Prayer and Stress Spiritual Rituals

Prayer and Stress

Spiritual Rituals and Their Effectiveness in Relieving Stress

This research proposal will give an insight on whether prayer and spiritual rituals can help in relieving stress. With an analysis of various studies, the reader, by the end of the paper will be well informed about the importance of a research on this topic. He will get an overview on the subject and would certainly back the research for a definite view on the topic.

Spiritual rituals have been a part of society since recorded history. Hinduism, the oldest known religion has some extensive rituals and so do the later religions like Judaism, Christianity and Islam. All forms of religion have prayers where the human prays to the Creator for his well being and success in life. During such prayers the individual also prays for ease in life and the removal of any stress. Stress can have the worst effect on the human mind and body. It can alter its natural functioning and can send people into episodes of severe depression. Religious people pray and perform spiritual rituals to rid themselves of this stress and there are many stories that one hears about prayers leading to a miraculous relief from stress. How true this really is and what does the statistical data inform us about the reality of performing such rituals is what one should refer to when deriving a conclusion for the authenticity of these claims.

RATIONALE

So what effect does spirituality have on a person? The follower of Osho, Satish Nanda says "Spirituality doesn't fall off when you are at work or business. Rather, it enhances your total outlook. One is positive, cheerful, absolutely spontaneous, flowing....like the stream of a river" (Anonymous). It is advocated that by practicing spiritual rituals and becoming spiritual, one gets to know his inner self. This is further concluded that by getting to know the inner self, positive changes are seen and a person becomes more positive in life. People add that this relieves them from stress. People who believe in God rely on Him to save them from any misery or negative forces in their lives. In times of stress they turn to God and ask His help and guidance. When a human relies so much on God then his stress is normally relieved. They firmly believe that God is there and that God will help them. Hence they perform religious rituals or prayers and psychologically find themselves relieved. In a study conducted, it was seen that women who were religious suffered less due to the battering they received from their husbands as compared to non-religious women (Astin, M.C. et al., p. 17-28). Interesting is what Muslims, who belong to the religion of Islam, claim regarding stress and depression. They say that a true believer can never be under stress and can never be under depression because he and his soul is so close to God and has so much love for Him, that he knows any hardship is from God and is there as a test for him. Hence he then aims to pass his test rather than go under depression or stress. They perform prayers five times a day and some of the more religious ones wake up in the middle of the night for an additional prayer thus making a total of six prayers. Hence at an average a Muslim perform religious rituals five times a day which leaves him relaxed, relieved and cheerful. Many of them claim that they feel awkward and depressed if they miss out a prayer. Christians do not have their daily prayers but they believe that God came in the form of a man and sacrificed himself to rid them of the original sin because He loves them so much. They feel that God, the Father has immense love for them that he caused his son to die and thus will make everything ok for them and ease away their hardships and stress. So they too turn to God in times of stress and pray to him with all their heart. Such belief and conviction according to people, has proved to relieve them of any sort of stress. If one talks to any religious person belonging to any religion or denomination, he or she will inform us that they prayed to God in stressful times and God helped relieve them of the stress. Such reports if accurate could prove to be a breakthrough in medical sciences and can be highly beneficial to people all over the world.

In a study performed by Firth in 1939, it was found in Polynesian fishermen and their spiritual rituals and chants which were done periodically during their work actually helped in eliminating stress and strain in times when there were less fish and they had very low food reserves. Moreover it was observed that stress and anxiety increased when these rituals were delayed. In a tribe neighboring the Polynesian fishermen, the tribe of Maori, during the time when Christianity was introduced and such rituals were eliminated from them and a rise in stress and decrease in productivity was observed (Robert Karasek, et al., p.34). This study shows that practicing and indulging in rituals kept the morale of the people high and thus their stress levels were low. Removing these rituals from them decreased the morale and directly affected the productivity levels. Rituals here proved to be some sort of a tension release mechanism that increase the potential and productivity of man and boosts his morale even in desperate times. Many a times when man has lost hope in everything he sees hope in a Deity whom he worships and believes that everything is in His hands. Polytheists are those who believe in many gods. They have gods for every thing like a god who controls happiness and a god who controls weather and maybe another who controls health. Thus when polytheists face any stressful condition they turn and pray to the god who they believe can assuage stressful conditions. Resources are provided by religion to help humans cope up with situations apparently threatening or harmful by altering the method by which they normally evaluate the condition and situation they are in and their coping capabilities (Pargament, p.195).

Another study was aimed to examine the relationship between spirituality, religion and man's ability to cope with stressful conditions. 115 students who had graduated were given counseling and it was found that spirituality and Religion accounted for a positive result in the ability to cope with stress. Spirituality through religious beliefs in students showed to have the greatest immunity to stress and they were found to be of greater spiritual health as compared to those who claimed that they were spiritual but not religious. "Individuals striving to understand the meaning of and purpose for their struggles often look for guidance in the spiritual or religious realms" (Stephanie Graham, et al., p.2). Religion helps a person to fall back onto something when everything else seems to fall apart. They seek for help from a Supreme Being and they somehow know that He will help them. Either one should accept the existence of this Supreme Being helping them directly, as the basis of spirituality or religiousness requires a person to blindly believe in and have faith in this Supreme Being, or that there is some relation between this extreme faith and conviction and the subsequent positive effects it brings out in an individual. In the counseling field it was only till recently that attention was given to spirituality as being one of the important components in counselor training programs and counseling relationships (Ingersoll, p.5). With the movement of Asians to the West, there has been an increase in the awareness and practice of martial arts. These martial arts go beyond the limits of self-defense and styles such as Aikido and Tai Chi concentrate on the spiritual development of people. They are more meditative in nature than violent. With the rise in these spiritual exercises, people are turning more towards them to become relaxed and have their minds at ease. There have been many who claim that by performing these arts of the East, their minds have become healthy and they feel as if they are spiritually as well as physically healthier than before. Some scientists have taken the stand that there is no direct relation between these rituals and relief of stress. Neuroscientists believe that there is no substantial evidence that religious beliefs and values exert any influence in the elevation or decline of immune cells. Thus they have started to work between neurology, immunology and endochonology. The general public disagrees and continues to believe that there is some relation between religious beliefs and inclination with the immune system and treatment of illnesses. Today "we are witnessing a spiritual awakening unprecedented in modern times, according to scholars in American religious thought" (Eugene Taylor, p.54).