (4) a passive attitude, meaning do not get upset when distracting thoughts …show more content…

Meditation would help her physically by stimulating her parasympathetic nervous system and reducing body tension, clear her mind for better sleep, slow her breathing down and quiet her mind from racing thoughts, it would also give her a chance to slow down and take a break from her busy schedule. She should aim to practice meditation 10-20 minutes every day. Studies have shown that it is impossible to be relaxed as well as anxious at the same time. People with GAD have unrelenting, excessive, uncontrollably worries. The central cognition in people with GAD was summarised as "The world is potentially dangerous and I many not be able to cope with whatever comes from the future so I must anticipate all bad things that might happen so that is can avoid them or prepare for them" (Sibrava and Borkovec, 2006 as cited in Wilkinson et al., 2011, p. …show more content…

Aerobic exercise is anything exercise that elevates the respiration, heart and metalobic rate for 20-30 minutes. Aerobic exercises include running, brisk walking, swimming and cycling. Stretching and toning exercises are slow and sustained, they decrease muscle tension, improve circulation, can help relax the body, they also help focus and center the mind in the present moment. Yoga is a good example of a balanced stretching and toning program, and there is increasing evidence that yoga has psychological and well as physiological benefits. Yoga can be compared to progressive muscle relaxation where a muscle is tensed and relaxed systematically through out the body to produce relaxation response which decreases stress and tension, increases strength and balance, increases flexibility, lowers blood pressure and reduces cortisol levels (Thirthalli et al., 2013; Weiten et al., 2012), it improves psychological well-being, yoga involves concentrating on the breath and body which calms the mind by switching focus away from worries of the mind and brings the person into the present moment, rather than on the past or future. It also increases bodily awareness so the feelings of tension and stress are recognised earlier and can be reduced sooner, yoga it self is exercise and so the usual benefits of exercise are gained too (‘The psychological

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