Photo by Dawn Ashley

Ayurveda prescribes different behaviours that we can meditate on and work with to nourish our minds and hearts. These are called behavioural rasayanas. In Ayurvedic medicine a rasayana is a special substance, or herbal preparation, that acts as a tonic. These tonics are greatly appreciated for their positive effect on our overall well-being, in particular because they nourish the connection between our physical body and our mind and consciousness.

As Ayurveda encompasses all nature, it teaches that all things can be used to improve our health: our food, lifestyle, emotions and mental self-care are considered as important as any medicine we may receive.

Ayurveda offers these behavioural rasayanas as actions and attitudes we can work on to bring peace to our minds, emotions, and our hearts. They are often prescribed whenever there is anxiety, depression or cardiovascular disease.

Prioritise Simple Living

With space for contemplation, meditation and spiritual development. Ayurveda teaches that spiritual development is the goal for all human life. Simplifying our lives gives us space for reading, thought and prayer on whatever spiritual path we choose to explore. Making time for walks in nature, good conversations with friends, simple loving exchanges like sharing and hearing each other’s thoughts, giving and receiving gifts and foods cooked with love all helps us experience deeper connection with the people who matter to us and a sense of presence in our daily life.

Manage anger

Anger is a natural part of life that is often expressed when our needs aren’t met. Practice listening to your heart and mind to know your needs, and take care of yourself to consciously meet them as best you can. Anger should be expressed, suppressing it causes harm. Ayurveda recommends expressing anger by voicing our feelings in a way that shows self-respect, yet doesn’t harm or disturb others and then let it go.

“What we don’t express, makes us depressed.”

Dr Edith Eger

Practice non-violence

Ayurveda and yoga teach ahimsa - the practice of causing no harm and showing compassion for all living beings. When we harm others, we harm ourselves. A plant and grain based diet is recommended as a diet that respects all other life while nourishing our own.

Keep a healthy routine

Morning bathing, cleaning the tongue, sipping warm water.

Daily gentle exercise like: walking, yoga, tai chi, breathing practices.

Going to bed in a calm state of mind before 10pm whenever possible.

Keep regular rest, work and mealtimes wherever possible.

Practice peaceful speech and allow time for silence

To be always speaking is exhausting. Allow quiet time for reading, reflection and resting the mind.

Keep the company of uplifting and inspiring people. By association in person, or in writing, their wisdom affects us and we gain a broad perspective of priority and purpose.

We cannot make all these changes at once, but we can focus on one change at a time and keep these behavioural rasayanas somewhere we can review them often and meditate on making gentle changes that support us in cultivating a peaceful mind and happy heart.

Image by Meredith_Farmer

Do you have days where you feel too tired to move, or when your mind feels so overwhelmed and exhausted that you can't concentrate on the simplest task? If you do, you're not alone, a recent survey revealed that more than half the population of America frequently feels that way.

One major cause of fatigue is stress. With a busy lifestyle full of multi-tasking, never ending to-do lists and noise pollution, many of us are experiencing chronic stress that's eating at our energy levels - here's how:

Stress Burns More Energy

When you are stressed you burn energy faster. This double negative of losing energy due to the tension and anxiety caused by stress, and poor recharging due to hindered digestion and breathing leads to physical and mental fatigue. Before you know it, you're dragging yourself around using coffee, energy drinks, or quick snacks to feel more alert and haul yourself through the day.

Stress Stops You Getting THE Goodness from Your Food

When you're stressed, your adrenal system pumps adrenaline and cortisol into your blood. These chemicals prime you for action, and they put your metabolism and digestion on hold. Stress robs you of the full nutritional value you should be getting from your primary source of energy - your food.

Stress Interferes with Oxygen Getting to Your Brain

When you are stressed you don't breathe well, and it's likely that you don't even notice it as your attention is far from your breath and you are busy trying to get through the day rushing from one thing to the next

Four simple ways to stop stress making you tired:

1. Take Breathing Breaks

Practice a simple breathing meditation that will help you quickly relax and refresh your mind. By stopping for quick stress buster breaks during your day you can trigger your relaxation response and boost your energy levels by bringing fresh oxygen into your blood for the benefit of your brain and entire body.

If you feel too busy to try this, don't worry - research shows that people who take breathing breaks actually get more done than those who keep on rushing, they work smarter too.

2. Stretch Out Tension

Use something like the phone ringing to prompt you to take care of yourself. Every time the phone rings take a deep breath and stretch as you reach to answer it. It takes a second - just one ring longer - and at the end of the day you will feel the difference. For a thorough release of tension, try running through a guided relaxation at the end of the day.

3. Allow Time for Fuel Stops

Eating on the go may make us feel full, but that’s about all it does. It's like trying to put petrol in your car without taking the trouble to stop first. You are wasting energy instead of gaining energy. Choose fresh, energy filled foods and sit down to eat. Take a deep cleansing breath to ease stress and fire up your digestion before you start eating and chew every mouthful thoroughly.

4. Prepare for Sound Sleep At the end of your day spend a few minutes winding down into a relaxed and receptive state for sleep. Take a warm bath, or shower, or massage your feet with oil to allow busy thoughts to melt away from your mind. For help with drifting off to sleep try our guided relaxation for peaceful sleep.

The better you sleep the better your body can perform it's night time self-healing routine and set you up for a new day.

The 100 Breaths Meditation is a very simple breathing meditation that can be practised anytime you want to calm and gather your mind.

Try it in the morning for a gentle contemplative start to your day, or in the evening to clear and relax your mind before sleep. You could also practice a shorter version of just 10 breaths anytime you want to release stress throughout your day.

By using your breath as the focus of your meditation you will find yourself settling into a peaceful inwardly focused practice, and the more you do it, the better you will feel. 

Setting Up

If practising in the morning, you may find it beneficial to shower first. Showering cleanses the mind as well as the body and will help you feel less sleepy during your meditation.

Sitting crossed legged on the floor is ideal, but not essential, the main thing is to be comfortable and have your back straight.

If candles, incense, or gentle music help you enter into a relaxed and contemplative state you can take a minute or two to set your space for meditation. And as you do, prepare your mind to open to the experience with no expectation.

When you are ready to begin, settle down and rest your hands loosely in your lap. Your eyes can be open, or closed, however you feel most comfortable. This breathing meditation will take about 10-15 minutes.

Breathing and Being

In this breathing practice you don't need to direct your breath in anyway, all you need to do is breath naturally and count each breath.

Begin at 100 and count backwards: 99, 98, 97 etc.

Give your full attention to each breath, feel it come and go of it's own accord and count it. Become curious about your breath, notice how it feels, notice how it sounds.

Count each breath and experience it fully.

Challenges and Tips

Your mind will wander. It's what the mind does! Don't be concerned about it, just bring your mind back as soon as you notice it has strayed and continue counting and watching your breath.

Sometimes it helps to label your thoughts with detached acknowledgement. For example, just saying “thought”.

Your breathing pattern might change, it might deepen or become more steady and rhythmic. Just note it and continue. The aim of this practice is to just sit and breathe and count.

If your legs begin to ache, adjust your posture, have a blanket or cushion with you. Sometimes it helps to support your knees by placing a cushion under them. 

Benefits and New Beginnings

Your breath is a powerful tool. It is the only function in your body that can occurs both automatically and under your conscious direction.

By learning to notice your breath and taking time out to sit with it you will benefit from being able to pull your mind and senses away from the noise and business of the world outside and retreat to a peaceful space within you where you can feel still, quiet, and at peace.

For guided breathing practices for calming anxiety, have a listen to samples from our album Breathe: Anxiety Relief Breathing Exercises

image by EssjayNZ

Autumn can be a challenging season. For those who love the heat of the sun and long light evenings it can be difficult to accept the crisper days and darker evenings Autumn brings.

Finding Something to Love in Every Season

When we observe nature and align with the changing seasons we can create a healthy experience where resistance is replaced with contented mindful acceptance.

Finding something to love about Autumn can help us enjoy the change. Although I'm not so keen on darker evenings, I do enjoy the changing colours of the leaves, acorns, squashes and pumpkins, spiced tea, vegetable stews and baked apples. I like meditating by candlelight and walking without feeling overheated. By focusing on what I do like about Autumn and learning to adjust in preparation for change I can now enjoy what used to be a tough time of year for me.

Getting in Step with Nature

When we live closer to nature we naturally adjust with the seasons. Harvesting apples, nuts, pumpkins and firewood are all part of the natural transition to Autumn. But we, in our heated homes and cars, tend to move through life in an artificial climate controlled mono-season. We do the same things and eat the same things all year round.

Yet each season brings its benefits and challenges and knowing them helps us keep in step with nature and take better care of our bodies and minds.

Autumn Energy

In Autumn, the air is highly charged with vital energy (prana). Autumn is a wonderful time to walk and fill your lungs with cool clean air. Stepping through the crisp coloured leaves, counting your steps and your breaths, or repeating a mantra or affirmation can transform your steps into a grounding meditation that helps to calm your mind.

As I write this I'm sitting in a tea shop at a country park with a pocket full of acorns. Outside the window a tall fennel plant is swaying in the breeze. It has thousands of seeds. Seeing it reminds me of nature's generosity - fennel seeds make the perfect tea for Autumn. Fennel gives a grounding energy and gentle warmth that nurtures us and helps us stay healthy in Autumn.

The nuts, pumpkins and squashes coming into season are also rich with the properties that help us create a healthy sniffle free season. Baked apples with cloves and cinnamon are rich with vitamin C. Hot apple juice with ginger protects us from colds.

Chinese medicine teaches that we become attuned to the chi in our local environment; another good reason to eat local seasonal vegetables whenever possible.

Autumn Health Challenges and How to Overcome Them

Autumn is the season of drier, lighter air, and cooler winds, this provokes vata and the nervous system. Autumn directly affects our anxiety levels, our digestion and our skin.

Ayurveda teaches that "like increases like" that means that the cold, dry, light, and sometimes erratic windy nature of Autumn increases those same qualities in us. If we are vata in nature we will be strongly affected as vata is very like Autumn. Vata, like typical Autumn weather, is also dry, light, cold, moving and erratic.

If you are of a vata nature and suddenly find that you feel more anxious, or stiff and achy, or your digestion becomes sluggish, your skin becomes dry, and your sleep is disturbed you can know that this is may well be due to the influence of Autumn.

Knowing this, you can take steps to look after yourself and get back in balance.

Here are some tips for creating a healthy Autumn for your body and your mind:

• Try getting up early before the world gets busy and invest a few minutes in a relaxing breathing practice.

• Oil your body. Massage yourself with warm sesame oil. Sesame oil is lubricating and warming to your skin, joints and muscles and will help protect you from dryness, cracking joints, and stiff muscle pain.Applying a little warm sesame oil to the inside of your nose and ears also protects from the influence of cold dry weather. It helps prevent ear aches and supports your immunity by protecting your nose and ears from infection.

• Practice pranayama (yoga breathing exercises) to take advantage of the increased prana in Autumn air and energise your body and mind. Pranayama will also help you calm your mind and lift your spirits.

• The ideal autumn diet should consist of warm foods that are sweet, mildly spicy, and salty. These are the tastes that increase moisture in the body and help us feel grounded. Try pumpkin soup, seasonal vegetable stews with a little olive oil and black pepper, and baked apples. Porridge with cinnamon and maple syrup makes a perfect Autumn breakfast.

• Ending your day with a cup of hot milk with a pinch of nutmeg will help to settle your mind and nourish your nervous system for a peaceful night's sleep.

Resources & Related Articles

Ayurveda: Clues for Easily Understanding the Doshas

Ayurveda & Body Types: Do you Know Your Dosha?

Abhyanga - Ayurveda & Massage as an Act of Self-Care

Staying Balanced through the Season of Change

Pranayama: Breathing to Calm your Mind and Heal Your Body

Three posts on the healing uses of Sesame Oil

Abhyanga - Ayurveda & Massage as an Act of Self-Care

Oil Pulling: How to Get Shiny Teeth & Healthy Gums from a Stir Fry Ingredient!

Slick Soles & Sound Sleep

image by W2 a-w-f-i-l

“The greatest explorer on this earth never takes voyages as long as those of the man who descends to the depth of his heart.” ~ Julien Green

Most people I talk to aspire to living a more conscious and purposeful life. Yet, no matter how high their aspirations, they all seem up to their ears in commitments.

In this post I’ll be sharing ways to clear space for reflection and personal development even when you feel you have too much to do to give it a second thought. It won’t take any extra time out of your day and you will soon feel the benefits of a quieter, lighter mind.

Cultivate Emotional Awareness

Do you get tired or grumpy if you don’t eat? Does noise drive you nuts? Do you feel rushed by the pace of others, or are you the one who’s rushing and wishing everyone else would step up the pace?

If you feel irritated or sad, do you give yourself a moment to think about your feelings and deal with them? Most people don’t feel they have time to explore their feelings, but it doesn’t have to be a time consuming indulgence, self examination of your emotions can be a smart management practice that helps you run more smoothly.

Start paying attention to what irks you and ask yourself what you need to feel more comfortable.

Techniques that can help are journaling or a simple breathing practice where you sit with your thoughts for a few minutes and take slow deep breaths. Imagine your thoughts drifting by like leaves on a stream and watch them as you keep breathing slowly and deeply.

Create Check Points

Check your breathing and posture regularly. How are you sitting, how are you breathing, are your shoulders hunched up around your ears?

Make a point of checking in with yourself several times a day and allow yourself a moment to stretch, drop your shoulders and take a deep breath. By doing so you can discharge tension before it builds into obvious physical discomfort and you start feeling stressed or snappy.

Give Peace a Chance

Many of us spend a good deal of time every week travelling, or waiting in queues. At such times we can’t get anything majorly productive done, and knowing that can make these times feel frustrating. But there is a way you can transform "dead time" into an opportunity for introspection and relaxation.

When I was doing a lot of driving around teaching workshops, I grew to love that time as thinking time, or learning time. I had a collection of educational and inspirational lectures in the car, and enjoyed some alone time to listen without interruption.

I know several people who have transformed their commute time with breathing practices or thought provoking reading.

Next time you find your self on a bus, train, or plane you could take the opportunity to practice a simple mindfulness technique like counting your breaths:

• take a deep breath in and feel your chest and stomach expand and count “one”

• release the breath through your mouth slowly

• take another deep breath in and count “two”

• then release that breath through your mouth slowly

• repeat for five full deep breaths

Waiting in queues is a great time to practice these techniques too, since you can do them without anyone noticing, you can appear to all the world like you are in line like everyone else, but instead of feeling impatient and checking your watch you can feel relaxed and check your posture. The amount of time you spend in that queue will be exactly the same, but the experience will be completely different.

Take a moment to think about other time spots in your day that you could upgrade to be a more reflective and supportive experience for you.

The Busy Person’s Guide to Mindfulness

You are no doubt aware of the benefits of meditation, but did you know you can practice meditation without stopping to sit down? Here’s how:

Start giving your full attention to the simple tasks you perform throughout the day. This simple shift in awareness is the basis of mindfulness meditation. All you need to do to experience mindfulness for yourself is to play with giving your full attention to one small activity at a time.

For example, if you are eating a sandwich, just eat. Focus on chewing, on tasting, and forget trying to read, talk or watch the news. Just eat. Your digestive system will love you for it.

Mindful Cooking

You can practice mindfulness while cooking. For me, cooking can be a very meditative experience. I like to immerse myself fully in washing rice, cutting vegetables, grinding spices, etc. Try it, and transform cooking dinner from a chore into an act of relaxed awareness.

Mindful Walking

You can practice mindfulness while walking by paying full attention to your feet connecting with the earth, watching yourself move across the ground step by step as you rest your gaze on the path a few feet ahead. Country walks are ideal, but walks to and from school, the supermarket or your office are also an opportunity to let your body and mind relax and simply be aware of where you are and what you’re doing.

You can practice mindfulness when folding laundry, or washing the dishes. You can practice mindfulness when reading by giving your full attention word-by-word to an inspiring book or article and be fully and completely present with it. You can be mindfully present with your children by stopping everything else and listening to them with full awareness, forget emails at story time, forget tomorrow when they’re trying to tell you about today. Just explore being right here, right now.

By noticing step, by step, every stage of what you're doing and breaking tasks down into tiny steps, you can stop stress and mental overload and keep sight of yourself no matter how busy you are.

The Benefits of Getting to Know Yourself Better

By developing awareness of what you need to feel healthier and happier you can begin to notice signs and symptoms that you are heading out of balance when they are still a whisper, rather than ploughing on until your body roars at you with a headache or you fall into bed tired but too wired to sleep.

By noticing your needs and adjusting the way you look at your daily commitments you can begin clearing space to help you step off the treadmill and live your life by conscious, careful design.

image by KatieKrueger

Research shows that just 10-20 minutes a day spent relaxing or meditating can have a profound effect on your mental health, but most mothers I know think quiet time is a trip to the bathroom without someone hammering on the door to ask them for something. 

Here are a couple of ways to create contemplation time during your busy day:

Guided Meditation on the Go

The internet is full of short and sweet breathing exercises, or guided meditations, that you can download to your iPhone or mp3 player.

Once you have a collection of audio support you can convert waiting time to relaxation time. I’ve listened to guided relaxation audio on buses and trains, while waiting at school pickup time, and in doctors waiting rooms, and I’ve found that it consistently helps lower my stress and lift my mood.

Instead of going to bed tired yet wired, you could keep an iPod by your bed and use a guided relaxation to help you sink into a peaceful sleep. If you sometimes wake up in the night and have trouble getting back to sleep you can reach for your iPod and listen again.

Bring Mindfulness to Your To Do List

This is something we’ve discussed a lot on the Anxiety Slayer podcasts, and we get regular emails from listeners telling us it has helped them.

There is a common misconception about meditation that you have to sit in silence for long periods of time to benefit. That is one way to meditate, but there are others that fit more neatly into a busy day.

The key is to become more aware of everything that you do.

You probably have to walk somewhere every day - you can convert it to mindful walking:

Practice noticing your feet connecting with the ground when you walk, drop your shoulders and soften your gaze, let your breath slow and deepen and bring your attention to this moment. Step by step, breath by breath.

You probably have to wait for something everyday - you can convert queue time to quiet time:

Many people find waiting stressful because they feel they should be doing other things. Instead of finding wait time frustrating, you could convert it to “while I’m here I may as well be relaxing time.” It doesn’t make waiting take any longer, it just changes the experience from a stressful one to a peaceful one.

An Invisible, Use Anywhere, Breathing Relaxation

Breath deeply into your stomach and release your out-going breath slowly and completely. Count five breaths and notice how your incoming breath sounds and feels different to your out-going breath.

Try it while at a red traffic light, in a queue at the bank, when your call to your insurance company is on hold, while your child is reading to you, while waiting for the kettle to boil, at the post office.

Try bringing mindfulness to your daily tasks, cooking dinner, taking a shower, brushing your teeth, driving your car. Whenever you can notice your breath, notice your body, and bring everything back to the present moment.

How will you upgrade your day to include time for contemplation?

image by 

gordontour

Every spring in my little garden a fennel plant pushes it's way through the soil and starts producing fine feathery leaves. Before the mints and the feverfew show themselves the fennel has already produced plenty of new growth.

Ayurveda

(India's ancient natural medical science) calls fennel:

madhurika

which means "the sweet one". All parts of the fennel plant can be used, the leaves, seeds and the bulb. Fennel tastes similar to aniseed and liqorice, in fact, it is often used as the flavouring in liqorice sweets.

Fennel has been used for centuries as a remedy for colic in babies, but that's only one of the ways you can use this safe and gentle herb, read on for five more…

Five Healing Uses for Sweet Fennel:

1. Healthy Digestion

: Fennel is famous for its digestive benefits. Try chewing a teaspoon of toasted fennel seeds after dinner to prevent indigestion or acid reflux. For a delicious home-made infusion try blending a teaspoon of crushed fennel seeds with a sprig of fresh mint (or a tablespoonful of dried leaves) and a couple of slices of ginger and sip after meals.

Fennel seeds contain a compound known as anethole, which has been shown to reduce spasms of the stomach or GI tract; so it's an ideal natural remedy for acid reflux. In Germany, fennel tea is licensed as a remedy for dyspepsia. And its leaves and roots when boiled in a decoction are considered an effective antidote for food poisoning.

2. Bladder infections

: Fennel is a diuretic herb with the ability to soothe excess heat and irritation. Fennel tea is recommended for relief from cystitis, or any inflammatory condition of the digestive tract. Adding a teaspoon of coriander seeds will increase the benefit.

3. Cough Relief

: Fennel tea with a little raw honey helps clear congestion and soothe irritating coughs. It's a gentle herb for children, and since it tastes sweet, they are usually happy to try it.

For a potent cough relieving brew, try adding 2 teaspoons of fennel seeds to a pint of water in a pan, add a tablespoonful of grated ginger and a whole cinnamon quill. Bring to the boil and simmer for 3 minutes. Strain into a cup and let it cool for bit before adding the honey.

4. Cramps:

 Fennel has a relaxing effect on all muscles in the body, it can help relieve menstrual cramps, adult colicky pain and muscular spasms, like restless legs. For extra benefit, sip some fennel tea then take a warm bath with a cup of epsom salts and a few drops of lavender essential oil.

5. Breastfeeding:

Fennel increases the flow of milk in lactating mothers. When a breastfeeding Mum drinks fennel tea they can produce plenty of easy to digest milk that helps prevent colic in their baby because some of the fennel they drink gets passed into their milk.

Fennel tea is available in most grocery, or health food stores, but it's just as easy (and more cost effective) to make your own by buying a pack of fennel seeds and adding to hot water when required. I like making my own blends with fennel. It goes nicely with roibos tea with a little raw honey, and green tea with mint and fennel is delicious. On hot summer days, try it cool with a sprig of fresh mint.

Related Posts on Natural Remedies you might enjoy:

Answers from Ayurveda: Hayfever

Ayurveda on Home Remedies for Tinnitus Relief

Ayurveda: Natural Relief for Itchy, Irritated Eyes

Ayurveda: 8 Golden Rules for Good Digestion

A guest post by: Renae Mac

There are many different factors that affect our health and ability to relax and feel peaceful; including nutrition, exercise, stress, family and environment. However, the one big factor that often gets overlooked is the health of the mind, mental wellbeing is vital not only to our health but to our day to day reality.

In order to create and maintain a healthy, positive and peaceful life the work must begin with the mind.

Thoughts = Power

The mind is a very powerful tool that can be used to your benefit or to your detriment. Your thoughts can control all aspects of your life including your health. The majority of people are only partially aware of the thoughts that go through their head. If you really focus on being aware of each and every thought you think you might be a little shocked. Often we are not aware of what we are thinking and how they are shaping our life.

Thoughts can become habitual and many people have been conditioned to have negative thought patterns. These negative thought patterns can hold you back from achieving happiness, success and generally an overall healthy life. The good news is that habits are meant to be broken and it is fully possible to take control of your thoughts and make them work for you as opposed to working against you.

There are five main steps to follow in order to change your thoughts, increase the health of your mind as well as create a balanced, peaceful and happy life.

1. Set the Intention

Changing old patterns and enforcing new positive habits is not always easy and many of you may not receive the support you need and deserve. This must be a decision you make for yourself. Decide what your goal is. You may want to be happier, to feel better about yourself, to attract more love or success into your life. Whatever your goal is be very clear about your intention… think it, say it out loud and write it down. Be very firm in what you want to accomplish. In this way you are making a commitment to yourself to do what it takes to achieve your goal. You are the only one who can create change in your life and therefore you must set the intention first and foremost.

2. Be Aware of Your Thoughts

As mentioned before thoughts are habitual and it can be quite difficult at first to consciously be aware of every thought that passes through your head. Before you change them for the better you must be aware of exactly what you are thinking. Be aware of your thoughts as you go through each daily activity as well as when you go to bed at night. Take note of what thoughts pass through your head when you are talking to people, when you look in the mirror and when you are driving your car.

It can be a little scary to really take note of what is going on within your head. However being aware of the negative thought patterns, what they are and when they come up, is vital to making this process successful. Don’t judge your thoughts, just be aware of them.

3. Change the Negative to a Positive

Once you are aware of how you think and your own thinking patterns you can then begin to change them. We all have the power to choose what we think and you have the power to change a negative thought into a positive thought. When you hear a negative or non-affirming thought in your head consciously decide to change it.

Do not worry if at first you do not believe your new positive thought as overtime that will change. By switching your negative thought to a positive each and every time you will eventually create new thought patterns and habits. For example when I first began this process in my own life, every time I had a negative thought about myself I would imagine wiping the thought from my head and think to myself “I love myself exactly as I am right now”.

This method is simple yet not easy but it works very well. It is a matter of sticking with it one hundred percent of the time. After a while your negative thought patterns will no longer have the power to affect or limit any aspect of your life. Your new positive thought patterns will send out new energy and create a more positive way of being which will equal a healthier and more rewarding life.

4. Working with Your Brain Frequencies

Besides simply being aware of your thoughts you can also get a little help by working directly with your brain frequencies. You can do this either with meditation, yoga, or by using an external stimulus such as binaural beats brainwave audios.

By meditating or using brainwave audios such as binaural beats you are able to bypass the conscious mind and work directly with the subconscious mind. In this way you can make huge progress by tuning the brain to a specific frequency that helps with stress, anxiety and overall well being. If you combine these methods with affirmations you may notice your thought patterns and energy changing for the positive far quicker.

5. Take Time to Enjoy

Once you have made these changes and adopted this new healthier way of being it is up to you to get out there and enjoy life. Take little steps to do more of what you enjoy and be proud of the fact that you have given your mind the attention it needs in order to create the healthy and relaxed life you deserve to enjoy.

Mind control is practiced by many successful people as well as by most successful athletes. It is the key to creating a new positive reality. You will be amazed at the difference it can make in your life when you make the health of your mind a priority.

About the Author: Renae Mac has a passion for teaching and writing about how the mind and body are interconnected. For more information on binaural beats and using brainwave audios with meditation to work with your mind visit www.BinauralBeatsOnline.com.

photo by al unisono

A guest post by Maria Rainier

If you’re anything like me, you’re a multitasker and an all-round busybody from the time you wake up to the post-midnight hour you finally call it quits.  You’ve often heard that we need downtime at the end of the day, but since you always feel like you could accomplish more with this supposed downtime, why not do so?

According to sleep experts, this is probably why I wake up several times a night from bizarre dreams.  (Seriously, I still need a nightlight.)

Yes, You Need to Sleep

Carl E. Hunt, M.D. (director of the National Center on Sleep Disorders Research in Bethesda, MD), says that with sensory overload comes unrest, even when you’re supposed to be resting.  You need to “relax and to slow down from the pace of daily activities.”  He adds, “There’s no substitute for getting a good night’s sleep on a consistent basis.”

No, You Don’t Need That

Well, how about a small glass of wine before bedtime?   Author of The Body Clock Guide to Better Health, Michael Smolensky, Ph.D., says nope.  Even if alcohol initially makes your eyelids heavy, “it depresses some of the neurological functions that help maintain sleep.”

Okay, well how about Mama’s recipe: warm milk?

Strike two.  There’s not enough tryptophan (the sleep-inducing amino acid) in just one cup of it.  Still, a small bedtime snack with carbohydrates helps release serotonin (the happy hormone).  You can’t go to bed angry.

So, busy little bee, give the wings a rest for at least a couple hours at the end of the day—before midnight.

6 Ways to Wind Down

Exercise, but not within three hours of sleep

.  Try an evening walk with the dog or some yoga.  The reason you get tired hours after exercising and the initial energy rush is because your body temperature—which was up during your workout—is going down.  This is the perfect time to snooze for the night.

Listen to some slow, soft, or even instrumental music before bed

.  You can even tune in during a bath (sigh) or while you’re browsing the Internet.

Read

.  It’s a classic rule that we’ve all heard, but that’s because it works.  Even if what you’re reading is interesting, you eventually grow tired of holding up a book and welcome sleep.  If you’re not into novels, go for a magazine or even comic books.  Fiction, fantasy, and comic books are actually a great alternative to serious bedtime topics.  Hey, you work hard in the daytime and deal with real, serious things like money, kids, education, taxes, budgets, and the like.  No need to read the heavy stuff at night.

Unless you’re watching low

-

impact TV, turn it off

.  No bright colors, fast cutaways, or screen-wide explosions.  People make these movies and shows to keep you watching so they’ll make money.  Why would you watch them when you’re trying to get ready to go to sleep? 

Dim the lights

.  The body can’t help it.  It wants to sleep.  (Likewise, open the curtains in the morning to get up and at it with renewed vigor.)

Write

.  No, you don’t have to have a journal, although this is a good idea, too.  At the minimum, write down your goals for the next day in a notebook before you go to bed.  You’ll mull it over in your head before sleeping and you’ll have a reason to wake up to your alarm clock instead of hitting snooze 30 times.

About the author: Maria Rainier is a freelance writer and blog junkie. She is currently a resident blogger at First in Education where she writes about education, online degrees, and what it takes to succeed as a student taking online programs remotely from home. In her spare time, she enjoys square-foot gardening, swimming, and avoiding her laptop.

image by Minugia

Doing nothing is better than being busy doing nothing. Lao Tzu

It’s getting harder to sit still. To watch the sky, or sit with our thoughts. It’s as if we’ve become allergic to space and we have to fill it, with noise, with TV, with food, with chatter.

But ultimately we don’t feel good when we fill in all the gaps. We start to feel stifled and unsettled, exhausted by our own minds whose wheels are spinning 24/7. We can’t find peace because we’ve drowned it out for so long we’ve forgotten where to look for it again.

Every Tuesday night I lead a meditation class where people come to re-find peace. To learn to sit quietly, counting their breaths or softly practicing mantra meditation, they sit in candle lit quiet and begin their personal journey into meditation.

A Comfortable Silence

Some of us are already friends and some of us newly met, yet we sit and say nothing. And in that silence where we all share the common purpose of re-connecting with our still place we are relaxed and at ease with each other.

Teaching others to do nothing has helped me enter more deeply into my own meditation practice. It’s said that we teach best what we most need to know and helping others relax and quiet their minds has helped me journey deeper into a contemplative space I have come to treasure.

A Commitment to Calm

At first, even a few minutes sitting in silence can seem like a long time. Newbies to the benefits of meditation often look a bit startled when I set them up with an exercise and say that we’ll practice for twenty minutes. I know it seems like forever, I remember.

But once they’ve sat with their practice they feel happier, they can see the benefits, they can feel that their body and mind want them to continue. They know from direct experience that doing nothing does them good.

The 3 Minute Challenge

One of the easiest ways to start building quiet into your day is to begin small. Three minutes is a great start. Perhaps you could try a breathing meditation in the morning, or a candle gazing meditation in the evening. Maybe you could add one to your lunch break, or before you settle down to sleep at night. The more three minute spaces you fit into your day the more you will begin to master stress and enjoy some peace.

Here are a list of related articles and downloads to help you get started:

How Meditation Can Save You Time

SimpleActs of Calm: Sitting Still

SimpleActs of Calm: Cloud Gazing

Blissful & Balanced: Your Brain on Meditation

Meditation 101 - A Quick Start Guide for Busy People

photo by Postsumptio

A guest post by: Jacob Mojiwat

I consider myself to be extremely lucky as I have lived next to the ocean for my entire life. Through its crystalline, flowing waters, it can lead us to a life of tranquility and fulfilment. It is the giver of endless gifts, handing out lessons about the world we live in with each crashing wave. Beneath the surface and along the sandy beaches are morsels of truth, love, respect, and fulfilment. If we only look, listen and feel the messages from the sea we can lead a truer life, a stronger life.

Below are lessons from the ocean blue that have lead me on a more fulfilling, successful, and happy path through life. There is an abundance of joy surrounding the magical depths of the sea and if one can take trust in the wisdom of the waters, a better life is waiting.

• Catch a Wave and Ride It

Whether body surfing, boogie boarding or surfing a 30-footer, there is much joy the ocean waves can offer up. You might just catch the ride of your life one day while waiting patiently, bobbing up and down on the water. And you wouldn't want to miss it because your mind's fretting over a lost credit card or a possible pay cut. When the ocean offers us a joyful ride we should hop on board and not look back.

There are times in everyone's life we wish we could change something that we are powerless to change. So we must look ahead and hope for a big, glorious wave to sweep us up and carry us away from our worries. I have learned to find fun and joy in the ocean. And searching under the waves can be just as rewarding as riding them. What wonderful sea life abounds, especially along a pristine coral reef where the ocean is at its most bountiful beauty. Don't let opportunities for fun and adventure pass you by. You might be feeling glum and bogged down in the mundane daily rituals of life. Distracted by schedules, deadlines and stress we can miss out on seeing the joy in life. We need to slow down and appreciate the beauty of what we do have to be thankful for. So enjoy floating carelessly atop the water and grab on tight to that wave of joy when it comes. And it will.

 

• Get in the Water Even if You Can't See the Bottom

Ernest Hemingway wrote in his novel The Old Man and the Sea, "A man is never lost at sea." Sure there are trepidations with diving into that ocean water just as there are trepidations in life. But one must put trust in oneself and in the depths of the sea. It is a matter of perseverance and confidence. If you worked so hard to rise up the mast, then get ready to sail and don't back out.

Go for that promotion. Ask that girl out. Trust in yourself and dip that toe into the water and never look back. Having confidence around the sea is important. It's a big fish eat little fish world. Sometimes life on land is just the same. But don't be afraid to face down a foe, go where you've never been before or try again if once you have failed. Turn your boat to face the waves and take a dip if you're hot, even if the waters are deep and dark. A darting clownfish could be waiting behind that gray rock waiting to see if you're ready to play.

 

• Just When it's Getting Too Deep, You'll Find a Sand Bar

Having hope is as important at sea as it is on land. Many things can go wrong at sea and many times you might face some perils in life. Some are minor and some quite serious. But believing that there's a sand bar out there to give you rest and support can give you the energy you need to reach it.

It's about attitude. If you find yourself staring down an obstacle with lowered eyelids, you will likely get stuck. But if you put up your fists, stand up tall and know there's hope around the corner, that obstacle will fade. Water can get deep fast and life can seem overwhelming quickly. It is up to you whether you cower behind the coral or punch that tiger shark in the snout.

 

• To Find the Best Shells, Walk Slowly

Slow down and smell the roses, don't trample them. If you don't watch where you're going and move carefully you could destroy what beauty the world has offered. And it is important to respect that beauty. It is delicate, it is wondrous and it can slip through your fingers if you're not looking.

Mother Nature deposits the most beautiful and free gifts from the ocean onto our beaches. When we take a walk along the shore to clear our minds we cannot help but peak down in hopes of finding an unscathed conch shell or colorful piece of sea glass. Life offers us up wonders every day. A kiss on the cheek. A lucky lottery ticket in your hand. A love note left by your bed. If we walk carelessly through life we might miss the beauty around us both on land and around the ocean blue.

 

About the author: Jacob Mojiwat is passionate about the ocean and water sports. Currently he is sharing the wonders of scuba diving in Malaysia with others. His company puts together Asia diving packages for an unparalleled diving experience.

image by Nemo's great uncle

A guest post by Art Decker 

"I love traveling." That's my mantra. I keep repeating it to myself... the truth is that I do love traveling, I really do, but I have come to realize that even travel can be overdone. I am starting to long to spend a month at home. I am tired of living out of hotel rooms. I think I've reached the point where travel, instead of invigorating me the way it used to, is starting to sap the life out of me.

Still, sometimes it must be done. And like the speaker in that old Robert Frost poem, I still have miles to go before I sleep...or at least, I have miles to go before I can sleep in my own bed again. In desperation (necessity being the mother of invention), over the last month I've implemented several new strategies to help myself cope with the stress of travel. At first I tried repeating my "I love traveling" mantra, but it stopped working when I started to sound sarcastic even to myself. So I branched out. Below are the ideas I came up with.

1. Take yourself offline. On a recent trip, I checked into a hotel that claimed to offer free high-speed Internet, but which, quite frankly, did not. Or at least I couldn't get the hotel's Internet to work with my laptop. I wound up making periodic visits to a nearby coffee shop that did have functioning Wifi, but I found it difficult to work there. So I came up with a work-around - I normally answer my email online, but on that trip I started downloading my email in order to answer it later, offline. Additionally, I downloaded news podcasts and my RSS feeds.

   Although I was forced by circumstance to work offline, I was amazed to find that my productivity went up when I worked this way. I wasn't being continually distracted by emails popping up. In addition, I found that I started to relax when I was offline. I felt that there was no point in worrying about my email, since I wasn't going to be able to check it until later anyway. Somehow, being offline with my computer made it possible for me to take my brain offline as well, and actually disconnect from work for a few hours. I don't know when I last did that...I think it might have been sometime in the 1980s! I don't know if I can bring myself to keep up the habit of working offline when it's no longer a matter of being forced to do so. But if I can discipline myself to let go and disconnect for even a few hours in the evening, I can see that it will improve my health and reduce my work-related anxiety immeasurably.

    

2. Bring an MP3 player. Or at least a laptop or an iPad loaded with soothing music or with a guided meditation or relaxation exercise. I find this makes a world of difference to me. It is very hard for me to concentrate on work while I am traveling. For a while, I was practically mainlining coffee and Red Bull, but the extra caffeine, though it did wake me up, did not seem to improve my concentration. Then I discovered that if I listen to certain tracks of music while I work, it helps me to concentrate. I'm not referring simply to classical music (the Mozart effect that so many people have written about) but to music that is designed to affect the brainwaves. For me, Tibetan Singing Bowl music is most helpful, but everyone is different. I looked into the science of this and found that it is a bit spotty, but there are a few studies out there indicating that certain kinds of music can affect the brain in various ways.

   One way in which music has been documented to affect the brain is in reducing insomnia. I tried using music to help me relax while on the road, and it did not seem to affect me until I started trying music that has been designed as a guided relaxation or meditation. Some relaxation CDs will put me into a very deep sleep, causing me to wake up feeling as though I had somehow slept harder than usual. Others (like Pzizz, for example) can be used to take a "power nap" that lasts for 20 minutes and is very refreshing. While you don't have to be traveling to appreciate rest and relaxation, I find that travel can be very tiring at times. It tends to destroy my routine and results in me having less time to rest, so finding this method has been a wonderful discovery for me.

    

3. Try aromatherapy. I was never interested in aromatherapy until my wife started using it as a method for reducing anxiety and stress. I started teasing her about being addicted to the scent of orange oil. However, one day she presented me with an aromatherapy roll-on. The one she gave me was labeled "anxiety release," and it contained (of course) her favorite orange oil, along with lavender, clary sage, geranium, vetiver, and Roman chamomile. I was very skeptical to say the least, but she insisted that I shouldn't dismiss the idea until I had tried it. I had to admit that was fair, but I told her that there was no way that I was going to wear what to me, as a guy, looks like perfume. So we compromised...she found me an essential oil warmer that plugs into a USB port. A USB port? Hey, that makes it an electronic gadget that I can play with without feeling that my masculinity is in danger. To go with it, she found me an oil blend with fir and spruce in it, which personally I prefer to her orange oil. So, to make a long story short, I tried it and I was amazed to find that it, like the relaxation and productivity music, does help me to relax and to be productive on the road.

    

4. Don't regard exercise as optional. Exercising is one of the best activities you can do to reduce stress. It also tends to be the first thing I drop from my schedule when I am harried and busy while I am traveling. Yet I know from experience that if I exercise first thing in the morning, my mind will be clearer and my body will be relatively free of aches and pains all day. On my last trip, I made a resolution that I would exercise first thing every day, even on days when I have to get up earlier than usual to catch a plane. It wasn't easy to make time to do it, but the difference it made to me was phenomenal. I wasn't aggravated by security at the airport. I wasn't bleary-eyed and desperate for a cup of coffee. I felt calm and centered, even when my flight was delayed and I had to wait an extra couple of hours.

    

5. Find "moments of vacation" even on business trips. Lately, I have begun to try uncompartmentalizing the different parts of my life in my mind. It started with work invading my vacation. Before leaving, I mentioned to my facility managers that I would be reachable while I was away. I wound up receiving several phone calls and emails, and taking several hours out of my vacation to deal with one issue or another. I told myself that there was no harm in doing an hour or two of work every day while I was on vacation. Only recently, however, did the reverse option occur to me - that vacation moments could also invade my business trips. I have started trying to take time to find some special activity during my trips to other cities, even if it is simply a matter of taking time to walk across a bridge and enjoy the sunset. I don't bother much with trips to museums or other tourist meccas (a side trip like that would take up more "vacationable moments" than I have time for). Instead, I try to find time to enjoy a city's green space (or white space in the winter). I usually take several long walks in every community that I visit. Spending time outside revives me and gives me back that feeling of being on vacation. In fact, the first time I walked into a meeting in another city after taking a walk outside, people commented that I looked "so relaxed," as if I was on vacation. Well the secret is, I was on vacation - on vacation at work. Did I mention that I love to travel?

    

Looking back at my tips, what I realize is that any of these could be implemented into daily life even when one is not traveling. I suppose the key to stress-free travel in a nutshell, is to bring your normal routines and comfort mechanisms with you wherever you go. Humans are not bags of potatoes that can be tossed around and transported anywhere with no ill effects. We are, in fact, emotional, sensitive beings and I believe we have to respect our emotional needs, even when we travel.

Art Decker is a division manager with Self Storage Company, which operates a group of websites, including a New York self-storage locator. Though busy, Art enjoys meeting new people and clients when traveling to sites from Texas to the New Jersey self-storage center.

image credit: L-ines

Related Posts You Might Enjoy:

• Stress Relief Techniques: 5 Things I Learned from Spying on Calm People
• 5 Ways to Make Your Day More Peaceful
• How to Reduce Stress by Sorting Your Mental Clutter

Related Resource:

Journey to Deep Relaxation - clear your mind, rest and relax

"Satisfaction of one's curiosity is one of the greatest sources of happiness in life." Linus Pauling 

Some of the most appealing and intelligent people I've spent time with are those who possess a curious nature. Explorers who put their ego aside and are open to asking questions and learning new things no matter what their age. Conversely, I have spent time with brittle people who cage their minds within an ego that already thinks it knows it all. Not so appealing.

Curiosity keeps our minds young, active and supple. It makes learning an adventure rather than a challenge. It keeps our attitude light and playful. Instead of worrying about what they don't know, curious people put their focus on what they would love to know and then seek it out.

Curiosity Opens our Eyes to Simple Pleasures

Curiosity allows us to enjoy the simple things in life. A curious attitude puts us in touch with our surroundings in a very grounding and delightful way. Instead of missing the moment, we can explore it, fully present and aware. If you try taking a walk in nature with a curious mind you will connect with your surroundings more and find your walk to be as good for your mind as it is for your body.

On a recent walk in a country park near my home I enjoyed noticing the changing colours of the leaves against a crisp blue sky and the prickly chestnut shells along the path. Instead of thinking about emails awaiting my response, I was fully present in my surroundings and returned home with a clear and rested mind.

We don't need stuff to be happy - we just need to notice

It's a common joke among parents that when you buy a child a toy in a big box, they would rather play with the box than the toy. Hanging around with curious kids is a great way to rekindle our own curious spirit. And when we do, we learn to be happy with less and find greater joy in the little things.

In The Power of Micro Gratitude Linda Gabriel shares a wonderful story about a moment of curiosity that brought her back from the brink of despair: "Through my tears my attention was arrested by the sudden appearance of  hundreds of tiny rainbows shining all around me. I was fascinated. I’d forgotten I was wearing a t-shirt with a few rhinestones. The sun had broken through the clouds and happened to shine on my shirt at just the right angle to transform the fake jewels into mini-prisms. Vivid colors were dancing everywhere around the dark interior of the car.  Suddenly I was like a 5-year-old experiencing her first rainbow and it was delightful.

Appreciating the beauty of the rainbows had broken through the spell of gloom and doom. No matter what else was going on, I could still appreciate the beauty of a rainbow and that was enough."

Curiosity and the Peaceful Mind

Teaching meditation in a candle lit barn every Tuesday night helps me keep my attitude about my practice open and curious. Some members of our group are new to meditation and I find it inspiring to see their curious minds learn new practices that are helping them enjoy peace and stillness. When sitting with them, I try and have an open and curious mind too. In guiding others into settling their breath and their mind I am careful to prepare myself properly with a fresh mind and, as a direct result, I'm experiencing a deepening of my own experience of meditation.

image credit midiman

We all know the benefits of relaxation, but it can be hard work slowing down a busy head and getting to the point of really feeling relaxed. Walking meditation is a beautiful way to integrate gentle movement with awareness. In a similar way to the practice of yoga or qigong, mindful walking draws our busy mind away from external obligations and distractions and leads it to focus on the gentle activity we are performing with our body.

This simple practice helps the mind settle and become more peaceful as it is kept occupied in away that draws it's energy inward where it can rest and reflect. In a way this is a literal act in "reigning your mind in" and it's surprisingly effective.

You can practice mindful walking anywhere and any time you want to. You can practice indoors or outside, all you need is somewhere where you can walk peacefully and undisturbed for a few minutes.

Choosing Where To Walk

You could create a pathway in your garden, or choose an area that forms a natural path or circuit that feels right for you. When my mother in law was living with long-term illness she would walk everyday in the wooded area of her garden. Over weeks, her walking wore a path that is still there ten years later. Sometimes I go and walk that path and think of how she found comfort in walking through the trees.

You could walk in a park, or down the street, so long as you feel you can relax and focus in your chosen space.

How to Practice Mindful Walking

Begin at a slow steady pace. Not so slowly that you feel unsteady on your feet though. Pick a rhythm that feels smooth and natural to you and let your arms rest relaxed at your sides.

Check that your shoulders are relaxed and loose, release any tension in your jaw and mouth and gaze softly ahead with your eyes resting on the ground a few feet ahead of you.

Step gently and make sure that you are comfortable.

Put your full attention on the sensations of your feet as they walk. Notice one foot leave the ground and then make contact with it again. Feel your feet rise and fall in turn.

Counting Steps, Counting Breaths

To engage your mind further, try fitting your breath with your pace. For example, taking four steps with every breath in and four steps with every breath out. Find your own rhythm and count your steps as you breathe and walk.

If your mind wanders just bring it back and begin counting again, or simply noticing your feet carrying you forward across the ground.

The Benefits of Regular Practice

You might practice mindful walking for five minutes, or twenty, if you're life already feels busy and the idea of spending large amounts of time learning to relax or meditate seems overwhelming, then it's good to know that just five minutes mindful walking each day can help you find some mental space and peace of mind.

The key is in practicing regularly, you might walk for fifteen minutes one day and only five minutes in your lunch hour the next. That's fine, the benefits will come when you nurture the habit of a little mindful movement every day.

Photo by Pink Sherbet Photography

Along with its beautiful colours, autumn, being a season of transition, can be challenging to anyone sensitive to change. Signs of imbalance include: nervousness, insomnia, constipation, erratic digestion and dry or cracked skin.

As the Autumn season is dry and light by nature it is provoking to vata so it is valuable for anyone suffering from stress or anxiety to know that this is a season where self-care goes a long way toward increasing your sense of well-being.

Ayurveda's richly supportive science offers some beautifully simple ways to protect yourself, calm your mind and nourish your nervous system.

Here are a few that you can add to your day to help you transition smoothly through the Autumn months.

Get a Head Start

Give yourself time to wake up before the world starts rushing around. Vata types are sensitive to change, if they can rise before the busyness starts and take some quiet time to breathe and sip a warm drink, they will feel more settled throughout the day ahead. Routine is important to vata as it has a stabilising effect. Try and start your day at the same time and with the same brief self-care routine as often as you can.

Warm, Wet and Oily

The key words for balancing vata are: warm, wet and oily! Remembering this will help you adopt a supportive diet and lifestyle for the Autumn months.

Warm showers or baths after a gentle oil massage with sesame or almond oil to protect your skin and joints from the dryness that is typical of Autumn and nourish and protect your nervous system too.

A simple breakfast of organic oat porridge with a little cinnamon and honey is a warm and wet perfect start to the day. If you were to experiment with almond milk instead of dairy you would introduce a little oiliness too from the nerve nourishing almond.

Steamed vegetables with rice or pasta, soups, veggie stews, dal and rice, are all perfect warm, wet and slightly oily winter dishes.

Sip spicy teas between meals to help eliminate toxins and hydrate the tissues of your body on a deeper level than cold drinks. Ayurveda also recommends sipping hot spiced water to cleanse the body and dissolve accumulated toxins. To make your own, heat a couple of pints of water in a sauce pan and bring to the boil for 2-3 minutes. Then add four slices of ginger root, a teaspoon of fennel seeds, six black pepper corns and four cloves. Cover and leave to steep for ten minutes then transfer to a thermos jug or flask and sip throughout the day.

Stretch and Breathe

Autumn is the perfect time to embrace simple breathing exercises to calm your mind and oxygenate your blood. The autumn season is highly charged with Prana (or chi) so remember to pause throughout your day to stretch and breathe it in.

photo by Beatriz AG

Related articles you might enjoy:

Are Your Cells Thirsty? Ayurveda & Dehydration

Abhyanga - Ayurveda & Massage as an Act of Self-Care

Ayurveda: 8 Golden Rules for Good Digestion

Sitting at dinner one evening I told my parents: "I've been invited to go on a survival weekend with the Territorial Army." I had no intention of going whatsoever, but when they both started laughing I added defiantly "and I'm going".

At 17 I was half anxiety and half defiance. The anxiety half had already rejected the invitation, but the defiant half didn't like being laughed at. And so it was that I found myself arriving in a cold, wet, retired army base in the middle of nowhere. Later that night, with teeth chattering I lay in my sleeping bag under a broken window and muttered my mantra for the weekend: "I'll bloody show them."

Over the next couple of days I used it often: as I flung myself on my stomach in long wet grass to shoot at "enemy" sacks with hats on. "I'll bloody show them." As I led a team down an old air raid shelter to retrieve a dummy, tripping and stumbling through the dark with no torch and the firm order to use only the backs of our hands to feel our way because it's safer if there are live cables.  "I'll bloody show them."

Hurtling down a zip wire from a window that was way too high for my liking.  "I'll bloody show them."

Finding my way back to base after being blind-folded and driven across an old airfield in the dark and randomly deposited in a ditch. "I'll bloody show them."

The last event was an assault course, I was tired beyond belief, and had to be helped down after getting stuck at the top of a climbing net. My legs had cramp, my lungs burned, and I ground to a painful wheezing halt. As two soldiers carried me down to the ground and reassured me that I'd done a good job and several friends were laying on the grass waiting for me, I realised that my anger and "showthemness" had evaporated. Instead, I was left with a sense of achievement and appreciation for everyone who had thrown themselves (literally) into this muddy adventure. I loved everyone. We were great, we'd tried many dangerous and terrifying things that weekend. We'd wiggled into gas masks and chemical warfare suits (did my bum look big in it? Hell yes!). We feasted on lumpy mash, cold tea and tinned fruit. We laughed, cried, argued, freaked out, and as the weekend drew to a welcome close we parted in exhausted respect for ourselves and each other.

Returning home to a hot bath, sore but triumphant and ready to claim my recognition at last, I was met with... mild amusement.

I don't know if I showed them anything at all, but I showed myself a few things that I'm glad I had the opportunity to discover; I learned that I had courage and humor in the face of adversity, and that I could quickly make friends in weird situations.

I learned how people can simultaneously challenge and support each other. And that I dislike polishing boots and running around in circles in the rain while being shouted at. 

But my biggest lesson was don't waste your energy trying to impress others. If you accept a challenge, do it for for a good cause or for personal growth then you can do it with an open heart and the learning will be all the sweeter for it. 

Photo by DVIDSHUB

Can you imagine being put in the driving seat of a car for the first time and being expected to get it from A to B safely? You don't know how the brakes work, or the gears, and you don't have the spacial awareness yet to steer it through gaps without bumping into passing objects.

That's what happens to us with our minds. Our mind is the tool we use for reasoning, thinking, and making decisions as we pass through life, but nobody teaches us how to use it. We don't know how to keep it safe, or how to stop it becoming overloaded and suffering from stress or anxiety. Most of us are completely unaware of how to use our minds as a platform to reach to higher understandings,  to cultivate inner awareness and see the bigger picture, the spiritual reality of our life and the lives of those around us.

Levels of Understanding

Ayurveda teaches us that not only are we operating through the mind, but that there are different levels within our mind, and that by developing a basic understanding of them we can learn how to protect ourselves from picking up impressions that will bother us in our dreams and quiet moments or even in our day to day lives when we suddenly feel overwhelmed with anxiety.

I've worked with hundreds of people over the last ten years who've suffered with panic attacks or acute anxiety and they tell me how they can be walking down the road one minute feeling fine, and the next minute they feel as though their world is falling apart that they're going to faint, collapse or even die, where their mind has thrown such a number on them that they just don't know what to do - how to feel safe, or how to feel in control.

Garbage in Stress and Anxiety Out

Ayurveda offers great council on how to keep our minds protected, healthy and running smoothly. One of my teachers Dr David Frawley wrote a fascinating book called 'Ayurveda and the Mind - The Healing of Consciousness' and in that book he uses the example of our outer mind being like a doorway through which impressions from our senses from the world around us enter into our inner consciousness. He explains that whatever we're taking in through our eyes our ears our sense of touch, taste and smell, all the information we're gathering from the world outside enters into our inner consciousness through a doorway, and that doorway has a doorman.  That doorman is our intelligence. Our intelligence decides which impressions are allowed in, and once those impressions - the words we hear, the things we watch, the things we see, the things we touch, taste and smell - are allowed in by the doorman into our inner consciousness they will stick in our minds and take root.

Ayurveda describes these impressions as seeds that grow and develop within our internal awareness and eventually come to fruition and cause us to act - everything we take in eventually manifests as an action.

If our doorman isn't discriminating between what we want to let into our minds and what we don't, then we leave ourselves open for anything to get it in. You can tell what you've let in because you'll dream about it and find yourself pondering on it in your waking state.

If you don't like your dreams and your background thoughts, it's time to increase security.

Protect Your Mind with Healthy Choices

The greatest protection our mind has is to use good discrimination.

We want a doorman that discriminates who is allowed in and who isn't. We don't want someone half asleep on the job who will let anyone or anything into our awareness where it can wreak havoc.

The first step in having a good doorman is to use our intelligence to determine what we're allowing our senses to focus on in the first place. If we want to experience peace inside we need to learn to exercise discrimination outside and that means we need to make good choices in what we're watching, what we're seeing around us, what we're hearing, what we're saying and what we're tasting and eating.

If we want to experience peace, we have to act peacefully in our lives. A simple diet based in grains, fruits and vegetables is a peaceful diet, no one got harmed for your meal. Simple entertainment of reading uplifting or spiritual literature. Having heartfelt connections with your friends, family, children. Watching and appreciating nature is more peaceful to your mind then seeking entertainment in movies and television. And the same with what you hear - focus on the sounds of nature, hear uplifting conversation, enlivening music - soothing music is better for your mind than listening to heavy music or sounds of entertainment which are jarring to you nervous system.

Our doorman can only protect us to the degree that we've trained him to work. If our reasoning and choices aren't good and clear then our doorman will not act in our best interests. The deeper area of our mind is sensitive and vulnerable, it's easily effected and easily disturbed. So it's really important to discriminate what we let into our inner consciousness and to always try and make choices that are peaceful and supportive of having a calm, positive healthy mind.

photo by

h.koppdelaney

It had been a long and busy day and I was beyond tired, but as I pulled the duvet over my shoulder anticipating sleep, I realised that my mind was too wired to let me settle and it was about to throw a tantrum.

Anxiety washed over me, and my stomach started to churn. Thoughts started racing around my head like a three year old on a sugar rush and I realised I would be in for a rough night if I didn’t act fast.

Unacceptable Behaviour

While part of my mind thought “Why is this happening again? I haven’t felt like this for ages.” The part I’ve trained to rise above anxiety and take me to a calmer place went into Supernanny mode and declared that this was “unacceptable behaviour”. It had seen this before, it wasn’t impressed, and, best of all, it had a strategy.

I took another deep breath and began chanting my favourite mantra in my mind. Slowly and carefully, giving it my full attention and knowing that this prayer, this place of shelter, would help me feel calm and in control of my mind as it has so many times before. Another breath, another mantra and I could feel the tension draining from my neck and shoulders. My stomach settled and I started to sink down into my bed feeling relaxed and relieved. Two minutes later I was gone…

Waking with a Sense of Victory

The next morning the first thing I remembered was my little victory the night before. I remember so many times when I would get drawn into the anxiety and feel awful for hours. My mind would throw up a horrible thought, or image and then chase after it like a puppy with a slipper. Chewing it over and over again until I would feel like I wanted to run out of my body and escape.

“The mind can make a heaven out of hell or a hell out of heaven” John Milton

Our suffering and our pleasures are very much an inside job. Everyone gets anxious from time to time. Everyone gets overloaded, over-stimulated, stressed, worried, or worse. The key to regaining calm is to pick something that helps you rise above disturbing thoughts and practice it often, so that when stress or anxiety strike you can swing into action with full confidence and save yourself from sinking into full blown anxiety.

Here’s how to do it:

1. Don’t Get Into It

Anxiety like this is usually the equivalent of a mental tantrum. Your mind wants your attention, but not in a healthy way. You can’t reason with it, so you need to ignore its outburst and put it in a safe place to calm down.

2. Start Taking Deep Breaths

Take a deep breath in and release it as slowly as you can. And repeat. This tells your body that you are in control. You’ve noticed a problem and you’re dealing with it. No need for any stress hormones to get involved, everything is under control.

3. Play Your Ace

Here you have two options, but you need to pick one quickly and stick with it. If you have a favourite prayer, mantra, or affirmation that you know consistently works for you in helping you to feel calm, or positive - use it now!

Starting repeating it in your mind (or out loud, if you prefer) with care and attention. Keep taking slow deep breaths and repeat your prayer / mantra / affirmation slowly too. Make it a meditation. Become absorbed. This is the perfect antidote to the turmoil your mind is trying to throw up.

Breath and repeat. Breath and repeat. If your mind wanders to darker thoughts, bring it back. Don’t get into the details. Take a deep breath and bring your full attention back to your chosen words of calm.

If you don’t yet have a favourite invocation for calm, you could call in some outside support and have a guided relaxation exercise on an iPod, or MP3 player; if anxiety strikes, all you need to do is click play and follow along as you are guided into a calmer state.

Supernanny is a fantastic model for us in dealing with a wired and worried mind. When toddlers throw tantrums they do it with enormous energy. They can whip up a storm in seconds. She knows how to contain that storm and not get caught up in it. That’s what we need to do with our minds.

In summary, the next time your mind wants to throw a tantrum:

Don’t Get into It. Take slow, deep breaths, and pull out your chosen calming technique. Be careful to give it your full attention, treat it with respect and care and you will feel calmer in minutes.

Finally: Remember to acknowledge your victory, so you can grow your confidence in coping with anxiety and remember what to do next time you hit a rough patch.

Guest Post by: Art Decker

I know I'm not the only person out there who is under a lot of stress. I talk to people every day who are under severe levels of stress. In addition to the recession, many people have their own temporary (they hope) but severe stresses, such as relocating, changing jobs, getting married or divorced, surviving the death of a loved one or the death of a relationship, or coping with medical challenges. And then there are the everyday stresses--the little things that finally end up really getting to us--parenting, budgeting crises, work pressures, an unyielding travel schedule.

Nobody likes to admit that this kind of stress is getting to them. Least of all me! When people who know how crazy my schedule is ask how I am doing, my most common responses are "fine, thanks!," and "hanging in there!" I never reply, "To tell you the truth, I am having a hard time. I can't eat, I can't sleep, I can't concentrate!" Ah, denial. It's more than just a river in Egypt...

Stress Can do Whatever it Wants to Your Body

But my denial could only last for so long before my body decided to tattle on me. I kept having these episodes when my heart would pound and I felt like I couldn't breathe. I didn't think it was a heart attack -- I have low blood pressure, low cholesterol, all those things that are supposed to be low...but I went to see my doctor and asked if what I was experiencing was stress. Her answer was, "Absolutely. Stress can do anything; it can do whatever the hell it wants!" Stress can make it hard for you to sleep (check!) or hard to wake up (double check!). It can make your skin break out in hives (check!). It can completely overthrow the smooth functioning of your digestive system (check). It can even play a role in chronic diseases, especially autoimmune diseases (let's hope mine hasn't gone that far).

My doctor told me to try to find more time for exercise, especially yoga or martial arts, and to consider making time for meditation. I added them to my to do list/tickler file, using my GTD system: S/Some Day. The problem with that is that the Some Day items on my to do list tend not to get done today -- and today, right now, is when I need stress relief.

Pauses for Thought

I have found a coping mechanism that works for me -- the bell of mindfulness approach.

The bell of mindfulness approach may be familiar to very religious people. Churches and temples, of course, ring bells, and Buddhist monks in monasteries use a ringing bell as a reminder to take a moment to stop, breathe, and be in the present moment. I wish I did have time for an hour of meditation every day, and I wish I had time for daily exercise -- but even I can find five seconds to stop and breathe.

To use the bell of mindfulness approach, you need a sound (or possibly a visual or tactile event) that occurs at a random time, not known to you in advance. I started with the sound of incoming IM on my computer -- I get a lot of IMs. Whenever the IM alert sounds, I stop what I am doing, take a moment to deeply pay attention to my surroundings and environment, and focus on breathing in and out. Only then do I check to see what the IM is about (so if you are a coworker and I have been taking a few seconds too long to respond to your IMs, now you know why!).

I wasn't really sure that it would help. But here is what happened--when I returned to my work, I could focus again. I didn't feel so overwhelmed. I stopped multitasking (oh, the horror!). Yes, I stopped multitasking. I began to do one thing at a time -- I'm old enough to remember when that was normal, before we had computers and iPhones and email and IMs. Amazingly, my productivity has improved. And I've stopped having panic attacks (that's what my doctor calls those heart-pounding/can't breathe episodes. Necessary disclaimer: personally I think the episodes were more protest than panic--I refuse to admit to feeling panicked by stress!)

Random Mindfulness

I was so fascinated by the effect that the IM bells of mindfulness were having on me that I decided to try using other random events as bells. Here are a few that I have tried, but I am sure you can think of many more:

• the alert sound of an arriving text message or IM message (this, of course, was the first one I tried)
• a ringing phone (this one is hard because I want to answer the phone--but then I realized I could always call back)
• a stoplight (true dead time--there is literally nothing else you CAN do but sit there and breathe)
• the feeling of a cat coming over to rub against your leg (or flopping across your keyboard in my case)
• my morning alarm clock
• the sound of birds chirping outside my window
• firecrackers (a seasonal bell of mindfulness--I tried this on the fourth of July, and the days before and after when my neighborhood sounds like a war zone)
• in the fall, I plan to try the sound of nuts dropping off the trees in my yard in the fall

I also found a website that will provide a bell of mindfulness at my chosen intervals. The website is provided by the Washington Mindfulness Community and will play a small or big bell after a number of minutes that a user chooses. The software for the Mindfulness Bell resides at the website and does not have to be installed on your computer.

Post by: Art Decker

Art is a division manager with Self Storage Company, which operates a group of websites, including a Texas self storage locator. Art leads a stressful life, consumed meetings and conference calls. He also travels a lot between sites, like from Texas to the Illinois self storage site. As a result, Art has a strong interest in productivity, organization, working on the road, balancing work and home life, and reducing stress.

Photo by HckySo

One of the quickest and easiest ways to reduce stress is to get yourself mentally organised. Much is written these days about de-cluttering your office, garage and cupboards - but what about your head?

In our house when it's time to clear a space we pick an area and empty it's contents into a heap. The heap then gets divided into smaller heaps that sum up it's destination: send to charity shop, recycle, rubbish, keep. Once you know the rules it's easy to sort every item into it's pile ad then send it where it needs to go.

When it comes to the thoughts in your head you can play the same de-cluttering game by asking yourself one simple question: Can I change or improve this?

It's a simple yes or no question. If your answer is yes, you can start looking at what adjustments you want to make. But if your answer is no, why stress yourself by getting wrapped up in something beyond your control?

Examples of the things you can do nothing about include the weather, political outcomes, taxes, interest rates, the opinions of others etc etc

Everyone knows someone who can make a big deal of ranting about at least one of these areas. Some people take it very personally and get genuinely irate over the decisions and opinions of people they don't know and will probably never meet. And so they rage and fume and cause stress to the family and friends who have to hear of their perceived injustice.

Beware of Control Freak Outs

If you are around people who choose to stress over areas beyond their control you can choose to take a step back. You don't have to listen year after year to the same monologues. You don't have to add the second hand stress of others to your own load. Change the subject, walk away, visit less - you have the right to take care of yourself and your own stress levels. I learned this through a personal health challenge. It takes a lot of nervous energy for me to listen to other people's rants. If I can help them, I'll try. But if I can't, I don't have the energy to spare to get worn down by their drama, so I have learned a few little tricks to step away.

What if it's You That's the Control Freak?

If you can't change something why stress and waste mental energy over it? You'll notice the examples started with the obvious like the weather and then got a bit more subtle like other peoples opinions. There's an old saying that goes "a man convinced against his will is of the same opinion still" by all means you can discuss, share and debate, but why bang somebody else over the head with your opinion if they have a different view and it's dear to them. These are just examples, but I think you get the idea that broadening your understanding of the things you can't change means that you can de-clutter your head quickly and keep focused on the areas you can control or influence.

Stephen Covey calls this working within your circle of influence and it's a much more comfortable and effective place to operate from than stressing over things that are totally beyond your control. If you play this head sorting game regularly it will soon become very natural to you and you can rejoice in becoming one of those chilled out lovelies who can go with the flow of life.

Photo by Ana Santos