Busting work stress with meditation?

[whippoorwill]

Meditation so far has just blasted away the day's stresses, and I come out of it feeling refreshed.  I've been wondering...  Can meditation be used to recover from things like an ultra-stressful meeting?  I was in a meeting recently that was so hairy, I had hives afterward.  Is it ok to sit in meditation for 5 minutes after something like that?  Or is that a recipe for overload?  (I coordinate and support software development going on in several locations by several different teams of developers, and the people who use the software are at locations all over the country.  We're about to deploy a new system, and it gets hairy sometimes.)  Has anyone meditated outside the regular sitting practice to recover from stress (or hives )?
-many thanks always!

[whippoorwill]

P.S.  I hardly ever get hives and, while stressful, the meeting wasn't horrible.  My mind just had to be in super high gear.  Could the hives themselves be a sign of overload?

[faileforever]

Hello liz,
Im not entirely sure the answer to your question but would you be using the mantra, etc during the 5 minute session or just sitting in silence? I definitely do that a lot when things get too busy or hectic, i will hide out in the dark, cool bathroom for about five mins with my eyes closed and follow my breath, i dont know if this is recommended.  Or I will step outside for a few minutes and just sit in silence, breathing in the fresh air..seems to always help clear the mind[]  I dont seem to have overload symptoms doing this but for each individual it is prolly different.

[whippoorwill]

Hi Faile: I was thinking of doing the ayam mantra for 5 minutes.  It didn't occur to me to just follow the breath.  I'll give it a try and see what happens.   Thanks so much for your reply.  

[thezuck]

Hey Whipporwill...
Your concern is one I have thought about many times myself.  Ill use this answer to try to get clear for myself and maybe something valuable will be there for you too

I guess its about bringing back the various "parts" of ourselves into a conscious harmony...  
Meetings like the one you speak of (ive been in those too) get the mind, breath and body going in different directions.  The mind becomes diluted when its trying to focus on the past and the future....this person here and that situation there.  And the breath and body are virtually forgotten.

Failforever had some nice suggestions.  I have tried doing the 5 min mantra and it has definitely helped.  But her suggestions may be equally as effective without impinging on the integrity and power of the recommended practice.  Or inviting the potential for overload.  From the sounds of it, overload could create a situation where one had to stop meditating altogether.  Now that would suck.

As far as a long-term solution, following the breath seems to bring the self into alignment without firing the engines of "I am".
Best Regards,
Shane

[HathaTeacher]

Meditation helps to release the emotional "charge" of memories and rests (IMO, no matter if just hours old or a couple of lives old).
A post about a meta-study book in another thread:
www.aypsite.com/plus-forum/index.php?topic=9673#83106