The Importance of Relaxation

Meditation is quickly becoming the number one way to deal with stress. Disengaging from thoughts and relaxing is closely related to the Buddhist mindfulness skill of being able to ignore thoughts and focus your attention. Letting go of being trapped in thoughts is the beginning of meditation and the beginning of returning to the natural state of relaxation. In fact, there is a natural joyful bliss when you can detach from thoughts and focus on the present moment. Allowing our mind and body to heal and return to a state of balance.

Many people go on vacation to relax, but that can be just as stressful as our daily lives. Planning a vacation, constantly judging your experiences and feeling like everything could be better can ruin the vacation experience. There’s a saying from Alcoholics Anonymous that says, “Wherever you go, there you are,” which just means you take your problems, your worries, and your mind with you wherever you go. You can’t go on vacation to escape your mind; to truly escape your mind and thoughts, you must learn to meditate.
It is our thoughts that disturb us most, as Eckhart Tolle says:

“It is never the situation that causes suffering, it is our thoughts about it.”

Therefore, according to Buddha, learning a new relationship with thoughts is essential and an important skill learned during meditation. As Buddhist teacher Sharon Salzburg says:

“We suffer because we take our thoughts seriously.”

If we get stressed every day, it stands to reason that we should practice relaxation every day to return to our calm center and help maintain our sanity.

The guided meditation below will guide you through using slow, long breathing and focusing on the breath with an ancient Buddhist mindfulness technique of repeating ‘inhale’ and ‘exhale’ to yourself as you do so. This is a very useful way to neutralize your thoughts but at the same time channel them into something that doesn’t cause stress or anxiety. This is an ancient Buddhist method of mindfulness and relaxation and works exceptionally well for beginners, but is also a fundamental training in mindfulness that anyone can benefit from.

This Buddhist technique of simple mindfulness can also be used throughout the day when thoughts or stressful emotions become too much; Disconnect from your thoughts and take a few deep, conscious breaths, repeating to yourself the inhalation and exhalation so that you can quickly return to a calm and naturally relaxed state.

I invite you to try this meditation standing up, it also helps to stay alert and not fall asleep, and to find the perfect balance between relaxation and alertness. As Buddha advised, you don’t want to be too relaxed or too tense, but finding the perfect balance is the key to mindfulness meditation. Buddha said that the perfect balance of the mind is like a guitar string; it cannot be too tight or too loose. A good meditation posture has many benefits and reflects the grace and power of inner peace.

Relaxation is just the beginning of where meditation can take you. Once you learn to detach from thoughts and quiet your mind in a calm and natural way, you can slowly begin to realize the incredible depths of consciousness and your potential to radiate love and openness from a natural state of presence.

Chad Foreman is the founder of The Way of Meditation and has been teaching meditation since 2003, determined to bring authentic meditation practices into the lives of millions of people in the modern world. Chad is a former Buddhist monk who lived in a retreat hut for six years and studied and practiced meditation full-time. He now has over twenty years of experience teaching meditation. Chad likes regularly
Meditation retreats on the Sunshine Coast, Australia
Online meditation coachingprovides three online programs – The 21 Day Meditation Challenge to gradually guide people from the basic principles of mindfulness and relaxation to profound states of consciousness.
Breathwork to help manage stress and go deeper into meditation and
The bliss of inner fire This is a Buddhist tantric method to clear energy blockages and connect with the clear light of bliss. You can also get Chad’s free ebook now Insights on the go.