Free Articles - Simple Methods to Reduce Stress and Improve Health and Wellbeing

Meditation and Cancer

I have practised meditation for many years and the main reason for this is to help keep my stress levels in check. Life can be challenging and stressful and with meditation I feel that I can let go of this build-up of stress.

I used to help run the stress management courses at the Maggie’s Centre and also their meditation classes. We found that there were many benefits for people experiencing cancer (either as the patient or the carer) in learning meditation.

Cancer is a very stressful time, from the diagnosis, to the travelling back and forward for treatments to the physical impact of the treatment itself. Meditation can help with the mental, emotional and physical aspects of this journey.

Meditation and Stress
When I talk about stress, I’m referring to a very normal function of the body that is designed within us to help keep our bodies in balance. Stress is often seen as a negative in our lives. However the stress response (or commonly known as the ‘fight or flight’ response) is a natural part of who we are and it is as natural as breathing. The ‘job’ of the stress response is to keep us alive. So if we face danger or a threat then we respond with the stress response and a number of chemical changes take place in our body to re-prioritise what is important in the face of this threat. (So in other words digesting our food isn’t a priority whereas preparing the muscles in our arms and legs to fight or flee is a priority). The body does this automatically and when the threat has passed we then come back into balance (homeostasis). However if we face a constant threat (the thought of cancer, various treatments etc) then the stress response continues and our bodies have to work much harder to stay in the stress response which in the long term can have a negative impact.

Meditation Benefits
Meditation is a very useful tool to learn when experiencing cancer as it can help to reduce the cumulative effect of stress in the body. Not only can it help your body to physically return to balance more quickly (and help with the healing process of your treatment), it can also bring some peace of mind in a very trying and challenging time.

Our mind is a powerful tool in the state of our health and wellbeing. The stress response mentioned earlier can also be activated by worrying and negative thoughts. If we are thinking negatively, it affects our bodies. Meditation helps to bring in a focus to help reduce the ‘monkey chatter of the mind’ and to help the mind come into a calmer state. As we have a clearer mind, we have the opportunity to perceive life more calmly and not be swept away by our emotions.

The impact of drugs on our systems (necessary to fight cancer) can leave us with lots of toxins in our body which are gradually processed over time. However practising meditation helps our body and mind to stay in a calmer state, thus helping the body to release toxins more effectively.

Our sleep and energy levels can change dramatically with cancer treatment. Meditation is a good way to help you balance your energy or (if struggling to go to sleep or stay asleep) to help improve your sleep. I often teach meditation with the person seated in a chair with their hands in their lap and feet flat on the floor. However if sleep is an issue, then lie down and you will find that the meditation is a great precursor to a better night’s sleep.

With all things, meditation takes practise, but it is useful to know that meditation can be as simple as focussing on one breath. For that one breath you are there and not in your thoughts (worrying about the past or future).

Meditation Techniques

Here are some simple meditations for you to try:-

Issue: Worrying Thoughts/Can’t Stop Thinking

If you sit in a chair and focus on your breath with your eyes closed, try to feel your breath in your body. Notice the air coming in through your nose/mouth and back out again. Try to follow that full breath (and even though there will be thoughts, just acknowledge them and come back to your breath). Keep following the full journey of your ‘in breath’ and then the full journey of your ‘out-breath’. You may even wish to place your hands on your chest and feel the air moving inside and out as you do this.

When you have practised the above a few times, you can simply do the same but this time just think and ‘feel’ the word ‘peace’ with your in-breath and ‘calm’ with your out-breath. Imagine you are breathing in and out the energy of those words again and again.

Issue: Body Tense/Can’t Relax

If you are having problems with your body and find that you can’t relax, then try this. Focus on your feet and when you breathe in, tense your feet. When you breathe out, relax your feet. Keep doing this for about 5 to 10 breaths. Then move your focus up to your legs and do the same – tense on the in-breath and relax on the out-breath, again for 5 to 10 breaths. Then move your focus up in stages through your body (buttocks, tummy, chest/shoulders, arms/hands, face). You can repeat this several times and you can also work down the way (face to feet) if this feels better. When you feel you have done this a few times, this time just breathe into the body part and imagine that the out breath is relaxing that part of your body. Again work from top to bottom of your body doing this. This time you are using your imagination rather than physically moving but it has the same calming effect. (This is a great one to use if you are struggling with sleep – use it lying down).

Issue: Detoxing the Drugs

Sitting in a chair, feet on the floor just think (by seeing or feeling) that there is a big ball of light above you (just as if the sun or moon was shining down on top of your head). As you breathe in imagine the light turns into a waterfall of light and it flows all around you from your head to the floor where you breathe out clearing away any tiredness, emotions or thoughts. Keep doing this with each breath. When you have done this a few times, now try to imagine that the water/light runs right through inside you (into your head and down your spine/body and out of your feet). Imagine it flowing with each breath and that it gathers up any toxins in your body, anything your body doesn’t need anymore. Imagine as it flows into the ground it is taking it all away down into the ground/earth. Keep repeating this with each breath.

I would suggest that you practise any of the above from 1 to 5 minute on a daily basis. You may also find my meditation CD for beginners is useful for you to work with. I recorded it simply because people at the Maggie’s centre who I taught meditation to asked me if I had anything on a CD they could use. They found it very useful. http://www.ilovefgt.com/shop/

Spring Cleaning Your Thoughts – healing and mindfulness

As the season changes to light nights, daffodils and new beginnings, we often think about spring cleaning our home in order to have some sense of space and peace.
The Feng Shui experts implore us to clear the clutter so that we can enjoy clearer energy both within our home and how we feel living there.

But do we give the same attention to our thoughts? Do we make an effort to become aware, reflect and then spring clean our thoughts – throwing out what isn’t necessary anymore and bringing in new, fresh, clean thoughts?

There is great value to every person (of any age) to sit down and become aware of their thoughts. What they are thinking, why they are thinking this and where did the thought come from.

What we are thinking?

Are we thinking positively about ourselves, our body and our life or have we one negative thought after the other? We may assume that our thoughts don’t have much of an impact on anything but our thoughts. But this isn’t true. Your thoughts have a strong influence on your stress levels, emotions and how your physical body responds. If you constantly think worrying thoughts, your body is under stress and in the long term this isn’t healthy.

Sometimes we don’t even know what we are thinking – unaware of the impact our thoughts have on our wellbeing and the negative thinking is like ‘white moise’ – just in the background and forever there but not noticed.

One of the first steps in becoming aware of our thoughts is through mindful meditation. We sit down to view our thoughts. Not with any plan to rid ourselves of them but simply to become aware. For some this may seem like a difficult prospect but in the long term it is a healthy, empowering step for your future wellbeing.

Why are we thinking this?

Our next question when we notice these thoughts is’why are we thinking this’? Is it true or is the thought connected to an image from the past. So if we made a mistake in the past and we remember that past mistake by bringing it into the present, the thought may be associated with that. But this is the past. It only lives in the present because we bring it into the present. And if we choose to bring it into the present, we can also choose to leave it in the past.

When I am meditating I notice thoughts from the past coming through my mind and I just watch them. I ask myself – is this true – now? I keep myself in the present moment (with my breath) and ask this every time the thought presents itself. This is like an affirmation to the self that we can live in the present. We can be in our breath in this moment and let go of the past. The breath is a very powerful tool in meditation and mindfulness and I teach it constantly in class to help students stay present.

I also find if I have a very difficult thought from the past (eg lots of emotions attached to it) that I send healing thoughts through Reiki to that image and feeling. Reiki is a wonderful partner to meditation helping us to be aware and bring peace and healing into this awareness.

Where does this thought come from?

We can also sit in meditation and consider whether this thought is genuinely ours or was it born as a result of a thought/behaviour or comment from someone else in our life (a sibling, parent or partner). We perhaps heard it so many times or were at such an impressionable age that we believed it. But it didn’t come from within, it came from outside and we chose to believe it.

So we can choose to return it to it’s rightful owner and we can choose a different, real thought for ourselves. Even if we seemed to have brought the reality of that person’s comment to life by behaving in the way they commented – for example if you were told that “you are so selfish or lazy” then perhaps you have behaved this way because you believed that person’s thought. When you realise that the thought didn’t come from you, you can return it to them and realise you don’t need to behave that way anymore – you are not their thoughts.

Emotions and Forgiveness

When we realise the truth, not only can we change our behaviour but we may also feel angry or upset at the time we have spent believing the thoughts of others. If we notice emotions like these, it is very important to express those feelings (writing them down in a letter that you can then burn safely) to release the energy of those feelings. If we can, we can use meditation to help us release those strong emotions so that we can feel peace inside.

We can also work with mindfulness meditation to perhaps help us see how that person felt at the time or what had happened in their life that had made them think and behave that way towards us. In time we can come to forgive them and ourselves. It takes time, meditation, and practise but healing like this can happen.

When we forgive, then we are truly free and at peace.