We all experience times when our lives seem to be out of balance, where we feel buffeted by the turmoil around us, or that we’ve lost our grip on control in our life. Sometimes, in the midst of all this we can begin to shut down or fall apart. We may start to feel hopelessness or resignation and to lose sight of the pathway out of the hole we’ve fallen into. The irony of this is that the way out of this state is through going back along the path that led us within it.
Loving Kindness Meditation
The Loving Kindness Meditation is a particularly lovely meditation arising from the Buddhist tradition, that brings you gentle healing. It also sends healing through loving kindness to those around you and to all living things on the planet.
It is a beautiful, peaceful practice that is guaranteed to clear your energy as you send loving kindness to all.
Used every day it is a wonderful self-care technique to reduce stress and boost your wellbeing. When you use it regularly it will increase your capacity for self-acceptance, forgiveness, and connection with others.
While it is a gentle meditation, Loving Kindness may trigger resistance as it asks you to send loving energy to yourself and others. But as you bring your focus to mastering the practice you will receive the many benefits it carries.
Many studies have shown this meditation can assist with managing chronic pain. It can be useful to manage social anxiety, conflict in the home, anger and the impact of stress. It also enhances the area of the brain responsible for emotional processing and empathy.
Use this meditation regularly or use it occasionally as a ritual practice at significant points of the seasonal Natural Calendar.
How To Do Loving Kindness Meditation
1. Create some quiet time for yourself. Turn off the phone. Close the door on the outside world.
2. Sit comfortably. Close your eyes and relax your muscles as you listen to the recording.
3. After the meditation has finished just remain where you are with your eyes closed for a few moments until you feel ready to re-enter daily life.
4. Carry the wonderful feelings generated during the meditation with you through your day.
5. If you struggle with any step of the meditation, pause the recording and take extra time with that stage. And remember to also send yourself even more loving kindness as you move through it.
And now, use this quiet space to generate healing for yourself and others.
Disclaimer
All information and opinions presented here are for information only and are not intended as a substitute for professional advice offered during a consultation. If you have a particular medical problem please consult with your health care provider before trying treatment suggested on this site.
Mindfulness has become so popular that it’s used as a tool for stress relief right across our society, even in schools. The modern practice of mindfulness is a westernised version of a Buddhist meditation, which teaches that thoughts don’t need to be controlled. It upends the notion that we need to control our thoughts and encourages us to become the observer rather than the thinker.
Essentially mindfulness draws on awareness to help us be present in every moment. Supported by extensive studies, it is a potent tool to combat the high stress levels we all experience every day. Like other forms of meditation, it improves our mental health while increasing our brain processing power. Mindfulness is a very simple technique that can be used every day to find inner calm.
Mindfulness practices are often taught secularly, but their roots reach back to ancient teachings and traditions.
Mindfulness is also known by terms such as mindful awareness or enlightenment. It has a rich history, and its roots are steeped in many ancient religious and more recently, secular traditions, in particular Buddhism and Hinduism.
The Beauty Of Mindfulness
Part of the beauty of adopting a mindfulness practice is that the many health benefits can be gained anywhere, anytime and either in a group or alone. Even just two or three minutes a day can trigger the benefits.
While breath is an important aspect of mindfulness, it takes many forms and can be adapted to suit every individual. These forms include awareness, meditation, yoga, walking meditation or becoming mindful during everyday activities such as washing the dishes, showering, eating or drinking tea.
In simple language mindfulness is non-judgemental awareness
Most of us rush through our day, our week, our lives, without noticing our surroundings and remaining unaware of deeper currents. This leaves us operating on autopilot. In this state we become vulnerable to life upsets and stress. We are left to fall back on the old stories that underpin our subconscious beliefs, which drives us to repeat long-held practices that do not support our growth.
Develop Conscious and Intentional Awareness
In the midst of navigating this busy-ness, what’s far more crucial to our wellbeing is what’s really going on behind the events in our lives. When we are always rushed and overwhelmed we generally fail to notice the real story behind what’s happening. If we do happen to get a small glimpse of that story, we quickly respond with an opinion about it rather than gaining real clarity by stepping back and just observing.
Mindfulness, a conscious and intentional awareness, gives us the means to avoid living on autopilot. By developing our ability to observe and really notice things happening around us and to us, we become tuned into how we habitually react and respond to them, without attaching any personal judgement.
We are able to notice what’s going on without becoming drawn into the drama.
We develop an ability to observe with greater awareness which helps us make wiser decisions for ourselves and our life, to carry us forward in greater clarity without anxiety and overwhelm.
However, being able to draw on heightened awareness coupled with greater calm and acceptance doesn’t just happen automatically. We need to develop this ability within ourselves, and like any new mind skill, it takes practice and time.
Initially we may only be able to sustain a mindful state momentarily. But if we are committed to changing so we can shift from a state of constant overwhelm and drama into one of open, stable, grounded calmness. We can begin to expand our mindfulness and start noticing change quite quickly.
7 Mindfulness Exercises To Reduce Overwhelm
To change how you respond to drama and stress you have to break old habits while also developing new ones. This means you no longer automatically react to triggers and instead, are able to step back, observe with awareness, and identify both the trigger itself and the way you normally respond. Once you become aware of this habit within yourself it becomes easier to break it apart.
These simple mindfulness exercises will help you develop conscious awareness to reclaim a calmer, more coherent presence when faced with life’s challenges. Practice them over and over until you start to notice yourself staying calm without reacting.
1. Awareness Exercise
This exercise helps develop your ability to observe with clarity by uncovering where you place your attention through the day. It also highlights what distracts you from staying calmly in the present moment.
Take a few minutes to walk around the place you are right now, a room at home, work or even outdoors. It doesn’t matter where it is, just go with the place you are in.
Do this without holding any intention or expectation about what will happen or what you hope to achieve in the practice. Just move to whatever draws your attention.
Do this for about three minutes. Then write down on paper preferably, or in your phone, whatever you noticed, what drew your attention or where your thoughts shifted during that time. It’s important to actually record these.
You may:
Have past thoughts rise up
Wonder about future job opportunities
Create vague plans for a family holiday
Try to find a solution to a problem
Criticise yourself
Remember something you’ve forgotten to do
Think about how tired or hungry you are
Became sad, lonely, frustrated, angry, guilty or any other emotion about something or someone
2. Breath Of Life Exercise
A minute or two of deep breathing from your abdomen helps to bring you the calming benefits of mindfulness. This is partly because when you’re completely focused on the movement of your breath you can’t think of other things, you’re living in the moment.
The emotional response to a challenge and the subsequent chaos of your thoughts throws you into a downward spiral of anxiety and overwhelm. Focused breathing takes you out of your thoughts and into your body so you can’t continue to be caught up in the drama.
Breathing from your belly is something you need to cultivate as your automatic way of breathing, all the time. Most people only use the top of their lungs to breathe which is inefficient. Once you set the intent to make abdominal breathing your natural breath it is easy to simply switch your attention to your breath whenever you need to quickly ground yourself to deal with stress.
I describe this process in detail in this blog post about using deep breathing to reduce stress.
Basically, sit up straight in a chair with your feet on the floor or stand. Close your eyes. Focus on your breathing, drawing the breath down deep into your abdomen.
Follow each breath in and out. It can help to place your hands on your belly and feel it rise or expand with the in breath and fall or contract with the exhale. After one minute open your eyes and go about your day.
Your diaphragm, belly and chest should expand as you breathe in and soften as you breathe out. Your shoulders should not move up and down when you do this breathing correctly.
Practice whenever you can so you can immediately and automatically turn your attention to a minute or two of deep breathing whenever you need it. You’ll discover it immediately calms you and reduces any strong emotional feelings or anxiety you might experience.
3. 4-4-4 Exercise
This is another simple breathing exercise to focus your awareness and strengthen your mindfulness practice.
1. Turn your attention to your breath.
2. Inhale steadily to the count of four.
3. Hold your breath for the count of four.
4. Exhale for a count of four.
5. Hold for another count of four.
Repeat this for a minute or two.
Do this exercise in conjunction with abdominal breathing.
4. Water Immersion Exercise
Water is linked with our emotions so this next exercise is useful because our emotions are triggered by stress and are released through this mindful practice. This exercise focuses your attention on the input you receive through your senses.
The shower is a great place to pay attention!
Whenever you take a shower develop mindfulness by becoming aware of your five senses.
Notice the action of turning on the taps. Notice the feel of the water as you step under, the feeling of it on your skin as it flows down your body.
Smell the aroma of the soap and notice the sensation on your skin as you lather. Observe how your skin feels after the soap is washed away. Feel the steam around your face and watch it as it drifts upward.
Now turn down the hot water for a few seconds and then turn it back up, noticing the change in temperature.
Throughout keep your attention focused on what you sense – what you feel, smell, taste, see and hear.
5. Pause For An Entrance Exercise
For mindfulness to become a positive part of our life it needs to become second nature to us. This exercise helps us start acting mindfully in even the smallest activities of our lives so we start to engage mindfully all the time, without having to think about it.
Generally we rush through doors moving from one space to another without consciously making the shift from the first space to the next.
As you approach a door, pause, before reaching for the handle. Take a couple of mindful breaths. Then go ahead and open the door. As you pass through the door pay attention to closing the door behind you before turning to the new space.
Take a moment to mindfully move your attention to the new space before moving into it.
Do this process and take a moment to pause, whenever you move from one space to a new one, even if a door is not involved.
6. Mindful Eating Exercise
This exercise is similar to the shower exercise and aims to focus your awareness on your senses.
Often we rush through our meal, eat on the run, or engage in other activities while we eat. Mindful eating has two basic principles – slowing down and engaging fully with all our senses.
Whether you are eating a full meal or a simple snack bringing mindful awareness into the process gives all the normal health benefits of mindfulness as well as improving our digestion.
First, don’t eat on the move, sit down or at least stop.
Before you begin to eat look at the food, notice the colour, shape or anything unusual about it. Bend close and breathe in the aroma, noticing what you identify; close your eyes if it helps.
Pick up your food or touch it and notice what it feels like. Is it heavy or light; warm or cold; soft or hard, slippery, fluffy, squelchy? Notice any utensils you’re using, the weight, surface, shape, the detail.
Now take a small bite. Let the food sit in your mouth before you chew it and notice it on your tongue. Notice the texture. Savour the taste. Notice how it feels as you swallow it.
Listen for sounds throughout the process, the crinkle of paper as you unwrap it, the clink of the cutlery, the scrape on the plate and the sound as you chew.
Take time to become deeply aware of the process and the sensations you experience at all stages.
7. Time Out Exercise
To remind you to continue to develop your mindfulness practice keep a timer near you, on your desk, beside your bed or wherever you spend your time.
Whenever you notice anything holding your attention or curiosity, such as an interesting sound, a bird outside the window or the play of light on the wall, start the timer for one minute. As you continue to notice, slow your breath continuing to focus on whatever caught your eye.
When the timer beeps check in with yourself. How do you feel? Do you feel calmer, peaceful, more relaxed?
The Core Message
Mindfulness is both a noticing, or awareness, of all that surrounds you in the external world, and an acceptance of whatever you notice both within and outside yourself, without judgement. That part is important!
The goal when developing a mindfulness practice, is to have it become an automatic way to move through your day, not something you need to focus on. So, the more you do it the less you’ll have to remember it.
In order to make mindfulness a regular and automatic part of your life it helps to involve daily activities in your developing practice. For example, set the intent to deep breathe for 30 seconds every time you pick up your keys, or climb the stairs, turn on the tap or any other action you regularly take. You can use any routine activity to helps you strengthen mindfulness.
Begin to incorporate these exercises into your daily routine whenever you remember and use them to help you move out of feelings of stress, overwhelm, anxiety, or confusion.
Disclaimer
All information and opinions presented here are for general health information only and are not intended as a substitute for professional advice offered during a consultation. Please consult with your health care provider for medical conditions before trying treatment suggested on this site.
Our world has changed so much over recent years and we’ve changed along with it.
We’ve become so used to living with pressure, stress and anxiety that we now take it for granted. We believe that being on the edge of overwhelm is fine because it is completely normal, just as long as we don’t fall over the edge into burnout.
Sometimes, because it has become our normal, we don’t recognise that we’re living with constant anxiety because we forget that anxiety doesn’t always look like worry or fear.
Mindfulness is a simple, powerful and drug-free way to reduce anxiety
Being mindful relieves stress and anxiety because your awareness is in the present moment. You are not focused on what went wrong in the past or worrying about the possibilities of the future. Nor can you drift into the other avoidance behaviours of anxiety because your attention is focused. Your stress hormones are under control.
Discover techniques to reduce anxiety and more with mindfulness.
Disclaimer
All information and opinions presented here are for information purposes only and are not intended as a substitute for professional advice offered during a consultation. Please consult with your health care provider before following any of the treatment suggested on this site, particularly if you have an ongoing health issue.
Mindfulness is about fully and openly embracing the present moment. Sounds so simple, right? But in truth we spend our time doing everything but that. And that goes doubly when we encounter a challenging emotion that makes us uncomfortable or even fearful.
When we face a situation that triggers a challenging emotion, we quickly fall into our default position for challenges. We move into the story we have built up around this situation or emotion over time. This story is embedded in our subconscious and carries a specific limiting mindset.
We get pulled us straight back into the past and all the times we have experienced that emotion before. We remember the situations in detail, the wrongs that were done to us or how we failed or were judged by others. We end up getting lost in the emotional drama of our ‘story’ and our connection to the present is quickly and completely lost.
But the past is gone. Those thoughts and beliefs that arise are nothing more than stories, they’re not real.
In many cases these thoughts and beliefs are not even of our own making. They have been passed to us from someone else and usually don’t even reflect our own true values. They can even come from the earliest time in our life before we were cognisant of what they even meant.
Unfortunately, the stories we re-run over and over, and the emotional ‘rabbit-hole’ they lead us down, hold such a power over us that it can be really difficult to break free of them.
Luckily the key to breaking them apart and changing that mindset is a simple technique using awareness. Mindful awareness is an active investigation into the nature of your mind and how it functions.
Perceiving True Mind
Trying to discover the true nature of our mind is impossible using the mind itself. We can never clearly understand this by using our thoughts. This is because most of the stories in there are hidden in the subconscious or distorted in faulty memory.
But fortunately, we don’t have to rely only on our mind because our thoughts, experiences, memories and emotions are also held within every cell of our body. And our body cells are a far more reliable and accessible library of all these than is our mind.
We can use a simple awareness exercise to keenly observe and witness the messages held by our body with clarity. This helps us to unlock them without getting drawn into the story or the drama that has always surrounded them.
This simple exercise will guide you to unlocking the secrets of your cells. Doing this exercise allows you to stay in the present moment even when your emotions begin to overwhelm you. It becomes an excellent tool to draw on whenever life threatens to overwhelm you.
When you first do this exercise, you may find yourself slipping back into the emotion. Whenever you notice this happening gently guide your awareness back to the exercise, without any judgment. Don’t beat yourself up, it’s completely normal for our thoughts to stray and for emotions to take over. Just notice them, focus and then bring them back.
Each time you do the exercise you’ll find your ability to maintain your detached focus, to identify what you observe and to accept the associated emotion become easier and easier. Each time it will cause you less stress.
Mindfulness Exercise: Connect Your Mind, Body and Emotions
Observe: When you feel an emotion that’s unpleasant the first step is to take a few slow, deep breaths and quickly scan your body from head to toe. Look for the strongest sensation – the one that bothers you the most. Focus your attention on that sensation. Use your awareness. Observe it carefully, curiously. Notice where it starts and where it ends. Discover as much about it as you can.
Distance: Don’t judge what you find. Don’t try to work out what it’s about. All you need to do is observe.
Breathe: Take a few deep breaths. Breathe into and around the sensation.
Expand: Make room for the feeling. Loosen up around it and create space.
Allow: Allow the emotion to be there. You don’t have to like it or want it. Simply let it be and make peace with it. The goal is not to get rid of it but to give up the struggle with it.
This mindfulness technique can be applied to as many different sensations as you want. As you do the exercise one of two things will happen: either your feelings will change – or they won’t. It doesn’t matter either way. This exercise is not about changing your feelings. It’s about observing them and accepting them whilst staying in the moment.
This exercise helps you stay out of the drama, whether it’s around you or within. When you step outside the emotion like this and simply observe it with awareness, you strengthen your engagement with your Highest Self, with Source. This keeps you grounded and in the present moment.
Mindfulness is the art of being present and accepting the moment, as it is.
Mindfulness is the energy of being both aware and awake to the present moment. It is the ongoing practice of engaging fully in every moment of daily life and accepting it without judgement. It is about simply Being instead of constantly Doing.
Recently I was reading about mindfulness while I was eating a slice of toast. As I continued to read, I suddenly became very conscious of the irony of my situation. Engrossed in the internet, with thoughts of what I needed to do during the day running around in the background, I was eating in a way totally lacking in mindfulness.
So I stopped reading and focused on the delicious food. I immersed myself in experiencing the bread toasted so that just the outside was crunchy and the centre still moist; the tang of the sourdough culture; the seeds coating the crust; the sweetness of warm butter which had soaked through into the heart.
I noticed the autumn sun pouring in through the window and the small birds hopping along the branches outside.
At one point I began thinking about writing this post about mindfulness, but being mindful, I put the thought aside and focused on eating the toast again. Truly, I tasted and enjoyed that piece of toast far more deeply than many I have eaten. It was all the more delicious because I was focused in the moment.
“When we are mindful, deeply in touch with the present moment, our understanding of what is going on deepens, and we begin to be filled with acceptance, joy, peace and love.”
Thich Nhat Hanh
My distraction while I was eating is completely normal. Human consciousness focuses on a lively dance between revisiting past events and anticipating the future. But developing mindfulness in our daily routine can have a very positive impact on our lives as well as our health.
Conscious Awareness
Mindfulness is a hot topic right now, but it’s nothing new. It involves the art of consciously living in the present moment without getting drawn into the drama.
At its simplest mindfulness can be likened to awareness with intent. It’s about using awareness to observe and notice in an open and curious way.
Mindfulness and intentional awareness are both about paying attention with purpose. They are like being in the eye-of-the-storm and still being able to consciously hold the place of stillness, while all around is chaos. They allow you to live in the here and now, noticing with clarity the reality behind what’s appears to be going on, while remaining emotionally detached.
Mindfulness Changes Your Brain
This mindfulness practice of touching life deeply in every moment of daily life brings heightened awareness and inner calm.
When we practice mindfulness, we become more open to noticing what is happening in our lives, with greater clarity. Everyday problems do not disappear. But because we are fully present in our lives through the practice, we become able to respond to life’s pressures in a much calmer way.
Developing and strengthening your awareness with mindfulness can transform your brain by changing or creating new circuits particularly those involved in stress, attention and focus, memory and mood. Mindfulness changes the way neurons in your brain communicate with each other. This opens the opportunity for you to interact and respond to your experiences and the world around you in a whole new way.
Mindfulness also helps us avoid self-judgement and self-criticism as we become more accepting of both our strengths and our challenges. This brings significant health benefits to our body, our mind and our soul.
Embracing the energy of mindfulness and allowing it to flow into our lives to penetrate everything we do provides us with the opportunity to foster the development of grace within.
It deepens our capacity to live more meaningful, balanced and peaceful lives.
Origins of Mindfulness
The ancient practice of mindfulness has come to us through many eastern philosophies including Buddhism, Yoga, Tai Chi and Taoism. It’s now embraced by the West and widely taught in a non-sectarian way because it is a proven effective tool to treat many psychological clinical disorders.
Thich Nhat Hanh, a Vietnamese Buddhist monk, teacher, author, poet and peace activist, taught the art of mindfulness throughout his lifetime. Initially he taught it through the practice of mindful breathing and later through Walking Meditation. Walking Meditation is more than just strolling around. It’s about being peacefully rooted in the present and always aware of both your mind and body as you move.
Walking meditation provides additional benefits to those gained through mindfulness, such as improved blood sugar levels1and blood flow and better balance and ankle coordination.
Benefits of Mindfulness
Mindfulness has been proven to effectively counteract stress by intentionally focusing the attention on the present moment and at the same time, accepting it without judgement. Focusing on the present moment prevents you becoming caught up in worry about the future or regret or shame about the past.
Helps develop a stable mind to stay grounded, rather than one that is dull or agitated
Reduces anxietyby cultivating a flexible mind able to reduce the impact of stressful thoughts and feelings
Increases self-awareness of your mind and its thought patterns
Helps you become less reactive in difficult and challenging situations
Replaces self-defeating behaviours with more beneficial ones
Mindful Practice
We are so familiar with projecting our attention and thoughts into either the future or the past, that it can take time to become proficient in maintaining your awareness in the present moment. But it can be developed through repetition until it becomes natural and automatic.
Whenever you think of it, practice by focusing on your breath, your surroundings or on each of your five senses – sound, sight, smell, touch and taste in turn. Tune into your thoughts or your body and just observe what you notice without any judgement or self-recrimination. Hold this state as long as you find comfortable and notice how much calmer it leaves you feeling.
Mindfulness leads to a keener awareness of all aspects of your life and the world around you
Every time you can bring your mind into the NOW, even just momentarily, you help cultivate a mindfulness practice that will eventually become a permanent and automatic part of how you function.
Commit to cultivating mindfulness in your life today, to gain profound and sustained benefits.
All information and opinions presented here are for information only and are not intended as a substitute for professional advice offered during a consultation. Please consult with your health care provider before trying any of the treatment suggested on this site.
Everyone feels anxious at some time or other, but for some people anxiety is an overwhelming part of their everyday life. For some, stress or depression walks alongside, and insomnia likes to drop by too.
Modern life moves so fast and our lives are constantly changing. Upheavals such as moving house, redundancy, the passing of a loved one, or even something joyful like a wedding or a birth, can set up the arena for feelings of anxiety. Your body recognises the feelings as stressful and responds by sending out a flood of stress hormones to deal with the situation. If you are healthy, you deal with the feelings and move on. But for others, unable to move past the feelings, anxiety interferes with their daily life to such an extent they cannot cope well with everyday things. This is an anxiety disorder.
Anxiety is not stress. Anxiety is a fear-based emotion that results in a physical and emotional response in the body. Stress is the body’s response to stimuli, which can be a problem is if is ongoing or overdone.
There are different forms of anxiety including Panic Disorder, Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD), Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), Social Phobia, Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD), phobias, Separation Anxiety.
Anxiety is experienced in many, many different ways. It may show as constant and obsessive worrying, panic attacks, feeling overwhelmed and teary, repetitive thoughts, huge emotional swings, concentration difficulties and being easily distracted, trouble remembering things, difficulty learning, insomnia, tension that makes relaxing difficult, low libido, appetite changes such as cravings, loss of appetite, nausea and vomiting, or weight change. A combination of life experiences, hereditary tendency and chemical imbalances in the brain leads to the symptoms. It develops gradually and runs in families.
Conventional treatment calls for a combination of strategies to deal with symptoms, which includes some effective natural methods. But there are many other very effective ways to reduce anxiety in the long term that are not a part of conventional treatment but are well worth trying. They can be used to treat both anxiety disorder or simple anxious responses to a life event.
Conventional Treatment of Anxiety
Relaxation techniques
Breathing techniques
Diet changes
Counseling
Cognitive Behavior Therapy
Behaviour Therapy
Exercise
Medication
Reduce Anxiety Naturally
Natural Medicine
Homeopathy
Homeopathy has a great track record when it comes to dealing with anxiety. Remedies such as homeopathic Aconite is a very useful first-aid remedy for dealing with panic attacks or fear of flying. Homeopathic Gelsemium is a remedy to help reduce exam nerves. There are many other remedies which are very effective when they are closely matched to the exact nature of your individual anxiety symptoms.
Other remedies can be used for long-term anxiety issues but again, need to be matched to your own particular symptoms. Certain remedies are helpful when you wake during the night with worry and anxiety that keeps you awake, others for when you avoid social situations due to anxiety, others for control issues, others for anxiety due to a range of particular stimuli and so forth. Consulting with a qualified Homeopath will identify which remedy suits your needs the best.
EFT
Emotional Freedom Technique or Tapping, is so simple anyone can learn it and do it anyplace as it only takes a few minutes. It works on the principle that the cause of all negative emotions is a disruption or blockage in the body’s energy system. It seeks to shift the points along the body meridian system where energy is blocked.
Temporal Tap
Affirmations are employed in conventional treatments, but you can take this much further to get a greater impact by combining them with Tapping. Stimulating acupressure points on the body helps awaken the chi energy and keep it flowing smoothly. By tapping on certain points on the head while you say the affirmations, you can help to set the self-reprogramming in place quicker and stronger. Temporal tapping influences your thinking, your nervous system and the cellular activity of the body. Watch this demonstration by Donna Eden of the Temporal Tap method. She explains how it works and demonstrates the process very clearly and simply.
Flower Essences
Essences are a very gentle form of natural medicine that work directly on the emotions. Bach Rescue Remedy is extremely effective for panic attacks and can be carried with you in your bag. It is simple to use and gives fast, gentle results.
Australian Bush Flower Emergency Essence has a similar effect to Bach Rescue Remedy. Some people respond better to the Bach and others to the Australian Bush Flower remedies. Try both to see which works best for you.
Bach Mimulus is the remedy to use for a known fear, such as public speaking or dogs. Bach Aspen is better when there are more general, vague fearful or anxious feelings without a specific cause.
Australian Bush Flower Calm & Clear Essence is good choice to reduce general anxiety and change your ongoing state rather than for specific incidents.
Aromatherapy
Because the sense of smell bypasses the part of the brain that does all the worrying, aromas and smells can be powerful helpers. Burn some 100% natural and plant-based incense such as frankincense or sandalwood which are very relaxing, or lavender if you need calming. The incense slows the heart rate and soothes nerves. Or burn quality pure essential oils such as lavender, geranium or bergamot, which are all calming and effective relaxants.
When you soak in a bath with added essential oils or add the oils to a massage oil base, you get added relaxation benefits.
Diet
Avoid Caffeine
Caffeine is a stimulant that triggers the body to release adrenaline, a major stress hormone and the one you need to avoid. Caffeine is found in coffee, cola, guarana, chocolate and diet supplements. It’s also added to many other soda drinks so always read the labels and don’t assume that if you avoid the cola drinks you’ll be ok.
Adjust Your Meals
Eat small meals frequently. Stable blood sugars help maintain stable moods. Eat every couple of hours and make sure the meal contains some protein. Protein is found in a boiled egg, a handful of almonds or other nuts and seeds, a small tin of tuna, quinoa salad, a slice of turkey or organic chicken breast, nut butter, hummus, tempeh, grain fed organic beef and much more.
There has been much research recently showing anxiety originates in the gut, so it’s no surprise that anxiety also affects digestion and the bowel. Reduce caffeine, sugar, dairy, increase vegetables, fruits, seeds, nuts and grains to ease the load on your gut – basically, eat healthy!
Supplements
Magnesium is a mineral that’s often deficient in much of the population, particularly anxiety sufferers. Available in many foods including green leafy vegetables, pumpkin seeds, sesame seeds, brazil nuts, brown rice, bananas, and dark chocolate, so make sure you eat adequate amounts. A high-quality supplement can be a better choice.
Vitamin B is also often low in the diet of anxiety sufferers, and taking a daily Vitamin B complex can help ease anxiety. Take a high-quality complete B rather than single B vitamins.
Herbs
Calming herbs include passionflower, kava, oats and chamomile which are also good for helping with sleep problems, and St John’s Wort.
Holy Basil, or Tulsi, is one herb that helps the body respond to stress and anxiety, whether that is emotional or physical, by reducing the levels of stress hormone. It produces feelings of calm and relaxation.
A cup of chamomile tea in the evening eases stress and promotes sleep by helping you relax and easing tension before bed. Chamomile is a useful relaxant and will help sedate you to sleep
Passionflower (Passiflora incarnate) is an old folk remedy for anxiety that acts as a mild tranquiliser, calming without sedating. It can be taken as a tablet, a tea, or a liquid tincture from your practitioner. It also assists with insomnia. Don’t use passionflower if you are already taking sedatives, or if you are pregnant, nursing or have established kidney or liver disease.
Kava Kava (Piper methysticum) is widely known and used to reduce anxiety symptoms by activating GABA receptors in the brain.
Other Natural Strategies
Bodywork
Muscle tension can be caused by anxiety, particularly if it is ongoing. Body therapies such as massage, reflexology or shiatsu can relieve the muscles and help you relax. Yoga, Tai Chi and Qi Gong are other techniques to help the body relax. Yoga incorporates good breathing practices and is especially useful.
Craniosacral Therapy uses gentler techniques than massage on the head, spine and pelvis, the source of the nervous system. Gentle manipulation of this area of the body leads to reduced nervous, as well as muscle tension.
Meditation
In meditation controlled breathing techniques are used to free the mind of chatter and activity. By practicing meditation on a daily basis you can develop a more relaxed outlook. Meditation does not need to be difficult. There are many different ways of meditating, and it is simply a matter of finding the one that suits you. Take a look here to discover different forms of meditation for beginners and find the one that is right for you. If even the idea of meditating freaks you out start here instead.
Breathing
Learn to breathe correctly. When you get anxious you start to breathe more and more shallowly, using just the top of your chest. Breathing deep down in the belly helps to bring about calm. Learn more about controlled breathing techniques here.
Self-talk
Using positive affirmations can be very effective. When you form an affirmation try to phrase it as if it already is happening. For example, instead of saying “all will be well” use “all IS well” instead. Placing the thought in the present moment is more effective. “I am coping, breathing deeply, and feeling relaxed” is more likely to calm you because it is strongly placed in what is happening now, in the present, rather than “I always cope if I breathe and relax” which is far more general.
Centring
To create calm in the moment place both your palms on the side of your face and rest your fingers gently on your closed eyelids. This cradles and quiets the mind, allowing you to centre yourself so you can face things again.
Release Built-up Adrenaline
Move your body about. Play some up-beat music and dance, scrub the walls or floor, weed an overgrown patch of garden, go for a run or a bike ride. Exercise burns up the stress chemicals , promotes relaxation and helps circulate blocked energy that contributes to anxiety.
Distract yourself
Put on your favourite music, take the dog for a walk, make a cup of soothing herbal tea, revisit your favourite beach holiday photos, especially if they were in the tropics or whatever calms you in the moment.
Taking steps to reduce your anxiety in a more natural way allows you to experience more of life. Try out some of these strategies for yourself.
What natural strategies do you find most useful to reduce the symptoms of anxiety? Tell me in the comment section below.
For me the most helpful methods to reduce anxiety are Homeopathic remedies and Australian Bush Flower Essences.
Disclaimer.
All information and opinions presented here are for information purposes only and are not intended as a substitute for professional advice offered during a consultation. Please consult with your health care provider before following any of the treatment suggested on this site, particularly if you have an ongoing health issue.
Think how often we ask, “How are you doing?” But maybe we’d do better asking “How are you breathing?” Many people have forgotten how to breathe deeply into their belly. However, when you reawaken this practice you activate a powerful self-healing tool to create better health.
Have you ever stopped to consider how you breathe? Have you ever watched and noticed the way you breathe? If you practice yoga the answer is likely a resounding “yes” as breathing technique is a yogic fundamental. Likewise, meditation and relaxation techniques require breath awareness and control. But how often do you stop and consciously breathe deeply during your normal day?
Consciously controlling your breathing is one of the simplest and most effective ways to diminish the effect of stress on your body and improve your health.
Constant stress leads to raised cortisol levels and is the forerunner of serious chronic disease. When you breathe deeply you reduce the negative effect of cortisol on your body. Efficient, effective and mindful breathing is a basic essential for good health and wellness.
Ninety percent of people breathe completely inefficiently.
Mindful Breathing
Ninety percent of people breathe completely inefficiently. Their breathing is unconscious and purely reflexive. So it often becomes haphazard and irregular.
Becoming mindful of your breath gives you conscious control to command how you breathe, rather than allowing it to become automatic and inadequate. When you’re not in control of your breath, when you ignore it, a primitive part of your brain is triggered to step in and take over. Breathing becomes a simple, unconscious, reflex action.
Stop for a moment to notice just how you breathe. Take a deep breath. Do you find it satisfying or a little difficult? Is it shallow? Is it fast? Do you sigh a lot? Or gasp? Do you hold your breath? Are you able to breathe deeply, down into your abdomen?
Check your breathing. Are you breathing poorly?
Try this experiment. Time yourself and count how many breaths you take in one minute. For most people it will be between sixteen and twenty which indicates they’re breathing poorly, from the thoracic upper chest. They are breathing reflexively and their breathing is under the control of the primitive part of the brain. This way of breathing is very inefficient. The air they breathe is only making it into the upper part of the lungs. This means rapid breathersare not getting the optimum amounts of oxygen that their body requires to stay healthy.
You can easily recognise when people are thoracic breathing. The upper part of their chest rises with each breath and sometimes even the shoulders rise a little or slump forward.
As newborns we automatically breathed well. When babies breathe their abdomen rises with every in-breath and subsides as they exhale. But most of us lost this innate way of breathing as we got older. As children we copied our parents and those around us who generally shallow breathed. When we get upset, sad or angry we often even hold our breath. By the time we are adults we have become disconnected from our breath, forgetting how to breathe deeply
When I was young, I was told to suck in my belly and to stand tall. But this undermines good breathing techniques and causes diaphragm muscles to tighten, which leads to restricted breathing. As an adult I had to unlearn this practice and learn to ‘stand loose and relax my belly’ so I could use my abdominal muscles and breathe properly.
Breathe Deeply to Relieve Stress
Ongoing stress and anxiety creates a pattern of shallow, rapid breathing with consequently less oxygen reaching the brain. This leads to feeling light-headed or even dizzy. It also affects thinking processes causing the person to become unfocused.
When our thinking capacity is reduced we deal with anxiety or stress poorly. We can find it very difficult to move out of a constant ‘fight or flight stress response’. Shallow breathing can hold us in a continued state of high cortisol production. Taking slow deep breaths when we’re stressed breaks this pattern and reduces the release of stress hormones. When you slow the breath down you also draw air more deeply into your lungs.
Diaphragmatic Breathing
Most people have at some time been told to slow down and breathe when they’re distressed, or sometimes more simply to “take a deep breath”.
When you slow the breath down you also breathe air more deeply into your lungs which allows more oxygen to enter the blood.
However, there is no point in expecting your lungs to do all the work to breathe. Basically, they are just empty sacs to hold air and are incapable of doing the work of breathing on their own.
Good breathing utilises other muscles in addition to those in the chest and upper back. Across the front of your body below the ribs is a sheet of muscle called the diaphragm. It sits directly below the lungs and above the abdomen and acts like a pump for the lungs. When you squeeze in your abdomen the diaphragm moves upward and pushes the air out of your lungs. When the abdominal muscles relax the diaphragm moves back down, leaving space for the lungs to stretch out which draws air into the expanded lung space.
Healthy, beneficial breathing comes from the diaphragm.
If you put your hand on the bottom of your ribs and take a deep breath you’ll feel your hand rise and fall. That’s because the diaphragm is doing its job, rising and falling to push air out of the lungs and let air flow back in. When you are breathing deeply you should also see your abdomen rise and fall.
Benefits of Breathing Deeply
✦ Blood concentration is greater in the lower part of the lungs. Therefore, drawing air into this area creates a higher exchange of oxygen out of the air and into your blood cells.
✦ Long, deep, slow rhythmic breaths into your abdomen below the umbilicus (belly button) pulls more air and oxygen deep down into the base of your lungs.
✦ Oxygen passes into your bloodstream more efficiently and effectively.
✦ Breathing deeply helps remove more toxins from the body.
✦ It helps to prevent disease and to manifest healing if disease is already present.
Rather than reflexively breathing rapidly, slowing down your breathing to about eight or nine breaths a minute has a dynamic effect on your circulation and reduces the work of the heart. It also gently massages the heart muscle and relaxes the muscles in the chest, ribs and stomach.
How to Correctly Breathe Deeply
Shallow breathing is a developed habit, so like all habits it must first be unlearned.
Once your breathing style is re-learned practice it frequently until it becomes a normal part of life. Starting slowly helps your muscles to develop. Eventually, your body begins to obey your mind and you automatically breathe more efficiently.
Deep rhythmic breathing is simple but for it to become automatic takes conscious practice. The easiest way to begin is to lie down and place one hand in the middle of your chest and the other on the bottom edge of your rib cage. As you inhale the lower hand at the base of the ribs should rise, and as you exhale it should fall. The upper hand should barely move at all.
With practice this deep diaphragmatic breathing will become a habitual part of your life. Eventually, you’ll notice your breathing has become slower and deeper.
Make Deep Breathing a Habit
Become aware of all the times you’re taking shallow breaths, holding your breath, raising your shoulders, or when your chest rises and falls. These often indicate the onset of a state of stress. Notice also when this breathing coincides with particular states of mind. It may be an early warning that your fight or flight response has switched on, triggering a flood of stress hormones into your system.
Simply committing to doing the practice through the day sets up the pattern. Set the intent to do some deep breathing every hour, or whenever you do a particular action. It can be as simple as standing up from your desk. Choose any marker in your day to establish the practice. After a few months, you’ll find that deep breathing has become a habit and you breathe deeply with ease.
I try to consciously breathe slowly and deeply when I’m driving. It ingrains a new habit that helps maintain the practice. An extra benefit is that it reduces the inevitable stress caused by driving in heavy traffic.
It’s essential for almost all of us to re-learn how to breathe correctly
You don’t have to lie down to practice this. You can do it when standing, sitting, or lying on your back with your arms by your side. Breathe out quietly through your nose or mouth and then breathe in through your nose. Minimise the pause between breaths to ensure the air is filtered and moistened. Gradually lengthen the time of each breath.
Practising rhythmic deep breathing ten times a day for a few months will bring you deep rest and relaxation and reduce your stress. You’ll become calmer and less nervous. All the functions of your body will reflect the benefits. You become healthier, happier and more energised.
Remember it’s essential for almost all of us to re-learn how to breathe. Stop and breathe deeply as often as you can throughout your day to change this damaging habit.
Disclaimer.
All information and opinions presented here are for information purposes only and are not intended as a substitute for professional advice offered during a consultation. Please consult with your health care provider before following any of the treatment suggested on this site, particularly if you have an ongoing health issue.
“Every day, think as you wake up, today I am fortunate to be alive, I have a precious human life, I am not going to waste it. I am going to use all my energies to develop myself, to expand my heart out to others; to achieve enlightenment for the benefit of all beings. I am going to have kind thoughts towards others, I am not going to get angry or think badly about others. I am going to benefit others as much as I can.”
~ Dalai Lama XIV ~
For many people the pursuit of happiness is the main focus of their life. This week what happiness is all about has popped up on my radar in a number of ways.
Apparently, according to the Sydney Morning Herald on May 28th this year, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) says ‘Australia is still the world’s happiest nation’. Their happiness gauge is based on the majority having paid work, the national economy side-stepping the worldwide recession, people working fewer hours, the existence of a stronger sense of community, and that most people said they have more positive experiences than negative in an average day.
But is this how to define happiness? Is happiness all about the economy and what we possess?
According to the Greek philosopher Epicurus external goods such as status and luxury are not good for us, and putting value on them, and pursuing them is not good for us at all.
Epicurus believes we need to abstain from external desire in order to achieve tranquility. He says the path to tranquility is through choosing the simple things in life.
A quick scroll through my Pinterest feed affirms that this is one belief firmly ascribed to by many others today.
“Our prime purpose in this life is to help others. And if you can’t help them, at least don’t hurt them.” ~ Dalai Lama ~
Happiness is Age-Related
Apparently, our level of happiness is age-related as a study by Hannes Schwandt, a research associate at Princeton University shows. People are happiest at the age of 23 and then again at 69 and life slumps for most people in the mid-50’s, when many battle with regret.
Young people in their early twenties feel very optimistic about their future which, while it equates to happiness can easily turn to misery if the expectations and dreams are not met.
Our happiness is age related
So, what is it that makes sixty-nine-year-olds happy? Have they come to terms with their failures?
The research showed that the elderly have lower expectations and so are less disappointed. But is this all? It reminds me a little of Eeyore from Winnie The Pooh who never expected anything good.
Is it that they have stopped seeking happiness in the material world, so they are able to find happiness in other ways?
Focus Affects Happiness
Of course, this piece of research presents a perfect example of what happens when you focus on the past or the future.
The famous quote “carpe diem” may have come from the Roman Horace, but many others, including Epicurus also had something to say about living in the moment. Epicurus advocated living in the present moment as it is the only time at which we have any control. He said that by focusing on the past and future we dis-empower ourselves, but when we focus on the present moment, we re-empower ourselves. This has become a very popular approach. It forms the basis of many Buddhist practices and many of the techniques of modern psychology are also based on this concept.
“Happiness is not something ready-made. It comes from your own actions.” ~ Dalai Lama XIV ~
Internal State Affects Happiness
It is widely accepted that happiness is not to be found in the trappings of the world but as the result of our internal state of mind and approach to life. Happiness lies within. As Elizabeth Gilbert said in her book Eat, Pray, Love, “We search for happiness everywhere, but we are like Tolstoy’s fabled beggar who spent his life sitting on a pot of gold, under him the whole time. Your treasure–your perfection–is within you already. But to claim it, you must leave the busy commotion of the mind and abandon the desires of the ego and enter into the silence of the heart.”
Leave the busy commotion of the mind…and enter into the stillness of the heart
Key to Happiness
However, there is no one thing in life that many agree can be said to be the key to happiness. It seems that many psychologists have given their advice as to what the answer is and there are any number of blogs with lists advising how to achieve a happy life.
Finding happiness seems to boil down to our need to make changes both to the way in which we assess the positive and negative about our life, as well as the attitude we adopt as the purpose of our life.
Greater Purpose
Psychologist Martin Seligman believes the key is to recognize our strengths and virtues and then to use them for a purpose greater than our own. This concept is one that is ascribed to widely.
“One of the best ways to make yourself happy is to make other people happy. One of the best ways to make other people happy is to be happy yourself.” Gretchen Rubin, author of The Happiness Project
The Other Centred Universe
Srikumar Rao, the author of Happiness at Work thinks our biggest obstacle is the belief that we are powerless and the victim of circumstance. He believes that we are the creators of own existence, and that control lies within the attitude with which we approach our work, and by association our life. As he says, “The knowledge we have that we are responsible for living the life we have is our most powerful tool”.
Rao advocates inhabiting the “other-centred universe”. This is a world where our focus lies on others. And is a wisdom that forms an important part of Eastern spirituality. If we are motivated by an attitude of focus that is outside ourselves, of looking for ways to achieve in our life that will be of benefit to others rather than focusing on satisfying our own wants and desires, then we will find happiness in our life.
“Remember that sometimes not getting what you want is a wonderful stroke of luck.” ~ Dalai Lama ~
Happiness Through Health Crisis
For many people a disaster may seem a huge negative in their life but in hindsight, can in fact turn out to be a positive. When serious illness forces someone to stop and let go in order to undergo treatment and healing, they are offered an opportunity to turn their life in a different direction, one that can ultimately lead them to a happier life. Often this is a much simpler life.
Changes are made on many levels. Frequently the person finds they need to address their nutrition and they adopt a natural, wholefood diet, including the discovery of superfoods. The often seek out and adopt practices like meditation that allow them to sit in stillness. They recognize the generosity of others around them and begin to regularly express gratitude for those others as well as for the small, simple joys of everyday life.
Importantly, their approach to their life can undergo a radical change which leaves them focused on the world outside themselves. Leaves them asking what they can do to improve and benefit the world and the individuals around them. It leads to a generous approach to life.
Pursuit of Happiness
So, back to the things that reminded me this week about the purpose of life and the pursuit of happiness.
Firstly my free ‘Kindness Cards’ from the Wake-Up Project arrived in the mail. These are beautiful little cards to leave behind when you anonymously perform a random act of kindness. They tell the person that an act has been performed and invites them to repeat the game with someone else, to pay it forward.
Secondly, I entered a competition on Pinterest to create “My Happiness Board”. I am not sure if entering a competition to win a great prize constitutes the true pursuit of happiness, and it has created some stress for me, however, once the event is over, I will slowly build the board to hopefully inspire others.
Thirdly, I re-read a favourite book in which one oft-quoted line is “it is what it is”. Forget about putting a positive spin on life. Life is what it is. We have to make the best of what it is. It could be better, it could be worse. But it isn’t, it just is.
Happiness Depends on Ourselves
Look for your strengths, the things you may not even recognize, and use those strengths to address ways in which you can make the world a better place. Practice kindness, be generous with what you can offer. Accept what life gifts back to you. When you reach the age of sixty-nine you may very well realize that the lemons of your life were indeed gold. As Aristotle reminds us “Happiness depends on ourselves”.
And lastly, take note of Gretchen Rubins’ advice and try to notice and give credit to others that are living a life focused on giving what they have to offer to others.
“The belief that unhappiness is selfless and happiness is selfish is misguided. It’s more selfless to act happy. It takes energy, generosity, and discipline to be unfailingly lighthearted, yet everyone takes the happy person for granted. No one is careful of his feelings or tries to keep his spirits high. He seems self-sufficient; he becomes a cushion for others. And because happiness seems unforced, that person usually gets no credit.”
~ Gretchen Rubins ~
Disclaimer.
All information and opinions presented here are for information purposes only and are not intended as a substitute for professional advice offered during a consultation. Please consult with your health care provider before following any of the treatment suggested on this site, particularly if you have an ongoing health issue.
This year I decided to ditch my footwear inside the house, ever since learning more about Barefoot Earthing or Grounding. This is a radical new health practice that is quickly gaining momentum as word about its benefits spreads. Its impact can be quite far-reaching and yet it is incredibly simple to do, costs nothing, is always available and feels great.
Have you ever noticed how good you feel when you take off your shoes to walk barefoot? Well it seems there is a scientific explanation, and research into the practice of Grounding has found that it can significantly improve all sorts of health problems. It can help your energy levels, reduce stress, improve your sleep, decrease muscular inflammation and stiffness as well as other chronic pain, reduce anxiety, improve circulation, prevent free-radical damage and associated premature ageing and even heal injuries faster. It brings you back into a state of equilibrium where your body is best able to heal itself. Those who use the practice on a regular basis report great results. I am certainly finding I have less aches and pains whenever I walk round without shoes than when I leave them on.
It all has to do with electrical fields.
These days we live completely immersed in electro-magnetic waves (EMFs) from a huge number of everyday items including mobile phones, computers, wireless technology, many electrical appliances, and even compact fluorescent lights. The air in our houses, our workplaces, our schools and in some outdoor places is full of electro-pollution, harmful positive ions produced by this multitude of electrical contraptions that surround us.
These positive ions contribute to ill health.
Electrical Stress
Electrical stress is now recognized as a significant contributor to many health problems and in fact a new chronic illness. The term ‘Diabetes Type 3’, has been coined to describe illness believed to be caused by electropollution.
Surrounding yourself with sources of negative ions helps rebalance this disharmony, as does being in places where negative ions are in abundance such as waterfalls or the ocean.
The surface of the earth is electrically conductive and has a permanent supply of free electrons sitting just above the surface. The charge on the earth surface is negative and anything that is close to the surface will also carry that charge.
Your body also has an electrical field, sometimes referred to as the biofield or the aura. When your bare feet are in contact with the earth negative electrons can easily pass into you.
Grounding allows an electron exchange between you and the earth. This helps to prevent a build-up of harmful electrons in your body as well as promoting a discharge of the positive ions from your body into the earth. Simultaneously you receive a flood of free electrons from the earth.
When the ions within your body and within the Earth are different an ion exchange occurs. This neutralizes free radicals in your body which cause inflammation and are responsible for many health problems. The flood of electrons immediately ‘re-balances’ you, which is why you feel so good when you walk outside barefoot.
In case you got lost in that explanation, simply, standing on the earth rebalances the electromagnetic field of your body, helping to strengthen your immune system, and boosting both your health and your wellbeing.
For most of our existence humans have gone barefoot and often slept directly on the ground. Things now are very different. As well as being surrounded by electromagnetic pollution we are cut off from receiving the rebalancing benefits from the earth because the shoes that we now wear have rubber and synthetic soles that insulate and block transmission of the natural beneficial energy of the earth. It’s just like how rubber gloves can provide protection from electrical shock. Your shoes act in much the same way.
How to Ground Yourself
Take your shoes off and stand or walk barefoot on grass, beach, bare earth, even concrete when it is laid directly on the earth, although not if it’s painted or sealed, whenever you can.
To gain the full health benefit you need to walk around on the earth for about thirty minutes.
Other ways to ground yourself and reap the benefits are to swim in lakes, rivers, or the sea; wear shoes with leather soles; purchase and use an indoor grounding mat or an earthing bed sheet.
The reason I am able to benefit from earthing when walking barefoot indoors is because my floor is made of unglazed slate sitting on a concrete slab which is set directly onto a rock shelf on the side of a hill. There are no substances between my feet and the Earth that block the passage of negative ions. You would not get earthing benefit in a home raised above the ground, or with glazed tiles covering the floor, or a layer between the concrete and tile, or with other floor coverings.
If you would like to read up on Earthing get a copy of the book EARTHING – The Most Important Health Discovery Ever? by Clint Ober, Dr Stephen T Sinatra and Martin Zucker.
Remember though, Grounding is not a substitute for medical treatment and if you have a medical condition you need to consult your healthcare provider.
Disclaimer.
All information and opinions presented here are for information only and are not intended as a substitute for professional advice offered during a consultation. Please consult with your health care provider before trying any of the treatment suggested on this site.
The pace of life has increased exponentially over the last few years and we are all living with increasingly rising stress levels
“We are fragmented into so many different aspects. We don´t know who we really are, or what aspects of ourselves we should identify with or believe in. So many contradictory voices, dictates, and feelings fight for control over our inner lives that we find ourselves scattered everywhere, in all directions, leaving nobody at home. Meditation, then, is bringing the mind home.” ― Sogyal Rinpoche
Stress plays a major part in the development of many illnesses. It is known to affect many body functions including the reproductive system, cause eczema and psoriasis, cause dry mouth or ulcers and musculoskeletal pain as well as affecting the immune system as a whole.
The pace of life has increased exponentially over the last few years. As we take on more and more in our lives and the influx of information bombards us faster and faster, we live with increasingly rising stress levels. The cause or focus can be our work, family, finances, aging parents, the planet, our own health or any of the myriad of commitments we all have in our life. Some may even stress about whether they’re allowing enough download time to counter the stress they have. Almost all of us, including children, are affected to some degree.
DE- STRESS
I often suggest to clients to offload the effects of this stress in their life by adopting the practice of meditation. Some say they have tried it but just can’t maintain focus. But for others the idea is somewhat daunting and many dismiss the idea out-of-hand. Introducing something new requires planning, and for someone already stressed allocating scarce time seems to only escalate their problem. Some even find the whole prospect a bit ‘woo-woo’ and uncomfortable.
But the fact remains that meditation is a wonderful way to de-stress, and it does not have to be difficult, or to require big chunks of your time. It doesn’t even need to actively involve ‘chakras’. You don’t need to join a class either as it is entirely portable. And it does not have to include burning incense, crystals, difficult yoga poses or the need to ‘get it right’.
Finding the right meditation for you
There are many different ways that the benefits of meditation can be obtained and it’s simply a matter of finding the one that fits you and your life, and then making that a regular part of your day.
There is a misconception that in order to meditate you need to completely shut down your mind. For most people the mind chatter just keeps on intruding, constantly pulling them out of that calm, quiet, thought-free place we all seek.
The truth is that in order to be able to meditate in that way takes many, many years of practice. For the majority thoughts wander in and out, and it’s ok. The key is to accept that your thoughts will wander, and to simply consciously pull them back again whenever they do, by focusing once more on the meditative technique that you are using.
The thing is, meditation does not have to be a big major undertaking. Sure there are yogis who can sit and meditate all day. But there are also others who do it throughout their day in bursts of a few minutes. And many more who allocate a set amount of ‘me-time’ when they are able to do their practice, and re-group.
MINDFULNESS
Walking Meditation
The enlightened Buddist monk Thich Nhat Hanh advocates doing walking meditations. These offer you the opportunity to transform an everyday practice into a healing and nourishing way to develop mindfulness, awaken your consciousness and to bring some peace into a life over-run with stress.
Basically, they are meditation in action. You become mindful of the action of walking and try to keep your mind focused on the experience of walking and breathing. This makes it a lot easier for ‘monkey minds’ to deal with as it gives the flighty mind something on which to concentrate. You can hear him explain it here and watch him demonstrate this form of meditation to a group of followers.
Walking Meditation is a good form of meditation for women, who often benefit from active meditation as it is more yang, or masculine. I learnt the practice of this powerful technique from this wonderful Walking Meditation Kit – comprising book, DVD and CD. Meditation Oasis has clear detailed instructions for doing a walking meditation to get you started right here.
If you find you prefer active meditation Osho offers a number of dynamic meditations you may like to try.
Guided Meditation
Many people prefer a guided meditation as they find having a voice directing the practice helps them to maintain their focus. Here is a simple ten-minute relaxation meditation that I came across recently. I like it for its simplicity, her gentle, soothing voice and because it incorporates conscious muscle relaxation – perfect for releasing stress. I believe this is one you could even do at your desk if things start to get on top of you at work.
If you are having difficulty actually relaxing any muscles in these meditations one tip is to tighten each muscle momentarily. This allows you to relax the muscle on release. Use this technique until you are able to relax the muscles at will.
BREATHE
Deep Breathing Mindfulness
One of the simplest ways to start meditating is to practice consciously watching your breath, often called mindfulness . It comes out of Buddhist tradition but is not ‘religious’ in itself. It is all about ‘being present’ and allows for your mind to do its own thing while you develop, over time, the ability to detach from the thought. That sounds complicated, but in fact it is very simple.
Here are two variations of a calming and simple meditation that focuses on the breath, again from Meditation Oasis. Breathing Meditation is one of the simplest forms of meditation and yet is also one of the most powerful. You may discover you never need to look any further!
Other Forms of Meditation
Of course, there are many different types of meditation that can be used to fulfill all sorts of purposes. Many have heard of Transcendental Meditation which derives from Hinduism. Zazen meditation involves just sitting for long periods. Kundalini is gaining in popularity and focuses on the rising stream of energy that exists in humans.
Guided visualisations can be a very powerful way to opening your awareness. I use these in my Women’s Circles often with wonderful results. They involve concentration on an image or imagined environment or experience.
Another form of meditation that I have found particularly powerful is the practice of Qi Gong, a Taoist meditation technique. Qi gong is related to tai chi but not the same.
There are others as well and you may like to investigate some once you have established a regular meditation practice in your life.
I am a big fan of not taking on big loads; maybe I have an inner sloth, who knows. But if there is an easier pathway then I am always willing to give that option a go first. One way that always makes things a little easier to achieve is to break tasks down into their smallest bites and to then tackle those one at a time.
If the prospect of meditation seems a bit daunting to you then start small. Start out by adopting a five minute breathing meditation, or if that is too much make it three minutes. Or start by doing a quick body relaxation every day at your desk or before the kids come home from school, or before going to bed at night. Or maybe even do it for a few minutes a few times through the day. Sometimes I picture myself meditating like a Zen monk. But it is far more likely I will be sitting in my car catching a few brief moments to centre my breathing before plunging back into the chaos of life.
Soon you will find that it is easy to meditate.
“Meditation is the dissolution of thoughts in Eternal awareness or Pure consciousness without objectification, knowing without thinking, merging finitude in infinity.”
― Voltaire
Disclaimer.
All information and opinions presented here are for information only and are not intended as a substitute for professional advice offered during a consultation. Please consult with your health care provider before trying any of the treatment suggested on this site.
Happy Holistic Health 