YOUR LIFE A-Z: DE-STRESS

ENJOY THE FLIGHT AND DE-STRESS

DE-STRESS

 I often ask my clients to tell me what they think his/her stress level is like on a scale of 1-10.  When he/she is asked to scale the question I most likely hear the answer 8-10.  If at first I ask the client to detail the stressors in his/her daily life, often I hear, “Well my life is not all that stressful.”  Asking someone to scale the amount of stress is a less invasive question, instead of what is stressing you?  We have talked about many DE-STRESSING tools already but I want to bring you back to the most important tool, which is deep breathing.  To DE-STRESS your body you must learn to relax your entire body.  This is best done with focused attention with your breath from the top of your head to the very tip of your toes.  I suggest you set the timer and begin with five minutes of focused attention breathing in and letting the belly rise and exhaling pulling the belly in against the backbone.  If you lose count just start over until the timer stops.  Learning to DE-STRESS and practicing DE-STRESSING techniques when stress levels are between 3-5 help you prepare to practice correctly when you really need to DE-STRESS.   A really good organic herbal green tea can help the cells feel massaged and restored.  Stress tears our body down at a cellular level and we must repair the body at a cellular level.  DE-STRESSING techniques need to be broad focusing on every angle of your life.  What will you need to do to bring the scale down to a 5-6?  Activate that plan. 

YOUR LIFE A-Z: ZAZEN

ZAZEN

“In our daily lives, ZAZEN provides us with a situation in which we can remove ourselves from external activities, turn our activity inward, and face ourselves. ZAZEN is not about achieving some particular state of consciousness. Rather, it is about discovering who you are and what your life is.” by T. Roshi & Sensei

ZAZEN is the actual practice of seated meditation Zen style.  The Twenty-Minute Coach is about assisting you with a daily bog that helps you actualize a lifestyle of meaning, positive choices, and emotional and spiritual practices that enrich your daily life.  ZAZEN is an emotional and spiritual practice that invites you to check out of the rat race and into yourself with a simple tool of breathing.  Breathing in and out is a mindful practice that allows you focus on following your breath out of your body and inhaling new breath back into your body.  By sitting in a relaxed lotus position your spine is erect giving your lungs and chest the space they need to breatheproperly.  Allow your thumb and fingers on each hand to connect to each other and rest gently in your lap.  Close your eyes and begin to count your breaths in and out and do this ten times.  When your mind wanders come back to breath number one and start over.  Once you master getting to ten breaths either start over naturally or continue to count forward.  This exercise will allow you to relax into the present.

YOUR LIFE A-Z:QUALITY

BREATHE DEEPLY

QUALITY

QUALITY seems to be subjective opinions based on personal likes and dislikes as well as some educational understanding of that object you are judging as good or bad QUALITY.  Art and architecture fall into the eye of a trained and educated eye, but if you don't like Picasso then QUALITY won't matter.  Robert M. Pirsig, author of Zen the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, drives himself and sometime me, the reader, to the brink of insanity trying to define QUALITY.  It seems simple to me.  We seem to recognize QUALITY and often produce QUALITY.  Allowing ourselves to take Pride in our work will empower us to continue to produce QUALITY.  If we are not invested in what we are doing we usually do not produce QUALITY.  If we care about what we are doing then we invest more energy and Pride in it, thus QUALITY.  As Pirsig points out, it is really impossible to have "more" QUALITY.  QUALITY either is or is not.  What is QUALITY in your life?  What do you do really well that you take Pride in?  Where are there places of QUALITY in your home?  What images come to your mind when you hear the word QUALITY?  Clearly, QUALITY is sought after by everyone, even a redneck seeks a QUALITY beer.  That QUALITY may not necessarily be judged by taste, but might be judged by inexpensive and cold.  See QUALITY is truly subjective!  

YOUR LIFE A-Z :HAPPY

HAPPY

What is happy to you?  What are you really saying when you say I just want to be happy?  As I have said,  “Happiness is not an illusion, but neither is it a destination.”  I see it as a space within you.  The dictionary defines contentment as a place of happiness and satisfaction.  Being HAPPY is a space or place wherethere is a reservoir of positive energy, decorated with fond memories, and an invitation to sit and enjoy the present moment, using all of your senses of smell, taste, touch, hear, and feel.  Experiencing the moment is a space within you as the moment passed already, so it is a pause button of HAPPY.  HAPPY space is a choice.  We can choose to focus on bad memories, ugly situations, and things in the past that were not fair.  Or we can choose to be anxious and worry about every possible thing that can go wrong in the future or we can place the present moment on “pause,” and allow ourselves to switch channels in our head and enjoy the creation of HAPPY.  If we did this as often as we check our Facebook every day imagine how lush, lovely, and exhilarating our HAPPY space could become.  We would enjoy going there to experience the joy of being alive, as well as the moment of sweet contentment in the facts.  These are the facts: If you are reading this you are alive, be grateful.  If you are grateful you will count your blessings and if you count your blessings you will enter your HAPPY space.  Yep…that is fact.  

YOUR LIFE A-Z:ZEN

SUFFER LESS- CONNECT WITH YOUR SELVES

ZEN

ZEN is one of the meditative arts and spiritual practices that began in China during the 6th century and moved south to Vietnam, northeast to Korea, and east to Japan.  ZEN de-emphasizes doctrine and emphasizes the meditative state of enlightenment, where all is well inside of your regardless of what chaos is going on outside of you.  ZEN is a state of being that is calm, aligned, confident, and centered even though your spouse may have just walked out or your car got totaled by an unfortunate accident. ZEN is important because it keeps our bodies in rhythm, our blood pressure normal, our heart rate perfect, and our fear levels within appropriate range.  The ZEN master that you might be familiar with is Thich Nhat Hanh.  This 87-year-old ZEN monk says, “Meditation practice can help us suffer less.”  The ZEN state is achieved through mindfulness, which is achieved through sitting.  When sitting in ZEN practice the goal is to stay focused on breath, now, being and noticing. If there is pain in your position breath into it, let it move out. If there is a negative thought, notice it and let it move on out to the horizon and drop off of the face of the earth.  There are many ways to practice and you can find your own way only if you set aside the time to sit and be.  You can read any of many books to help you, or you can look up a ZEN center on the web and go check out this important practice of inner peace.

Your Life A-Z BREATH

Learn the Art of Breathing Deeply

BREATH

Breath is our friend.  Breathing is something that the majority of us do without thinking about it.  It is also true that most of us hold our breath when we are anxious or troubled.  We only realize that we have been holding our breath when we let go with a long sigh and notice how good it feels to let go.  

During these 365 days of the TWENTYMINUTECOACH, YOUR LIFE A-Z, I will be referring to “breath” often.  Breathing, conscious breathing, softens our eyes and how we view the world.  Conscious, slow breathing, reduces our heart rate and decreases our anxiety.  Breathing allows our thinking to become calm and clear.  Make learning to use your breath as a positive influence in your life this year.  Count your breath. Count six breaths.  Count ten breaths.  Learn to breathe fully in and exhale slowly and completely out.  Notice the positive change in your feelings when you actually focus on your breath.  Notice how your body has relaxed and take a look around you and notice how "soft" the world feels. This is a free and fun tool to help you through the most awkward and frustrating circumstances.  

Photo: the Mystical Arts of Tibet, Puerto Penasco Mx. By RBDilley