Stress!
Stressed out.
Stressing.
Too much stress
Stressful… we are using these words every day.
We are feeling these words as well and its not doing us any good!
Check in, drop down and tune in to your body. Get still enough to connect to what is going on there.
Mostly we ignore our body, but it gives us information that we can't get in any other way. How else would we feel the sun on our skin or the joy of a hot bath or the thrill of a fabulous meal, without our body?
Our body is a great teacher……wise and patient beyond our expectation and more forgiving than most of us deserve given the way we abuse it and take it for granted. It acts like a huge antennae collecting and storing data. However, we can only retrieve that data when we find ways to tune in to it and listen.
Sooner or later the signs of neglect catch us up and our body fails us. Depression, high blood pressure, digestive problems, eczema, headaches, overeating, alcohol and drug use are all signs of our body telling us that we are out of balance.
Sadly we are only motivated to take action when something compels us to because we have created an unavoidable situation that can't be ignored any more.
We need to remember the rules of the road on this journey called life, and one of the first rules, maybe the only rule, is BALANCE.
Most of the problems that arise for us are problems of the mind. It's the way we think or rather the way we don't think that causes us suffering and grief.
There's some stinkin thinking going on!
Being present is one of the ways to stop suffering. If we can stay 'present' there is no suffering, there is no stress.
Suffering happens when we tussle with the past or worry about the future. Our mind, not our body takes us to those places.
How to be present – What tools or techniques do you need to understand "Being present"?
The number one tool is the BREATH. It is a simple way to be present and an easy way to be present.
Breathing is so fundamental to us that it seems fanciful to think that this technique can do so much, but it is a timeless Vedic tool to balance the mind and to bring union to our body and spirit. Its using yoga for stress relief.
The very moment of the next inhale and exhale, in the very next breath, there is no suffering. Here and now you are okay. Capture that moment of no future/no past to enjoy stillness and peace, in the space between the breath.
For some of us it is necessary to create a verbal affirmation of some kind or a movement or activity to keep us rooted in that place of stillness because our mind continually wants to drag us away from it.
As our heart pounds and we feel tired, overwhelmed or nauseous with the fear or pain we are experiencing, we need to speak soft words of encouragement or give ourselves gentle care. Soft but powerful words or actions that have a resonance that can calm the heart beat and slow the breath. For example – " If I don't move from this place, in this moment, all is well." " I am fine, I am safe. Here is okay." " My fears are in my mind. It has not happened, it may not happen." "I am giving this problem power and I can be more powerful than the fear." "The fear will not consume me".
It is our perceived version of a reality that has not happened yet that keeps us fearful and in a stressed state. It is not true.
The simple act of paying attention to your breath is enough. Nothing fancy, nothing unfamiliar to learn. Just focus on breathing in and breathing out and making the in and the out even. Then start to slow the breath. Notice the gap between the breath, the pause. The peace is in the pause.
The last words here are a quote from Abraham Hicks - Abraham-Hicks™
There is nothing about your physical awareness that connects you more to the Non-Physical aspect of your Being than that of your breathing.
Many assume that the process of breathing is only about your physical nature, but that is not the case. The process of breathing is much more than an essential function of your physical body. Indeed, it is the flowing of Spirit to you, and through you. That is the reason that when the focusing of Spirit through your physical body ceases, your breathing ceases, also.
Our meditation experience will induce a convergence of beneficial aspects for you, for as you relax into the natural rhythm of perfect breathing while hearing these spoken words, the Vibration of your physical being will gently surrender to the Vibrational frequency of your Source, and you will become one with your Source, inside the Vortex.
Through the hearing of our words in your relaxed state of allowing, you will allow the gentle tuning of your Vibrational frequency to match the frequency of your Source.
This will not be an exercise of effort or trying, but instead an exercise of releasing and allowing—gently allowing yourself to be who-you-really-are.
