Sometimes certain thoughts and beliefs really stand in your way. For example, you might think that you should not go outside without your hair being done.

A simple ponytail, knot or cap is simply not possible, but because of that conviction you will stand in front of the mirror for hours before you go outside. In addition, other things can also stop you from moving on with your life, such as grief because you lost something or someone.

In this article I will go deeper into how meditation can help to release emotions and thoughts.

There are several reasons why you want to let go of something like grief, a traumatic memory, fears and even thoughts that bother you.

Release traumatic memory

If you have ever experienced an accident, have had a fierce argument or have been sent out, you may be traumatized. There are also women who get traumatized by a violent birth. Never again! Yet you keep thinking about the scary moment.

Meditation can help to release these kind of painful memories.

Psychological healing and general well-being is promoted by meditation. Despite the fact that meditation is often seen as a way to escape a memory, which is certainly possible, it is also a way to study the trauma and the thoughts that you have with it. This allows you to go through psychological development that ensures that the trauma is less painful at the moment than it was.

Research carried out in traumatized children by the tsunami in 2004 also shows that meditation can significantly reduce trauma in 71% of cases.

Meditation techniques used for releasing traumatic memories are:

Breathing meditation

Each therapy session, in which multiple meditation techniques were applied and taught, was preceded and ended with 15 minutes of breathing exercises to relax. During this meditation it is the intention that your attention is shifted to your breathing.

Mantra meditation

With mantra meditation, the sound permeates your body completely. It keeps your brain busy so you do not have to think about anything at all. The “uncle” sound is most familiar, but in this research it was mantra: uchchadana. That is more difficult and keeps your brain better at meditation than uncle.

Guided meditation

The guided meditation is accompanied with language and music. The guided meditation has the function that you relax. The text for this guided meditation, in the study of meditation for the tsunami victims, went something like this:

“Get up and raise your hands. Imagine that you are an ice cream. An ice cream melts very slowly in the air. Just like the ice cream your body also gradually relaxes. The tension in your body is decreasing step by step and you are increasingly melting. The height of the ice cream is always lower when it melts. Just like the ice cream, you also go down, slowly … slowly becoming a little more … you always melt something more … and you end up lying flat on the floor. ”

Inner peace meditation

Inner rest meditation helps to reduce stress and anxiety. You sit comfortably with your shoulders and chest in an open position. You put your hands on your knees with your palms upwards. You put your tongue against your palate just behind your front teeth and close your eyes slightly.

You breathe in and out through your nose and as your breathing deepens you let go of your thoughts. You focus your attention on your body, deep in your body and find a place of rest. You breathe deeply into this center of your body and feel how the air feeds it and makes it bigger. You let this rest fill your entire body and radiate to the rest of the world.

Mindfulness meditation

The mindfulness meditation helps the people with the trauma to focus on the present when the memory suddenly imposes itself on you. This kind of meditation has also been used in veterans with PTSD. That way you can relive the situation, but you realize that you are currently in a different situation, so that he has less impact on your daily functioning.

Release sadness

You can have sadness for a variety of reasons. The loss of a loved one is the most obvious reason for grief, but the failure to reach a goal can also cause grief. For whatever reason you are sad, meditation can do something about it.

To be more exact, Kundalini Yoga Meditation can do something about it. This form of meditation is also suitable to address depression and anxiety and in particular to reduce symptoms of a compulsive behavioral disorder.

In the first instance it is important to get into a meditative state. Just as with the study of meditation to let go of traumatic memories, it is important to first do exercises so that you really get into meditation.

For Kundalini Yoga meditation, this means that you first sit down with your feet flat on the floor and your back straight. You press your hands together like a kind of ‘pray-pose’. You press your thumbs and fingers together and point upwards at an angle of about 60 degrees. You close your eyes and focus on your third eye. You can imagine a kind of sunrise for this.

You also use a mantra. First inhale and then you say Ong Namo when exhaling and take your breath again. Then you say Guru Dev Namo when you exhale and repeat it again with the first mantra. By doing this, you prevent all kinds of things from starting to think and you focus on your breathing. You should feel the sounds in your chest. You repeat this at least 3 times and can continue up to 12 times if you like.

Kundialini yoga meditation exercise for sorrow

You know how sad sometimes can give such a lump in your throat? This exercise ensures that that chunk can go away. This will also alert your subconscious that you can let go of the grief.

In this case you start by sitting cross-legged with a straight back. You have your eyes wide open and are not consciously engaged in meditation. You have your upper arms along your body and your forearms are just parallel to the floor and that keeps you slightly above your legs. The palms of your hands point upwards and are above your knees.

As you exhale, raise your hands to your shoulders and stick your tongue out. This sounds a little weird, but this is very important to disconnect your subconscious from your grief.

As you inhale, you put your tongue back in your mouth and close it while your arms drop back to the original position.

Make this movement powerful with every breath. Take a breath through your nose and exhale through your mouth.

Repeat this exercise for 7 minutes. At the end, hold your breath for up to 20 seconds and press your tongue against your palate. Then you take a deep breath again. Repeat this 3 times and then relax for 3 minutes.

Let go of anger

Anger is very annoying. You stay with your thoughts in an evil moment and if there is a moment that looks like you can explode again. Anger can also lead to negative thoughts about yourself.

Anger is not something for which you are punished, but anger is something that punishes you. It does not help you even further to find happiness in your life.

To be happy it is important to reduce anger and let go. Research shows that meditation can make a significant difference in reducing anger. Presenting the situation that has made you angry can also reduce the anger.

This offers the prospect of studying the situation after meditation , during which you first focus on your breathing.

In addition, it also helps to release negative thoughts in order to let go of the anger. Mindfulness meditation, where the thought arises, is observed and released, can be used for that purpose.

Meditation is also one of the best ways to let go of anger for the longer term.