Meditation for Release: From grief to thoughts
Sometimes certain thoughts and beliefs really get in your way. For example, you may think that you shouldn't go out without your hair done. A simple ponytail, bun or cap just really can't be done, but that belief makes you stand in front of the mirror for hours before going out. In addition, other things can also stop you from moving on with your life, such as grief because you have lost something or someone.
In this article, I take a closer look at how meditation can help release emotions and thoughts.
There are multiple reasons why you may want to let go of something, such as grief, a traumatic memory, fears and even thoughts that bother you.
Releasing Traumatic Memory
If you’ve ever been in an accident, had a heated argument, or been sent away, you can end up traumatized by it. There are also women who become traumatized by a difficult childbirth. Never again! Yet you keep thinking back to that scary moment.
Meditation can help release these kinds of painful memories.
In fact, psychological healing and general well-being is promoted by meditation. Despite the fact that meditation is often seen as a way to escape from a memory, which is certainly possible, it is also a way to study the trauma and the thoughts you have associated with it correctly. This allows you to go through psychological development that will make the trauma less painful at the moment than it was ( 1).
Research conducted on children traumatized by the 2004 tsunami also shows that meditation can significantly reduce trauma in 71% of cases ( 2).
Meditation techniques that have been used for releasing traumatic memories are:
Breathing Meditation
Each therapy session, in which multiple meditation techniques were applied and taught, was preceded and ended with 15 minutes of breathing exercises to relax. During this meditation, the intention is to shift your attention to your breathing.
Mantra Meditation
In mantra meditation, you let the sound permeate your body all the way through. It keeps your brain engaged so you don't have to think about anything at all for a while. The "uncle" sound is best known, but in this study the mantra was: uchchadana. This is a little trickier and keeps your brain engaged in meditation better than uncle.
Guided Meditation
The guided meditation is accompanied by language and music. The function of the guided meditation is to help you relax. The text for this guided meditation, in researching meditation for tsunami victims, went something like this:
"Stand up and put your hands up. Imagine you are an ice cream cone. In the air, an ice cream melts very slowly. Just like the ice cream, your body also gradually starts to relax. The tension in your body gradually lessens and you melt more and more. The height of the ice cream becomes lower and lower as it melts. Just like the ice cream you also go down, slowly....slowly ever so slightly more....you melt ever so slightly more...and finally you lie flat on the ground."
Inner peace meditation
Inner peace meditation helps reduce stress and anxiety. Sit comfortably with your shoulders and chest in an open posture. Place your hands on your knees with your palms facing up. Press your tongue against the roof of your mouth just behind your front teeth and close your eyes slightly.
You breathe in and out quietly through your nose, and as your breathing deepens, you let go of your thoughts. You focus your attention to your body, deep within your body and find a place of peace there. You breathe deeply into this center of your body and feel how the air nourishes it and makes it bigger. You allow this peace to fill your whole body and radiate out to the rest of the world.
Mindfulness meditation
Mindfulness meditation helps those with the trauma to refocus on the present when the memory suddenly comes to you. This type of meditation has also been used with veterans with PTSD. That way, while you can relive the situation, you realize that you are currently in a different situation, so it has less impact on your daily functioning.
Releasing Grief
You can experience grief for many reasons. The loss of a loved one is the most obvious reason for grief, but not achieving a goal can also cause grief. For whatever reason you have grief, with meditation, something can be done about it.
To be more precise, Kundalini Yoga Meditation can help with this. This form of meditation is also suitable for addressing depression and anxiety and, in particular, for reducing symptoms of obsessive-compulsive disorder ( 3).
Initially, it is important to get into a meditative state. As with the research on meditation to release traumatic memories, it is important to do an exercise first so that you really get well into the meditation.
For Kundalini Yoga meditation, this means first sitting down with your feet flat on the ground and your back straight. You press your hands together as a kind of `prayer pose.' Your thumbs and fingers press together and point upward at an angle of about 60 degrees. You close your eyes and thereby focus on your third eye. You can imagine a kind of sunrise for this.
You also use a mantra. First you inhale and then on the exhale you say Ong Namo and breathe again. Then on the exhale you say Guru Dev Namo and repeat again with the first mantra. By doing this you avoid thinking all kinds of things and focus on your breathing. If all goes well you will feel the sounds in your chest. You repeat this at least 3 times and can continue up to 12 times if you feel comfortable.
Kundialini yoga meditation exercise for grief
You know how grief can sometimes put such a lump in your throat? This exercise allows that lump to go away. This also alerts your subconscious that you can let go of the sadness.
In this case, you start by sitting in a cross-legged chair with a straight back. You have your eyes wide open and are not consciously meditating. Your upper arms are along your body and your forearms are just parallel to the floor and therefore you hold them slightly above your legs. The palms of your hands point upward and are above your knees.
As you exhale, bring your hands up to your shoulders and stick out your tongue. This sounds a little strange, but this is very important to disconnect your subconscious from your grief.
While inhaling, put your tongue back in your mouth and close it while your arms lower back to the original position.
Make this movement powerful with every breath. Breathe in through your nose and breathe out through your mouth.
Repeat this exercise for 7 minutes. At the end, hold your breath for up to 20 seconds and press your tongue against your palate. Then take another deep breath. Repeat 3 times and then relax for 3 minutes ( 4).
Releasing Anger
Anger is incredibly annoying. You keep your mind on an angry moment and if there is a moment similar to it you can explode again. In the process, anger can also lead to negative thoughts about yourself.
Anger is not something that punishes you, but anger is something that actually punishes you. Thus, it does not help you at all to find happiness in your life.
To be happy, it is important to reduce and release anger. Research shows that meditation can make a significant difference in reducing anger ( 5). Imagining the situation that made you angry can also reduce anger.
This offers a perspective for use during meditation, where you first focus on your breathing and, once you’ve made some progress, take a closer look at the situation.
It also helps to release negative thoughts in order to release anger. Mindfulness meditation, where the thought arises, is observed and released can be used for this purpose.
Meditation is also one of the best ways to release anger for the long term.
If you've tried the exercise I'd love to hear how you experienced it and if it helped you. Do you find it a bit of a strange exercise? Then do it while you're home alone, then you'll be the only one who knows ;).
Would you like to learn more about how your body can affect your mind and your thoughts can affect your emotions—and vice versa? Then come to a seminar or check out the training programs offered by the Hypnosis Institute of the Netherlands.
Sources:
http://bmcpsychiatry.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/1471-244X-9-22
http://online.liebertpub.com/doi/abs/10.1089/107555304322849011
http://online.liebertpub.com/doi/pdfplus/10.1089/107555304322849011
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1467-9450.1992.tb00893.x/abstract