Helpful tips for dealing with stress
| Advice and techniques that you can take into the work place and off the yoga mat. In fact experience in Yoga will not be necessary. Please bookmark this page! Thanks Phil Please Email me if you want to see a topic covered here! |
|
Difficult and stressful situations - are you ready, are you balanced?
The alarm fails to go off, you are late - you jump into the shower. You
live in a house where if someone turned on the tap downstairs the water scalds
you in the shower. You leave the house without a proper breakfast. The car
behind you on the way to work tailgates you and every traffic light seems to
change to red as you approach it.
The meeting has already started
and the notes that you had prepared the night before are still on the kitchen
table.
The rest of the day is the normal mix of emails, urgent phone calls and
un-realistic deadlines! At 4pm that day you have to deal with a staff
issue with an a member of staff which you have dreaded and are expecting to be
confrontational. The meeting goes exactly as you thought it would as the
member of staff appears aggressive and un responsive and inevitably you end up
losing your temper!
So what can we do to help ourselves?
The path back to the real you is never but a few breaths away. Try
this as an exercise. It is taken from a Zen meditation exercise which will
help you to take a rain check as to whether you are ready to deal with stressful
situations as they arise. This exercise can be carried out in any position but
for now lets assume you are sitting comfortably.
1. Start to bring your awareness to your breathing
2. On an out breath count the number 'one' mentally.
3. Say the word 'and' as you breath in and count the number 'two' the next time you breath out.
4. Repeat the cycle until
you have reached four on your respective out breath and start again from one.
If you lose count - start again
If you find you have gone beyond four - start again
If you get distracted - start again
You will find that your breathing starts to slow down and that the gaps between
counting (the words) will get longer as you become aware of the beginning and
end of every in breath and out breath.
So let's re-visit our nightmare day again!
Each incident is an opportunity for mindfulness and breath awareness.
Constantly assessing your body and mind through your breathing. Instead of
seeing a red light as an irritating occurrence, see it as a chance to bring
yourself back to the breath. There are so many occasions like this.
Waiting for a lift, on your way to the next meeting, when the phone rings. All
of them are opportunities for mindfulness and breath awareness.
Remember, good health is never more than a few breaths away. When facing a
difficult situation practise this simple Zen Meditation exercise to see how
mentally balanced you are before proceeding. If you get distracted before
you count to 4 - you are not ready, go beyond 4 - you are not ready.
Try to achieve 3 rounds which will take less than 2 minutes.
This is a great practice you can take anywhere and use in any circumstance it
will help bring your mind back home and achieve a sense of balance.
[back to top]
The present moment is our greatest teacher. Its with us everywhere we go and it is something we can rely on to show us when we have reached our edge.
'Meeting our edge' is different for many people and even for ourselves this can change. Meeting your edge is the feeling you have when you are unable to change a course of events in your favour, it could be bad news of any kind or unexpected change.
We read books or articles about meditation and have this impression of tranquil smiley faces sitting on top of relaxed bodies. Sometimes that is what it can be like, but sometimes 'wham' you're hit by thoughts you would rather avoid or you find yourself in a situation where running away seems like the better option.
How do we run away? We may find addiction works for us, numbing the senses via drink or retail therapy!
Meditation and breath awareness can teach us that all our thoughts are just thinking. Usually this is based in the past or the future. In anger or stress you play back scenarios based on what you should have done (the past) or what you would like to do (the Future) but this is just memory and fantasy. Your life and the decisions you need to make exist only in this moment. The Present moment.
When you concentrate on your breathing you effectively bring your mind back home.
Meditation on Thinking
In this meditation the out breath is our object for awareness. The in breath becomes like a pause or a gap. The purpose is to watch each of our breaths go out and dissolve away. See this as a chance to let go of everything that has gone before and simply relax into the moment.
The feeling is to try and touch the out breath and not concentrate. Try not to add anything extra just give the breath very light and gentle attention.
The only other instruction for this meditation is to label all your thoughts 'just thinking'. You may find your mind will start worrying, fantasising, planning etc. As soon as you realise you have wandered off simply say to yourself 'thinking'. Don't make it a big thing and return your attention to your out breath.
Sometimes your thoughts will be inspiring or very creative, but without judgment simply say 'just thinking' and take you awareness back to the breath.
Each time you become aware you have slipped away continue to mentally say the word 'thinking' and relax into the out breath. Just continue to do this again and again until a sense of calm surrounds your mind and body.
This meditation teaches us to relax and let go and see our lives are in this moment without judgment.
Is it bad luck or is is good luck?
This is a wonderful little story, which makes us realise that although we think we know what good or bad luck is, in reality we know very little. It is our perception to any given situation that can give rise to stress and perception can mean deception....
An elderly farmer had a beautiful horse. One day it ran away. His neighbours came to commiserate with him on his loss, but all he said was, 'Who knows what's good; who knows what's bad.'
The horse returned, bringing with it several wild horses, and his neighbours came to congratulate him on his good fortune. All he said was, 'Who knows what's good; who knows what's bad.'
His son started to train the wild horses, but one of them threw him and he broke his leg. His neighbours came to sympathise with the farmer, but all he said was, 'Who knows what's good; who knows what's bad.'
The Emperor's army marched through the district, press-ganging every young man into service, but they did not take the farmer's son, as he had a broken leg. The farmers comment was still, 'Who knows what's good; who knows what's bad.'
Corporate teaching / seminars
Get the most out of your training seminars and staff with sessions on stress, relaxation, concentration, tailored to your requirements.
Classes & teaching information
For further teaching enquiries or corporate stress management sessions please email or call on 01736-719342
Yoga and Spa Weekends in Cornwall
Founded by Phil Aston BWY Dip
Copyright 1999 - 2008
click here for your yoga and spa weekend brochure
Please note