9 Mind-Body Tools for Stress Relief

7/28/2019 9 Mind-Body Tools for Stress Relief

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MEDITATION

YOGA

PEACE

LOVE

RELAXATION

If you were to

eavesdrop on all the

conversations taking

place around you,stress would likely be

one of the most

common words youd

hear. People say they

feel stressed about their

work, the economy,

global politics,

deadlines, their

relationships, and just

about everything else.

Many suffer from the

emotional and physical

consequences of

chronic stress, which

include accelerated

aging and increased

rates of heart disease,anxiety, cancer,

depression, migraine

headaches, and other

serious disorders.

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9MIND-BODYTOOLS FOR STRESS RELIEFDEEPAK CHOPRA, M.D

TENSION

FEAR

ANGER

HATESTRESS

While stress is considered an epidemic problem, Ive never believed

that it exists in the environment or in external situations. I like to

define stress as our responseto what is happening. Its not the overdu

payment, traffic jam, or fight with our spouse that causes stress it

our thoughtsand the story we tell ourselves about an event or

circumstance that create the emotional upset, racing heart rate,

shallow breathing, and other symptoms of the stress response. The

analogy of a surfer is useful here: If youre a skillful surfer, every wav

is an exhilarating adventure or at least an opportunity to learn

something new. If youve never learned how to surf, on the other

hand, every wave is a terrifying potential disaster.


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Fortunately, learning how to deal

effectively with stress doesnt require

any athletic ability. Its a skill anyone

can learn. First, it is valuable to look

more deeply at what is known as the

stress response. Lets consider a

common scenario: Youre at work when

your manager calls and asks toimmediately see you in her office.

Depending on your typical thought

process, you may immediately begin to

worry, What did I do wrong? I wonder

if my job is on the line . . . if I get fired, it

could take a long time to find another job

in this economy. Your dread builds and

you really do not want to go to see your

manager. Or you may find yourself

getting angry, thinking, After all the

work Ive put in, Im not putting up withany criticism. This company is lucky to

have me here. You head toward your

managers office feeling belligerent and

ready to defend yourself.

The 10-Ton Thought

Whether you react in fear or in anger,

the thoughts in your mind create stress

in your body. Your ancient fight-or-

flight response is gearing up, but no

woolly mammoths are roaming through

the office just thoughts

convincing you that your survival is at

stake. When your stress response is

triggered, your body has an

instantaneous reaction:

Your heart beats faster.

Blood pressure increases.

Your breath becomes shallow andrapid.

Blood sugar rises.

Adrenalin and cortisol production

surge.

Your immune system weakens.

The production of sex hormones

decreases.

Digestion is halted.

Researchers have found that even 24

hours after a triggering event, the body

continues to experience the negative

effects of the stress response.

Choices that Relieve Stress

There are many valuable practices that

can help you go beyond the primal

fight-or-flight response. You can learn

to experience a restful response a

mind-body state that is as natural as thestress response, but infinitely more

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peaceful and healing. Here are some of

the most effective tools and techniques:

1) Resolve the Stressful

Situation If Possible

You may not have much control over

many of the sources of stress in your

life, but if there is action you can take

to resolve a stressful situation, do it!

Talk to friends about what you can do

to change a situation or gain a new

perspective on it. Consider getting help

from a conflict resolution expert if

necessary.

Conscious Communication. One skill

that is extremely helpful in preventing

and eliminating stress is conscious

communication, also known asnonviolent communication. Its a way

to clearly communicate your needs in a

way that improves the likelihood that

they will be met. With practice, you

can learn to express your needs, ask for

what you want, and create more

fulfilling, stress-free relationships. At

the Chopra Center, conscious

communication is part of the core

curriculum for our staff members and is

also taught at several of the workshopsand programs we offer. To learn more,

the bookNonviolent Communication by

Marshall Rosenberg, is an excellent

place to start.

2) Meditate

Meditation is a simple yet powerful

tool that takes us to a state of profound

relaxation that dissolves fatigue and the

accumulated stress that accelerates the

aging process. During meditation, ourbreathing slows, our blood pressure and

heart rate decrease, and stress hormone

levels fall. By its very nature,

meditation calms the mind, and when

the mind is in a state of restful

awareness, the body relaxes too.

Research shows that people who

meditate regularly develop less

hypertension, heart disease, anxiety,

and other stress-related illnesses that

speed up aging. Furthermore, new

studies are finding that meditation

literally restores the brain. A recent

groundbreaking study conducted by

Massachusetts General Hospital has

made headlines by showing that as littleas eight weeks of meditation not only

helped people feel calmer but also

produced changes in various areas of

the brain, including growth in the areas

associated with memory, empathy,

sense of self, and stress regulation.

This study adds to the expanding body

of research about the brains amazing

plasticity and capacity to grow and

change at any stage of life. We cannurture our brains power and maintain

a youthful mind by developing a

regular meditation practice.

How Does Meditation Work?We are all

engaged in a continuous internal

dialogue in which the meaning and

emotional associations of one thought

trigger the next, usually without our

being consciously aware of the process.

Buddhist psychology describes this

process as samskaras, which can be seen

as grooves in the mind that make

thoughts flow in the same direction.

Your personal samskaras are created

from the memories of your past and

can force you to react in the same

limited way over and over again. Most

people build up their identity on the

basis of samskaras without even

realizing they are doing this.

In meditation we disrupt theunconscious progression of thoughts

and emotions by focusing on a new

object of attention. In the practice of

Primordial Sound Meditation, the

object of attention is a mantra that

you repeat silently to yourself. A

mantra is pure sound, with no meaning

or emotional charge to trigger

Meditation is a

simple yet

powerful tool that

takes us to a state

of profound

relaxation that

dissolves fatigue

and the

accumulated

stress that

accelerates the

aging process.

Duringmeditation, our

breathing slows,

our blood

pressure and

heart rate

decrease, andstress hormone

levels fall.

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associations. It allows the mind to

detach from its usual preoccupations

and experience the spaciousness and

calm within.

The more you practice meditation, the

more you are able to experience

expanded states of pure awareness. Inthe silence of awareness, the mind lets

go of old patterns of thinking and

feeling and learns to heal itself.

3) Connect to Your Body

While the mind is constantly flitting to

thoughts of the future and memories of

the past, the body lives in the only

moment that truly exists: the present.

One of the best ways to relieve stress is

to tune into your body. Your first andmost reliable guide to balance,

harmony, and happiness is your body.

When choosing a certain behavior, ask

your body, How do you feel about

this? If your body sends a signal of

physical or emotional distress, watch

out. If your body sends a signal of

comfort and eagerness, proceed.

What can you do to start listening to

your body? The most basic elements are

as follows:

Feel what you feel. Dont talk yourself

into denial.

Accept what you feel. Dont judge

whats actually there.

Be open to your body. Its always

speaking. Be willing to listen.

Trust your body. Every cell is on your

side, which means you have hundreds

of billions of allies.

Value spontaneity. Emotions change,

cells change, the brain changes. Dont

be the policeman who stops the river of

change by blocking it with frozen, fixed

beliefs.

Enjoy what your body wants to do.

Bodies like to rest, but they also like to

be active. Bodies like different kinds of

food that are eaten with enjoyment.

Bodies like pleasure in general.

One of the most basic ways to be aware

is by grounding yourself in the body.

There is no mystery to it. Simply feel

your body whenever youve beendistracted. Lets say youre driving a car,

and somebody cuts you off. Your

normal reaction is to be agitated or

angry; you jump out of the calm,

relaxed focus that connects you to the

mind-body field. Instead of being

overshadowed by this disruption, just

go within and feel the sensations of

your body. Take a deep breath, since

that is an easy way to come back to

body awareness.

Keep your attention on these sensation

until they disappear. What youve done

is cut off the stimulus response with a

gap. A gap is an interval of non-

reaction. It stops the reaction from

fueling itself. It reminds the body of its

natural state of harmonious,

coordinated self-regulation, and that

grounds you. Its easy because

harmonious self-regulation is the body

ground state. Stress pulls you into

another state of heightened biological

response that triggers a flow of

hormones, increased heart rate,

hyper-vigilance of the senses, and many

other linked reactions. But all are

temporary; they are emergency

measures only. If you allow the stress

reaction to become a habit however,

disharmony enters the field of mind

and body. The normal state of relaxedawareness tries to co-exist with the

disrupted, agitated state of the stress

response. The two dont mix; they aren

meant to exist at the same time.

Any time youre feeling distracted,

overwhelmed, stressed or

overshadowed, theres a tendency to

escape. The state of denial is an escape.

While the mind

is constantly

flitting to

thoughts of the

future and

memories of the

past, the body

lives in the only

moment that

truly exists: the

present. One of

the best ways to

relieve stressis to tune into

your body. Your

first and most

reliable guide to

balance,

harmony, andhappiness is

your body.

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Distracting yourself through overwork

is an escape. Altering your mind with

drugs and alcohol is an escape. What

they all have in common is absence of

awareness. You numb or distract

yourself under the false belief that

unawareness will help you, while being

too aware will only increase your pain.In reality, the opposite is true.

Awareness heals because awareness is

the only thing that is truly whole, and

healing is fundamentally a return to

wholeness.

To get on the path to increased

awareness, say the following

affirmations to yourself and then carry

your words into action:

I will make choices to maximize theenergy in my body. My body is my

connection to the infinite supply of

energy in the universe. If I am feeling

lack of energy in any way, it means that

I am resisting the flow of this infinite

supply. I will ask my body what it

needs and will sincerely follow its

advice. The ideal state is to experience

such lightness that I do not feel

bounded by my body.

Before I act on any emotion, I will

consult my heart. My heart is a reliable

guide when I trust it. It monitors the

emotions of others around me. This

helps me experience empathy,

compassion and love. The heart is the

seat of emotional intelligence.

Emotional intelligence allows me to get

in touch with my deepest self. It

nurtures all relationships by reminding

me to see myself in the other.Lightness of being in my body will be

my indicator of happiness. If I feel

heavy or dull in my body, I will pay

attention because these feelings are

signs of inertia and the dreariness of

habit over the potential that every

moment has for freshness and new life.

The best way to replenish my body is

FEEL WHAT YOU FEEL.

ACCEPT WHAT

YOU FEEL.


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situations more calmly; yet sleep is so

often neglected or underemphasized.

There is even a tendency for people to

boast about how little sleep they can ge

by on. In reality, a lack of restful sleep

disrupts the bodys innate balance,

weakens our immune system, and speedup the aging process. Human beings

generally need between six and eight

hours of restful sleep each night.

Restful sleep means that youre not

using pharmaceuticals or alcohol to get

to sleep but that youre drifting off

easily once you turn off the light and

are sleeping soundly through the night

If you feel energetic and vibrant when

you wake up, you had a night of restful

sleep. If you feel tired and unenthusiastic

you havent had restful sleep.

to give it what it needs most, whether

its sleep, rest, life-giving nourishment,

the joy of movement or communion

with nature.

4) Understand Your Unique

Stress Response

Your mind-body constitution (known

as your doshain Ayurveda) plays a great

role in how stress affects you. Ayurveda

offers specific recommendations for

each mind-body type, including the

most effective ways to cope with stress.

Here are the stress patterns of the three

main doshas:

Vata: Those with predominantly Vata

constitutions have the greatest tendency

toward anxiety and worry. Normally

creative and enthusiastic, in the face of

stress, Vatas tend to blame themselves

for their problems and become

extremely nervous and scattered.

Pitta:Pitta types are usually warm and

loving, but if theyre out of balance,

they typically react to stress by finding

fault with other people and becomingangry.

Kapha:The most even-tempered dosha

is Kapha. Kapha types are usually

easygoing and gentle, but when faced

with overwhelming conflict or stress,

they may withdraw and refuse to deal

with the situation.

5) Get Plenty of Sleep

Restful sleep is an essential key to

staying healthy and vital. When youre

well-rested, you can approach stressful

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You can get the highest quality sleep by

keeping your sleep cycles in tune with

the rhythms of the universe, known as

circadian rhythms. Ayurveda teaches

that the optimal sleep routine is to rise

with the sun and go to sleep when its

dark out, or at least by 10 p.m.

Ideally, eat only a light meal in the

evening, before 7:30 if possible, and

then go for a leisurely walk. The bodys

digestive powers are strongest between

the hours governed by the Pitta dosha

(10 p.m. to 2 a.m. and 10 a.m. to 2

p.m.). By eating a light dinner, instead

of focusing all its energy on digesting a

heavy meal, your body can use the Pitta

cycle to detoxify itself and get the deep

rest it needs. You can go for a leisurelywalk after dinner and then be in bed by

10 p.m.

Its also very helpful to download your

thoughts from the day in a journal

before going to bed so that your mind

doesnt keep you awake.

6) Practice Yoga

Yoga is another timeless healing

practice for releasing stress and the

damaging effects of the fight-or-flightresponse. Not only is yoga an excellent

physical exercise that increases your

flexibility and strength, but it also

balances the mind and body, calming

the nervous system, increasing the

production of stress-relieving

hormones, and releasing stored toxins.

You dont need a lot of expensive

equipment or to be in great shape to

start practicing yoga. All it takes is looseclothing, a mat (some classes will

provide mats) and the desire to learn.

There are many different styles of yoga.

Most use a series of postures designed

to stretch and strengthen muscles, and

also use focused breathing to quiet the

mind. One of the most popular styles

in the U.S. is Hatha Yoga, a relatively

slow-moving, gentle style. Other styles

such asAshtangaand Power Yogaare

more vigorous. At the Chopra Center,

we teach a unique style of yoga known

as the Seven Spiritual Laws of Yoga,

which focuses on body-centered restful

awareness.

The intention of the Seven Spiritual

Laws of Yoga is to integrate and balance

all the layers of our life so that our

body, mind, heart, intellect, and spirit

flow in harmony. As we expand our

awareness through the practice of yoga,

we become more capable of perceiving

the richness that life offers.

Getting Started with Yoga:Find out

about the different kinds of yoga thatare offered at classes in your area.

Choose the style that fits your goals and

level of fitness. You can also get started

by using a good instructional book or

DVD at home, although its usually

better for beginners to start with a class.

If you are pregnant or have any serious

health conditions, talk to your doctor

before you begin. Once you start a

class, let your teacher know about any

injuries or health issues.

Whichever style of yoga you choose,

take it slowly at first. Dont try to force

yourself into difficult poses at the

beginning. After a while, you will

develop more flexibility, strength and

stamina. Your teacher shouldnt push

you to do poses that arent comfortable.

If your teacher is going too fast, talk to

him or her, or look for a class that is a

better fit.

With a regular practice, you begin to

experience a sense of calm and well-

being that extends beyond the yoga mat

into your daily life. You gradually stop

dwelling on stressful thoughts and feel

more lighthearted and joyful, even in

the face of lifes inevitable upsets and

disappointments.

Whether itswalking outside

with a friend or

taking an exercise

class at the

gym, getting

active can help

you relax and

help turn off your

bodys stress

response. A

complete fitness

program includes

exercises to

develop flexibility,

cardiovascular

conditioning, and

strength training.

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The important

thing is to start

off slowly, find

physical activities

you enjoy, and do

them regularly. Ifthe most you can

do right now is

walk around the

block, do that,

and you will be

surprised howquickly you

increase your

endurance and

enthusiasm for

moving and

breathing.

7) Spend Time with Loved

Ones and Friends

Research shows that a good social

support network has definite mental

health benefits. It can keep you from

feeling lonely, isolated or inadequate

and if you feel good about yourself, youcan deal with stress better. Friends and

loved ones can be a good source of

advice and suggest new ways of

handling problems. But they can also

be an excellent distraction from whats

bothering you. If your network of

friends is small, think about

volunteering, joining an outdoor

activities group, or trying an online

meet-up group to make new friends.

8) Exercise RegularlyWhether its walking outside with a

friend or taking an exercise class at the

gym, getting active can help you relax

and help turn off your bodys stress

response. A complete fitness program

includes exercises to develop flexibility,

cardiovascular conditioning, and

strength training. Find an aerobic

activity that you can do regularly

three to four sessions each week for

twenty to thirty minutes is usually

enough to give you substantial benefits.

After your body is warmed up, spend

five to ten minutes stretching. You will

also want to include strength training

in your program to systematically

exercise the major muscle groups of

your body.

The important thing is to start off

slowly, find physical activities you

enjoy, and do them regularly. If the

most you can do right now is walk

around the block, do that, and you will

be surprised how quickly you increase

your endurance and enthusiasm for

moving and breathing.

9) Do Activities You Enjoy

Part of being stressed out is feeling that

you never have enough time, so adding

more activities to your schedule might

seem like the last thing you need. But i

you make even a little bit of time for an

activity you really enjoy, the payoff can

be huge: You feel calmer and happier

and can deal with work and other

demands better. Whether its playingmusic, doing a craft, or working on

your car, do something that absorbs

and relaxes you.

The goal in all of these practices isnt to

try to control the flow of life so that

youll never experience stress or

frustration again; the secret is to be

patient and offer yourself compassion

as you learn to respond to challenges

from a place of peace and calm.

Deepak Chopra, M.D., is a best-selling author andfounder of the Chopra Center for Wellbeing in Carlsbad,

California. Along with co-founder Dr. David Simon, Deepak

created the Perfect Health program, combining authentic

Ayurvedic treatments and therapies, a medical staff (M.D.s)

trained in both Western and Eastern medicine, and instruction

in yoga, meditation and Ayurveda. www.chopra.com

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9 Mind-Body Tools for Stress Relief