Ease Your Stress with Buddha’s Smiling Meditation – It Works!

Editor’s note: Liberty Forrest, author of several self-help books and a certified Law of Attraction Life Coach, offers a way to ease your stress of dealing with a sociopath — Buddha’s smiling meditation. Read more about Liberty.

By Liberty Forrest

For some time now, I’ve wanted to tell you about the Buddha’s smiling meditation. The Buddha, in all his great wisdom, taught about this many long years ago.

In times of stress or emotional upset, it’s an especially simple, yet powerful way to lift yourself to a place of peace and calm. And it’s always been a favourite amongst my meditation students. If you try it, you’ll soon know why.

You’re going to love this sweet little meditation! It’s so easy and feels so good. Ready? This is all you need to do: Take a deep breath, exhale slowly and then plant a little smile on your lips. You might not feel at all smiley and that’s okay, do it anyway, as that’s the point of the meditation.

Then just think about that little Buddha smile on your face, and concentrate on having it spread into your cheeks. Imagine that they’re smiling, too.

Think about the corners of your eyes moving up into a little smiling position. Imagine your eyebrows, your scalp, your ears and even your hair smiling, and in just moments you’ll begin to feel peaceful, relaxed, centred and refocused.

As you carry on with the smiling meditation, imagine that warm, happy feeling moving down into your chest, your abdomen, your arms, legs, hands, and feet. Focus on every part of yourself smiling, including your heart, lungs, and all other organs. I always imagine my heart with giant smiley face – the kind with the big “kissy-face lips” – right in the centre of it. 

There is a proven biochemical reaction that occurs when we smile. Evidence has shown that when we hold even a fake smile for a short time, it alters our chemistry in the same way as a joyful “smile-inducing” emotion would do, and our bodies actually think we’re happy. All kinds of “feel-good” endorphins are released into our bloodstreams and before long, we feel better and the smile is real.

We also know that positive energy, relaxation, meditation etc. boost the immune system, reduce inflammation in the whole body, and are generally beneficial to our health in many ways.

Enjoy sitting with your eyes closed, breathing slowly and deeply, using the smiling meditation to refocus and stay calm. Every time a distressing or negative thought rolls through your head, smile a little bigger and soon the negativity will give way to feeling lighter and more peaceful. Remind yourself that in this moment, all is well; you are fine. Everything can wait.

Learn more: 30-day self-love and healing journey of breathing, meditation and yoga

And remember that sometimes, you cannot change the situation; you can only change your response to it. 

So there you go. The Buddha’s smiling meditation is a quick, simple, effective and cost-free method of eliminating stress and creating peace and relaxation in a matter of minutes whenever you want it. 

And all you have to do is smile.

This article was originally published at LibertyForrest.com. Reprinted with permission from the author.