AfterGlow
Bluelighter
For anyone who has no experience with mindfulness meditation and wants to learn how to do it, this is THE book to read!
Mindfulness in Plain English
Mindfulness in Plain English
^What goes around comes around.
Stop hating on western culture
You're welcome, herbavore.
I'm not religious either, but like you I find value in religious teachings. However, I think forcing myself to be indiscriminately compassionate would ultimately turn me into Ned Flanders. :D
Great thread.
One of my greatest anxieties is that I will most likely die of a seizure out of nowhere. Medication helps, but is far from a sure fire way to stop it all together. I know I need to just accept that, like anyone, I could die at any moment. It's comforting to accept this, sure, but sometimes I wake up in the most random of places, and even jail. This is what I'm still trying to deal with.
I’ve been reading the spiritual book Taming The Tiger Within, and came across some very powerful verses about anger. I feel they provide some great insights that makes us think about how we usually deal with our anger (which is usually in destructive, non-helpful ways). Perhaps the following 10 verses can help you deal with your anger a little better:
“When you say something unkind, when you
do something in retaliation, your anger increases.
You make the other person suffer, and they try hard
to say or do something back to make you suffer,
and get relief from their suffering. That is
how conflict escalates.”
“Just like our organs, our anger is part of us.
When we are angry, we have to go back to ourselves
and take good care of our anger. We cannot say,
‘Go away, anger, I don’t want you.’ When you have
a stomachache, you don’t say, ‘I don’t want you
stomach, go away.’ No, you take care of it.
In the same way, we have to embrace and
take good care of our anger.”
“Just because anger or hate is present does not
mean that the capacity to love and accept
is not there; love is always with you.”
“When you are angry, and you suffer, please go
back and inspect very deeply the content, the nature
of your perceptions. If you are capable of removing
the wrong perception, peace and happiness will
be restored in you, and you will be able to
love the other person again.”
“When you get angry with someone, please don’t
pretend that you are not angry. Don’t pretend that
you don’t suffer. If the other person is dear to you,
then you have to confess that you are angry, and that
you suffer. Tell him or her in a calm, loving way.”
“In the beginning you may not understand the
nature of your anger, or why it has come to be.
But if you know how to embrace it with the
energy of mindfulness, it will begin
to become clear to you.”
“Anger is like a howling baby, suffering and crying.
Your anger is your baby. The baby needs his mother
to embrace him. You are the mother.
Embrace your baby.”
“Anger has roots in nonanger elements. It
has roots in the way we live our daily life. If we
take good care of everything in us, without
discrimination, we prevent our negative energies
from dominating. We reduce the strength
of our negative seeds so that they
won’t overwhelm us.”
“In a time of anger or despair, even if we feel
overwhelmed, our love is still there. Our capacity to
communicate, to forgive, to be compassionate is
still there. You have to believe this. We are more
than our anger, we are more than our suffering.
We must recognize that we do have within
us the capacity to love, to understand,
to be compassionate, always.”
“When we embrace anger and take good care of
our anger, we obtain relief. We can look deeply into
it and gain many insights. One of the first insights
may be that the seed of anger in us has grown too
big, and is the main cause of our misery. As we
begin to see this reality, we realize that the other
person, whom our anger is directed at, is only
a secondary cause. The other person is
not the real cause of our anger.”
Retention of breath is a necessary part of Pranayam. Usually we do not hold air in our lungs when we breathe. But while doing Pranayam, this is one important part, it ensure maximum assimilation of oxygen in our blood through lungs. In fact this is the part that ensures stimulation of Prana. This is the reason that retention of breath is longer than other two part of Pranayam.
Generally duration of exhalation is double than the duration of inhalation. This is to ensure too aspects. Firstly, it lets us breathe out carbon dioxide and other toxins that purify our body. Secondly, it also eliminates the excess oxygen from our body that will eventually get oxidized and degenerate cells. By eliminating excess oxygen from body, Pranayam also takes part in anti oxidation process that delays cell degeneration.
With controlled breathing we can regulate our blood circulation in our body that will ensure healthy heart, reduce high blood pressure and proper functioning of the endocrine glands.
Apart from these basic benefits of Pranayam, it also ensures optimum blood flow to brain that relives stress, mental anxiety and calms our mind.
Regular practice of Pranayam surely calms our mind and boosts our confidence and stability. .
With Pranayam that ensures optimum circulation of oxygen relives fatigue, rejuvenates our body, recovers loss of tissues and helps in proper functioning of organs. .
Pranayam is known to burn extra calories. With continuous practice of Pranayam for significant period of time, you can achieve supple and steady figure with no fat. .
Pranayam boosts our capacity to concentrate. As a result it helps us to excel in every sphere of life. .
::source::
hmm, oddly, I found some of the things I learned with regards to marksmanship to be generally excellent for anxiety in stressful situations.
Basically the points most helpful where:
Breathing rate: Unless you are physically exerting yourself, force your breathing to be no more rapid than your usual resting breathing rate, count it if you have to, but do not allow to become rapid. Rapid breathing is a common stress reaction, and by forcing it to slow down, you help interrupt the usual series of events that lead to panic.
Breath Tidal volume: Make sure your breaths are no deeper or shallower then usual... shallow OR deep breathing often comes with increased breathing rate, again by stopping it, you help block the spiral.
Visual field: Keep your eyes looking at what is relevant in the situation. Do not become fixated on one object, and similarly, do not allow your eyes to dance around with no rhyme or reason. Fixation on an object occurs when that object is what is making you anxious, while its good to look at a potential threat, you need to keep aware of your over all surroundings . Having them dance around is typical when the source of your anxiety is unknown, you are hunting for it. If there is a real, physical and local threat, you might want to scan for it, if not its hyper-vigilance and is part of the cascade that leads to panic.
Be aware of your heart beat. Its beyond direct conscious control, but you can be aware of it, allowing you to actively note that if its elevated and your not exercising, that its likely psychogenic stress, which might allow you to try and relax and lower it. (it has another application for marksmanship, which is to fire between beats so it does not move your aiming)
Relax your muscles and note muscle tension. Relax them to the minimum you need to hold your body upright/hold anything your carrying. Tensed up muscles are another part of the stress/anxiety reaction, and reinforce it. Letting them relax is akin to letting that anxiety flow away. (and for what I learned, tense muscles lead to shaking which leads to being unable to aim)
Keep your self aware of these basic physical reactions and keep them under your control, not under the anxiety's control. I.E. YOU control your body, not the anxiety or stressor.
PiP said:there are numerous breathing exercises(pranayama) i practice, lately though while taking walks, i like to inhale for 10 seconds through my nose, hold four seconds, and then exhale for 10 seconds again through my mouth.
at first it is difficult to do so, and can become frustrating and distracting, but soon i begin to loosen up parts of my body that i hadnt noticed before were tensed up and eventually the process becomes easy. it seems almost impossible to do this while under stress or distracted, most of our stresses and distractions are much better sorted out with a clear mind.
Their premise was that if one tries to avoid negative feelings, the feelings will grow and overwhelm you. But, despite being uncomfortable to do so, if one stops and really becomes mindful of what they are experiencing at that moment - rotating and examining the emotion from all angles, really getting down-and-dirty with it - one comes to better understand the origins of the emotion, how it can be viewed objectively, and how doing this (rather than practicing avoidance) will lead to a decrease in the angst experienced by the person feeling the emotion.