Stress Reduction to Cultivate the Neutral Mind

Everyday we find situations, people and encounters thatnseem to cause our bodies to tense and our breathing to nshorten. It isn't always easy to see that we contribute tonthe stress which we experience.

Remember it is much easier to nip something in the bud then to deal with stress after it flowers into physical symptoms or a bad mood.If you get into a funk sometimes it can last for days and it's often hard to break free of it. When you can "catch" the negative moment beginning you have a great shot at stopping it from taking you down. I've found these helpful for myself as well as my clients:

1) If you feel a certain "mood" beginning (ie depression, nanger, discouragement) try to do something physical such as go running, swim,or even clean. It's good to do something that will tune up your nervous and glandular system . Even if you don't "feel" like doing this, you will feel better after you do.

2) There are two breathing exercises from yoga that are nvery helpful to cultivate a neutral mind. One is calledn"Alte
ate nostril breathing" and the other is calledn"Breath of Fire". You can learn these from a yoga class or nvideo or feel free to e-mail me.

3) Identify and write down the mental tape loops that younfinding yourself repeating. By knowing what these are you ncan watch it instead of take it as your own identity. Thenmore you "see" the dramas the less you react from withinnthem.

4) Keep a notebook of inspiring anectdotes , quotes andntips. This helps to boost one's spirit and also to feelnconnected with others that have dealt with similar feelings. nnn