Dealing With Stress At University: The most Effective Way

Today, I'm going to be teaching you a very simple technique on how to allow that extra bit of Space into your daily studies at university, thus allowing you to be more at-ease with your schedule, deadlines and workload. If you are expecting a "quick fix stimulation", look somewhere else, as that will only feed you more distraction and use up more of your well-needed energy. See one of the most effective ways below:

If you are reading this post - you are most certainly on your way already, to managing your stress levels at University. Right now, you're either very willing and ready to fix a few things, or you're only on here to procrastinate even further... Regardless, both are okay. Lets get right into it. 

Simple Awareness Meditation - 

Stop letting the chatterbox in your head rule your breath and the feelings in your body, listen to your body when it says it's time to rest. When sitting in your room, take a five minute break from studying, scrolling Facebook, Netflix or anything that you may have your attention on. Open your window, allow fresh air to enter and then breathe, (if you are the kind of person who finds it hard to sit down for two minutes, that is okay, give this a go for one minute instead). Sit on your chair or your bed, close your eyes, relax your body, get comfortable in any way and keep your spine straight. Set an alarm and simply take a number of deep breaths and allow your heart rate to slow. When you begin to calm down, focus all of your attention on the sounds around you, whether it be birds, cars or your clock ticking away... Listen fully and breathe in and out slowly, taking a few seconds to pause in-between breaths. I find this very helpful on a day-to-day basis as the more you practice this, the less likely you are to burn-out or to let stress get the better of you. Instead, you are beating stress to it and not the other way around. Think of this as building an endurance muscle towards a deeper awareness of what's around you, shifting you from that chatter box that is the mind, to being more present to the moment that you are in right here and now. 

We all look for that stimulation through typing, texting, even reading and especially eating. The chatterbox in your head never seems to go away unless you are feeding it these distractions. In the end, you are not really resting, you are only focusing your attention on another materialistic thing, and what does this require? Focus, concentration, and what does this require? Energy. When you see it this way, how can you really expect to restore your energy levels, you're still giving it to these distractions in order to feed the chatterbox! The only way you can really recover, is through DOING NOTHING (and I don't just mean sleep). Sit down, keep your spine straight and observe the sounds around you without any judgement. If you are able to switch from focusing your ears on the sounds around you to feeling all the sensations in your body, from your toes to your fingertips, all you have to do then is continue to focus your attention away from the chatterbox through breathing, and if you practice this daily, well, try it and experience the rewards for yourself. Remember, don't forget to breathe.