ladyasd wrote:
I wondered if anyone like me had found benefits from yoga or meditation or anything like that, and if so, I'd appreciate any tips on how to "chill out".
xx
Yeah. Set aside a small period of time, 5 to 10 minutes if you are starting out, and have the intention to meditate and do nothing else. Setting a timer helps. Sit somewhere quiet, let go of physical tension in your body, and focus on your breath. Feel it coming and going, be fully with it. If thoughts of wanting to write things on your to do list come up, notice them, but pay no heed, and bring your mind back to the breath. If you need to, remind yourself that you can go and write things down afterwards, it's only a few minutes.
If you find a lot of your meditation time is taken up with thinking, don't worry. It's a training, and it takes a while to get 'good' at it.
The thing about the yoga is that you're supposed to be getting completely absorbed in your movements, not thinking about your to do list. Having that intention to be fully with your yoga session and not with your to do list would be a good idea. Just like the meditation I described, when distracting thoughts come along, just bring your attention back to desired area of focus; the yoga activity.
It sounds almost compulsive, that need to write. Is that one of your coping strategies? I often write things down, terrible memory. Meditation can be a useful tool for analysing and breaking compulsions, among other things.
Guided meditations can be really useful... here's some I think are very good specifically for relaxation
http://www.buddhanet.net/audio-meditation.htm
You want the Malcolm Huxter files.
May you find the peace you seek.
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