Using Meditation To Ease Holiday Stress

Middle Pillar art

by Lisa M. Wolfson

As we enter the holiday season, this time of year can stir up a lot of emotion and stress. We are overtasked, expectations are set too high, and commitments are too many. How do we help ourselves maintain balance this time of year? How can we put the stresses aside to experience the joy of this merry season?

This mediation, called the Middle Pillar meditation, can be used to calm our minds, relax our bodies and promote the flow of energy through our bodies. The meditation promotes the flow of soothing, healing light (or energy) up through the center core of our body — hence, “middle pillar.”

It is a rejuvenating and healing meditation that can serve as a great pick-me-up or a soothing, calming force. It may sound like a contradiction to think that the same mediation can both calm and energize you until we recognize that we need to be calm and settled to rest comfortably and we also need to be calm and clear to get things done. When we are stressed, we feel sluggish and when we don’t have energy, we can’t quite rest comfortably either.

The Middle Pillar meditation is a great tool to see us through. Here is my version of this mediation:

  • Sit or lie comfortably. Place your hands on your lap, or at your side, with your palms facing up.
  • Take a deep breath in and as you exhale, let your body relax.
  • On your next breath, breathe in deep and exhale slowly and let your mind relax.
  • Again, breath in deep and with your exhale — let everything go. Let all stress go and feel your whole body sense.
  • Breathe in deeply and count down from ten as you exhale slowly, like a leaf falling from a tree. Drop deeper and deeper into relaxed stillness.
  • Take another deep inhale and imagine radiant white light running up one side of your body as you inhale and down the other side as you exhale. Do this for three cycles — up the left side and down the right, up the left and down the right.
  • On the next set of breaths, imagine this soothing healing light flowing up the front of your body as you inhale and down the back of your body as you exhale. Repeat this cycle three times — up the front and down the back.
  • And then imagine this wonderful healing light flowing up the middle pillar of your body as you inhale, right out the top of your head and then showering over you as you exhale — like a beautiful fountain of healing light. Do this two more times.
  • Once your body has been showered with this vibrant light, send this energy (light) to a part of your body that needs attention. Imagine the therapeutic power of the oxygen and light filling this area — let go of the stress that lives there and let your body’s natural healing ability take over. Stay with this area for as long as you desire.
  • Take a final breath, open your eyes and come back into waking reality, feeling relaxed, peaceful and refreshed.

This is simple, yet powerful meditation that anyone can do. And it’s short enough to fit into any day. Try it out for the holiday season, and you might find yourself using it throughout the year as I do.

Lisa Wolfson is a Reiki Master and lives in Rockville Centre, NY.

Art created by Peter and Karen Capuciati.



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