Taking full advantage of the power of healing that your mind body connection can afford you may start with Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction. MBSR is a movement that was started in 1979 at the University of Massachusetts in 1979 it is now practiced in roughly 200 health centers across the US.
The practice relies on meditation and yoga to reduce a litany of disorders from chronic pain to depression and anxiety. The process is a relative simple process with a small learning curve. MBSR can help to reduce stress and gain long term results in a host of other ailments that are stress related.
How It Works
The theory of mindfulness has been around a lot longer than the actual practice of MBSR in its formal form. The idea is that being mindful of your current situation right now can help you to focus and improve your perception of life.
Many ancient cultures practiced mindfulness as part of their religion. Today the idea is still basically the same you do a body scan starting with your feet and working your way up to your head. You may notice how you breathe or that there are sections of your body that are uncomfortable or in pain. The ultimate goal is for you to tune into your body parts.
The body scan is not the only way to practice mindfulness but it should be a part of the entire practice of meditation to help relieve stress and get into the business of being you and living in the moment. It should be a part of the practice but does not have to be the only part.
Mindfulness requires practice. You may find yourself in the beginning distracted by the things you normally worry about like work or relationship issues which is fine to acknowledge than just move back to being in this moment.
Unlike stated in many places, it will not be easy at first and you can compare the practice as working out a muscle. Practice leads to results !
You will probably no be able to stay more than two or three minutes the first times without having your mind thinking about something else. This is totally fine and expected but do not give up trying as starting with a few seconds can already make a difference. The next day, you will be able to focus a few seconds more. The week after that maybe another one or three minutes more.
There is a strong and essential connection between what you think and how your body feels and how your body reacts to illness. Stress can cause a host of health issues MBSR helps you to learn to improve those issues by curtailing the ideas that normally cause you stress.
Courses
You can enroll in a course at many local universities or you can also take the course online to help you get started but I will not encourage you to seek external help at first to practice meditation. It should come from yourself and eventually then, you can ask a professional for advises.
Practicing mindfulness will help you to reduce your stress level substantially and actually realize some health improvements in the first few weeks of practicing without spending any money.