Meditation: It Relieves Stress & Helps with Ulcerative Colitis

There is transcendental meditation and there is meditation. The pure concept of meditation refers to "Buddhist Meditation". Buddhist Meditation is something that I haven't taken the time to learn. It is very complicated and people spend a lot of time giving it the respect it deserves.

Back in the '80s, I would stress out from a flare and would not only have a bout of cramping, but would develop extreme and relentless headaches. At that time, the popular "self-help" treatment was bio-feedback. Using bio-feedback one closes their eyes, then they go muscle by muscle first tightening then relaxing the muscle. There are times that you may attack a larger muscle group all at once but for the most part, it is muscle by muscle.

Typically, during bio-feedback one may use very soft background music like one instrument or noises like the wind or a babbling brook. Additionally, as a person employing this method, you would try to "get in touch" with the pain; in other words go in rhythm with the painful pulses. For example if your head was pounding, it was easier to "give in to the pain" than stress against it. It really did work.

Meditation is better. It is actually employed to prevent headaches and other illnesses.

Every day I try and employ about 30 minutes in meditation. The first thing to do is to take a deep breath and clear you mind. The idea is to forget all those things that are cluttering your mind. This is designed to remove stress and all those things that might be worrying you. I know in my case, I often worry about things that are far fetched simply because I have built them up in my mind.

At this point it is in important to pay attention to one's breathing. Don't try and control your breathing. Simply practice breathing through your nostrils as opposed to your mouth. As one spends more and more time in the 30 minute period, then the breathing should become more and rhythmic.

As I said, what I do simply encompasses the very first steps of Buddhist Meditation. In fact I essentially employ the beginning steps. Many people are not only students of the meditation but of the religion as well.

Meditation helps me avoid flares because it helps me reduce stress. By taking 30 minutes out of my stressful life per day, it forces me to clear my mind which prevents issues from piling up and it gives me something to use that is not overwhelming or overly intrusive.

The one major issue that haunts people with ulcerative colitis is stress and the results from it. Meditation helps greatly with this problem; at least it has for me.