If you’ve ever felt so stressed you want to cry, melt into the ground or scream your head off (and lets face it – who hasn’t at some stage?!) then mediation could be the perfect answer for you.

Even if you haven’t reached breaking point yet, it’s a known fact that our everyday lives are getting busier and crazier. Keep yourself happy, healthy and most importantly sane, with our top five meditation techniques.

These babies will help you to relax in even the most stressful of situations – we promise! Just make sure you set aside some time (be it five or twenty minutes) each day to just zone out and meditate. We show you how here…

1: Find your possie
It’s best to sit on the ground, however if that is too uncomfortable than sit on a cushion. Don’t believe everything you see – you don’t have to twist your limbs in to crazy positions! Just focus on keeping your back straight.

3: Just breathe
Breathe deeply and slowly from your abdomen rather than your chest. You should feel your stomach rise and fall while your chest stays relatively still. For more breathing exercises to help distress and detoxify your body click here

4: Ahh...relax!
Try and relax muscle in your body. Don’t rush this – it does take a while to fully relax! Start at your toes and slowly work your way up to your head, until the tension melts away. Mmm…don’t you feel relaxed already?!

5: Beat those thoughts
You’ll probably find that your mind will start ticking and thinking, bouncing from one random subject to another. All you have to do is gently reign your attention back to a single point until it rests there naturally. The goad of mediation is to allow the ‘chattering’ in your mind to gradually fade away. An ‘anchor’ will help to settle your mind – you could try focusing on the flow of your breath, or recite a mantra (repetition of a sacred word). 

Try that cliched trick of repeating a single word such as ‘ommmmm’. You may have wondered why monks are always shown doing this on the telly, it's because it can help focus your thoughts (as long as your mature enough to hold back the giggles!). To avoid images that keep popping into your head, visualize a place that calms you – whether it’s a staircase leading to a peaceful place or flying over a long, tranquil ocean…

• nzgirl Quickies: Top 5 exercises to get bootylicious
• Active nzgirl: I want to try Pilates
• Laugh your way to a healthier you!
• Change the World...