Meditation for truck drivers: A simple way to reduce stress

It appears every time we turn around, the world has increased its pace by five-fold, placing more and more demands on our time.

As a truck driver, you have the added stress of bad weather, traffic jams and tight deadlines.

All of this can leave you feeling stressed, anxious, and depressed. If this is the case, it may be an excellent opportunity for you to start a meditation practice.

While you may think of meditation as a formal practice done in yoga or by monks, it can actually be done anywhere, at any time.

There is a wide array of medication practices from which to choose, each of which helps you achieve your goals in different ways.

The benefits of meditation

Meditation can help calm your mind and create balance in your mind and body. And the benefits of meditation can extend beyond the time you spend meditating.

Meditation has been shown to reduce stress, controls anxiety, enhances self-awareness, improves attention spans and aids in getting better sleep.

Driving meditation could mean keeping your cool in a high stress situation and being able to focus your attention on the road for longer.

In fact, if you are considering starting some type of meditation practice, you are in good company. According to a 2017 survey put out by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 35 million Americans, or approximately 14 percent of the general population, use some type of meditation technique.

Types of meditation

There are a variety of meditation types to choose from and it may take some experimenting to see what works best for you and your lifestyle.

The main principle of meditation is to ground your body through your breath and focus your attention on an object, mantra or even your breathing.

Other forms of meditation include:

-Guided Meditation:  Sometimes called guided imagery or visualization, with this method of meditation you form mental images of places or situations you find relaxing. You can guide yourself through a visualization using as many sensory details as possible or you can use a guided meditation app or teacher to focus your practice.

-Mindful Meditation: This type of meditation is based on being mindful, or having an increased awareness and acceptance of living in the present moment. This can be done outside meditation but during it, you focus on what you are experiencing and let thoughts pass without judgement.

-Mantra Meditation: In this type of meditation, you silently repeat a calming word, thought or phrase to calm the mind.

A good way to start as a beginner is by taking steady, even breaths when you find yourself stressed out or anxious. Some drivers also find benefits in taking breaks in nature or meditating first thing in the morning or right when they get home. Try a variety of methods and see what works for you. Even just taking 5 minutes a day to deep breath