Less Stress with Mindfulness
Last Tuesday I had a little incident where I left my office in a stretcher and was transported to the Oklahoma Heart Hospital via ambulance. Though hesitant, I decided to use this experience as an opportunity to bring up a very important topic… stress.
Stress is a silent killer!
We may not know it. But our bodies are constantly under stress. Some stress can be good, like the physical stress the body is put under when exercising or the emotional stress we experience when pushed outside of our comfort zones.
But stress unmanaged, unbalanced or out of control sends the body into a fight or flight mode. If left unattended stress can cause extremely serious heath issues. Management of stress is crucial to living and maintaining a healthy lifestyle and mindfulness is one way to help regulate stress.
Mindfulness is using direct focus to bring ourselves into the present moment. Mindfulness helps to temporarily shut out the rest of the world. It can be very useful in helping how we respond to external stimuli. Mindfulness can also help with resetting our mindsets and perspectives.
There are many ways to be mindful. Two mentioned here are:
- 2x Breathing
- Sense awareness
In for 2, Out for 4:
When using 2x Breathing start by sitting still with the eyes closed, back supported and head free.
You will breath in through the nose to the count of 2. Breath out through the mouth to the count of 4. You can repeat this 3-4 times, allowing the body to gently relax.
You Sense That?
- Leaving the eyes closed you can move into Sense Awareness right after 2x breathing. When practicing Sense Awareness you want to bring attention to the 5 senses.
- You can start with hearing. Listen for different sounds you can hear. You don’t necessarily try to label them you just listen and allow them to pass by.
- Next move to your sense of touch. See if you notice your chair or bed beneath you, your close on your skin or maybe your breath as it moves in and out of your body.
- You can now bring your awareness to your sight. With the eyes still closed see if you notice a faint hint of light, or even colors dancing behind eyelids.
- Next move to your sense of taste. Is your mouth dry or acidic. Maybe you notice something your recently ate or nothing at all.
- Lastly bring your awareness to your sense of smell. Do you notices different scents or aromas in the room.
Let It Go
You can end your practice with a deep inhale through the nose and then exhale. Slowly open your eyes and access how you feel. You may notice you feel more rested or even sleepy. But what’s most important is you’re here in THIS moment.
When we are fully present the chaotic rambling of our mind is quiet. This is so significant. Because when present our fight or flight response is temporarily shut down and the body and mind are at ease.
The more opportunities we have to shift into this state. The more empowered we are to maintain peace and calm throughout the day; no matter what type of experiences we may be having.
We can’t necessarily get rid of stress and nor may we want to. As mentioned before some stress is actually good for us. Instead we need balance and an understanding that we don’t have to succumb to everything that happens; especially when things don’t go our way or as we planned.
Opportunities or Obstacles
I learned 3 really important things from this experience
- I still have a lot of work to do when it comes to management of my own stress.
- Though terrified, the main thing that kept running through my mind is how much this would cost. The more I thought about it the more worried I got. In the end this ended up being one of the best overall checkups I had in a while; AND I got a clean bill of health.
- A lot of things went wrong with this process and because these issues have been identified. We can now come up with a more effective plan to better serve our work force.
The bottom line is, many times the stress we experience is all about our mindset and how we perceive things to be versus how things really are.
Mindfulness is that clarity we need to help us break through the haze of understanding; what is bringing us suffering and what is bringing us joy.
With Love,
Keela
Thank you. This is really good!