Tag: managing stress and anxiety

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Make Lemonade

Crocuses making the most of spring sunshine

As we all practice physical distancing and stay at home as much as possible, doing our part to stem the COVID-19 tide, we are presented with a unique opportunity – a chance to shift our usual way of being and thinking and doing, a chance to explore new ideas and new ways to move through our days.

Spending time at home can mean more time on our meditation cushion or yoga mat, more time in the kitchen cooking our favourite recipes and trying new ones, more time relaxing with a good book or movie. We can take up a new hobby or revisit an old one. We can sit outside in the yard and make some vitamin D on a sunny day. We can dig in our gardens, organise our closets, deep clean neglected areas of the house, do some home repairs or projects we’ve been putting on hold until we had more time. 

In case you are looking for a few ways to explore and connect virtually with the world outside, here are just a few of the many ideas available – in addition to surfing through YouTube, Netflix, TED Talks, etc., which have some great finds as well, of course.

Explore culture and history around the world

Check out Google Arts and Culture to peruse the collections of 2500 museums around the world, as well as cultural sites, landmarks, historical events and more: https://artsandculture.google.com/

Other virtual museum tours direct from the source:

Take in a musical performance

Take a course to learn a new language or skill 

You can find a vast array of classes available online, including free and low-cost options. Check local (and not so local) colleges and universities – some are offering free online courses right now.  Other options with a wide variety of classes include:

Connect virtually with the natural world

Studies have shown that just looking at images of nature can invite the same sense of peace and calm into our mind and body that a walk in the forest can.

The Monterey Bay Aquarium has live cams that connect you to the wonder of the ocean from the comfort of your own home. From sea otters to sharks, jellies to penguins, there are 10 different cams to enjoy throughout the day. In addition, they offer guided meditations (‘Medit-Oceans’) every day on Instagram, which are then added to the huge library of videos on their YouTube channel. https://www.montereybayaquarium.org/animals/live-cams

For more live cam entertainment, there are a number of zoos around the world that invite you behind the scenes to connect with their inhabitants, including the San Diego Zoo, the Melbourne Zoo & Werribee Open Range Zoo, and the Dublin Zoo.

World Wildlife Fund’s Natural Habitat Adventures is offering a Daily Dose of Nature. At 1pm Mountain Time every Monday through Friday you can enjoy webinars presented by guides from around the world. https://www.nathab.com/traveler-resources/webinars/

Manage stress & build resilience through mindfulness

Mindfulness teacher Tara Brach has put together a wonderful collection of short talks and guided meditations to support us in this uncertain time, as well as a guided half-day retreat: https://www.tarabrach.com/pandemic/

Tricycle is offering a series of free live-stream meditations with beloved teachers like Jack Kornfield, Pema Chödrön, Sharon Salzberg and more: https://tricycle.org/trikedaily/online-meditation/

Mindful magazine has created a collection of online resources to help us find calm and cultivate resilience: https://www.mindful.org/free-mindfulness-resources-for-calm-during-covid-outbreak/

This is just a handful of ideas that will hopefully provide some inspiration and support. As you navigate the days ahead, take the time to be attentive to the needs of your mind and body. Invite some mindful movement into every day, connect with your breath and the sensations in your body, notice your thoughts and emotions and welcome them in with kindness and compassion. While we naturally want to stay informed of developments at home and around the world, balance your news consumption with things that are positive, uplifting, creative, and inspiring – both online and off. 

I leave you with an offering of Metta, lovingkindness:

May you be healthy
May you be safe
May you be peaceful
May you live with ease. 

May all beings be healthy
May all beings be safe
May all beings be peaceful
May all beings live with ease.
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Anytime, Anywhere

Castelo dos Mouros ~ Sintra, Portugal

I am deeply grateful for my yoga and meditation practice. For many years my practice has helped me navigate choppy seas, find calm amidst the chaos, weather storms of all manner. My practice serves me well during times of joy and triumph too, of course; however, when the path ahead is murky or filled with obstacles, my practice gives me the strength to take the next step and move forward.

We find ourselves at such a place on our path now. We strain to see what lies ahead, but we are venturing into new territory and we do not know exactly where this path will lead. Now more than ever I think we should turn to our practice to calm our worries, soothe our spirits, nourish our minds and bodies, so that we may be strong and resilient in the face of unknown challenges to come.

The beautiful thing about mindfulness practices like yoga and meditation is that we can invite them into our daily life anytime, anywhere. Much as we might wish we could be sitting by a quiet lakeside to meditate, or practicing yoga asana overlooking the ocean beneath swaying palms, more often than not we are simply going about our daily routine at home and work. When we consider creating a home practice, we might be discouraged by thinking that we need to have a dedicated space or special equipment or props. Again, while it would be wonderful to have an entire room for our practice and a collection of blocks and bolsters, blankets and zafus, we can use the space and the everyday items we have on hand anywhere we go.

Need to create a supportive seat for meditation? Sit at the edge of a chair so your feet can rest fully on the floor, or use a couch cushion or folded towel or blanket to sit on, perhaps with your back against a wall. Tuck yourself into an out-of-the-way corner if you can, and simply connect with what arises in your experience moment by moment – the sounds in the room, the temperature of the air on your skin, the sensations in your body, the rise and fall of your breath. You can set a timer on your phone and place it just out of sight, or count your inhales and exhales from one to 30 and back down again, or perhaps simply sit and breathe and notice for any period of time that resonates with you. No special tools, equipment or room needed – just an open mind and a willingness to welcome your experience, whatever it may be.

If you practice yoga asana, there are plenty of items around the house or hotel room we can use to support our practice. Need a mat? Try using a large bath or beach towel. Need some support beneath your seat for a forward fold? A firm cushion or folded blanket or towel is ideal. Want to recline on a bolster for some gentle heart opening and restoration? Use a couch cushion or two, wrap a bed pillow in a large towel, or fold several towels or blankets in long rectangles and stack them with a little staggered edge to support your lower back as you recline. In fact, towels and blankets can be rolled and folded in so many ways, they are the perfect all-purpose prop for any practice. And of course, there are plenty of ways to invite mindful movement into your body without the need for any props at all.

Building a portable practice might seem daunting at first, but it is an opportunity to be creative, to explore different options and ideas, to listen to the needs of your mind and body and respond with just the right practice for that moment. Simply standing in Mountain Pose, inhaling to extend the arms overhead and exhaling to release them by your sides a few times can invigorate the mind and body and ground you in the present moment. Sometimes finding a comfortable seat for meditation can be challenging, especially if you are experiencing pain, an injury or illness; instead, try lying on your back with knees bent and soles of the feet on the floor, inviting a sense of deep rest and ease as you connect with your breath and the sensations that arise within. Each of us has unique needs and they are changing continually. To truly serve those needs, we must stay connected to the wisdom that lies within us and respond with kindness, compassion and acceptance.

With the COVID-19 pandemic, the advice we are hearing on a daily basis is that to stay healthy, we must stay home, as much as we can. Joining a community meditation or attending a public yoga class is simply not an option at the moment. There is so much uncertainty, so much fear and confusion, so much stress and anxiety as we grapple with this unprecedented crisis, yet within our practice there is hope and healing. Through our practice, we can find a place of calm amidst the chaos, we can navigate our way to a safe harbour, we can harness the power of mindful awareness and compassion and lovingkindness to come home to ourselves. Let this be an opportunity to create and discover new ways to explore mindfulness in your everyday life, no matter where you find yourself.

Take refuge in your practice and let it help you cultivate peace and equanimity as we weather this storm together. Stay healthy, stay safe, stay home.

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Look with new eyes

Unsettled sky

I have a new student who has come to yoga seeking help in managing chronic pain and stress.  We often talk before and after class, and I try to provide a welcoming space where she can share her thoughts and fears, where she can develop and explore a practice that will nourish and support her.  In my years of teaching so far, I have encountered wide ranging stories of what first drew students to the practice of yoga, and I have found that pain and stress management are quite commonly cited.  For those of you who are long-time practitioners, I am certain you can remember a time when your practice was a friend and ally that supported you through challenges with your health, whether it was an injury, an illness, or emotional turbulence that required yoga’s sage and patient guidance.  No matter the reason we first step onto the yogic path, we quickly discover its myriad benefits if we are paying attention, and we learn to weave its lessons into the way we live our lives, and the way we treat ourselves and others.

All of our life experiences inform the way we perceive the world around us.  When we allow ourselves to be open and receptive, when we approach each moment with curiosity, these perceptions can be fluid and flexible; rather than being bound by a rigid set of assumptions and expectations, we are free to experience whatever new possibilities arise, allowing them to enrich and expand our perspectives on the world.  That being said, if you have ever experienced a debilitating chronic condition – depression, anxiety, auto-immune disease, neurological disorder, chronic pain from any number of sources – there might be times when it feels like those assumptions and expectations are what’s keeping you afloat.  With the student I mentioned above, she has become accustomed to describing her condition and symptoms in a particular way, evaluating and rating her pain in a particular way, viewing all aspects of her life through the specific lens of her condition.  She has been practicing mindfulness for many years, since long before her diagnosis, and it has provided a great measure of comfort and ease amidst the pain and uncertainty.  However, like any ritual or routine that we embrace, I believe that even practices that are intended to be mindful can become rote, done on auto-pilot, without truly and fully connecting to the present moment – particularly when that moment includes pain and suffering.

One of the qualities we cultivate through our practice is resilience. We learn to find equanimity and calm amidst a storm of sensation or emotion. We learn to sit with unease and discomfort and accept it as part of our experience. In a recent class I was talking about resilience and how our practice teaches us to distinguish between pain and discomfort – in terms of our asana practice, determining what we can sit with and what might need a modification to ensure we are not heading towards injury. After class, this student asked how we make that determination – she is experiencing some level of pain all the time so how does she differentiate between one pain and another? I suggested that she try changing her vocabulary around pain. She is so used to characterizing pain for her doctors and attaching a numerical value to express its intensity that those labels and judgments could become shackles that prevent her from moving beyond the pain. By releasing the labels, by accepting that all of it is simply sensation, she can then approach whatever she might be feeling with a greater sense of openness and curiosity, observing sensations without judging them, and without tying them to past stories and expectations. The idea of not labelling the pain was a revelation – a new idea that could help release an old pattern no longer serving a useful purpose.

When we meditate, spending time with the natural rise and fall of our breath and body sensations, we can open ourselves to the endless possibilities that exist in each moment. If we keep returning to assumptions and labels we have used in the past, they will limit how and what we perceive, they will limit our ability to grow and flourish, to become resilient and strong. Our practice is one of continuously letting go, placing our full attention on the moment as it arises and then releasing it completely so we have space to invite the next moment into our awareness.

I invite you to observe your own practice and notice what you find. Do you see well-worn patterns, labels and reactions and expectations that arise automatically? What changes could you make, what new ideas could you explore to invite a fresh perspective? As Marcel Proust advised, “The real voyage of discovery consists, not in seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes.” Look upon yourself and the world around you with new eyes, and see what discoveries await.

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Be Here Now

The greatest and yet simplest gift that our mindfulness practice brings is a connection to the present moment.  When we inhabit the present moment, we can open ourselves to all of its possibilities, its opportunities, the full experience of that moment in time.  When we release our attachment to our busy thinking mind, our past regrets and future worries, we can simply be in the Now.  In this moment lies the possibility for peace and joy; in this moment lies an opportunity to grow and heal.

My second meditation on Insight Timer has reached the head of the queue and is now live!  Be Here Now is a practice that begins with awareness of your breath and your surroundings, and then it guides you on a scan of the body to help you connect to the full experience of each moment.  I invite you to explore this practice whenever you find yourself distracted or disconnected, feeling stress or anxiety, or simply in need of respite from the busyness of your day.

Being here now helps you to cultivate a sense of peace and calm that will allow you to navigate whatever arises on your path.

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The power of meditation

Meditation has been an integral part of my life for a long time.  It has helped me navigate some treacherous waters – acute illness, family tragedy, profound loss.  It has also been there in times of joy and triumph, granting me a sense of balance and perspective and deep gratitude.  To anyone who asks (and probably a few who didn’t!), I extol the virtues of meditation, its myriad gifts and benefits, and all the ways we can incorporate mindfulness into everyday life so that we spend more time inhabiting the present moment, with all its possibilities.

There is a tool I discovered several years ago that has been a friend and guide on my meditation journey.  I have recommended it to countless students and seen them share it with family and friends as they spread the word about this beautiful healing practice.  Now, I am filled with gratitude to become part of this very tool, affording me the opportunity to stay connected to my students wherever they may be, and to grow my community as I continue to share the healing power of meditation.

For those of you who would like to practice with me from the comfort of your computer, tablet, or phone, you will now find me on Insight Timer (https://insighttimer.com/). My first meditation just went live – The Calming Power of the Breath – and I have uploaded another recording that should be available in the coming weeks.  Much as I would love to immediately populate Insight Timer with a broad selection of recordings for you, it takes time for the Insight team to approve all of the recordings they receive, and they release them in small batches of 10 so that all new meditations get good exposure.  They are apparently receiving so many submissions these days that they cannot keep up and there is backlog! While this means that it will be a couple of weeks before you can access more meditations from me, it also means that there will be fresh offerings from a variety of wonderful teachers arriving on the app daily.  If you are not already using this fantastic tool in your practice, I encourage you to download the free app and begin exploring all its features.

I welcome your comments and feedback, as well as any requests or suggestions for future offerings.  The first meditation is The Calming Power of the Breath, a brief practice to help you attend to your breath and invite a sense of tranquility within.  You can follow me on Insight Timer to be notified when my next meditation is released – Be Here Now, a grounding body scan practice that connects you to breath and body sensations as you explore what each new moment brings.

Grab your phone, find a tall comfortable seat, settle into stillness, and let the healing power of meditation infuse your life with mindful awareness, equanimity, and joy.

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Through the looking glass

Sitting on the streetcar recently I felt a tightening in my stomach. I breathed into the sensation and recognised it immediately – anxiety. I sat with the sensation, stayed connected to my breath, allowed myself to simply be with the anxiety without attachment or mental drama carrying me away. I attuned to the sensation with openness and curiosity and my attention revealed its source: an Alice in Wonderland feeling I have experienced several times before.

My life for more than a decade has been somewhat nomadic. We move every couple of years to a new city/country/continent and each time I start over again from scratch – I build a new community, make new friends, find new jobs, explore my new surroundings. Like Alice tumbling down the rabbit hole, the view before me is sometimes dark, hazy and unclear. I am moving forward but I do not know where I’m going, where or when I’ll land, will there be solid ground when I get to the other side? Sometimes uncertainty can be exciting, exhilarating, filling us with anticipation; other times it can be deeply stressful, even frightening. For me, the trick to managing things like uncertainty is remembering to ground myself in the present moment.  I find stillness, I connect to my breath, I listen to my body and the rise and fall of sensation with compassion, with kindness, with a willingness to open myself up to whatever lies ahead.

Fear, anger, anxiety, sorrow – they are as much a part of our experience as joy, love, happiness and peace. Mindfulness pioneer Dr. Jon Kabat-Zinn calls it ‘the full catastrophe’, the richness of life and the inevitability of all the challenges and triumphs, joys and sorrows that entails.  Mindfulness will not make our challenges magically disappear. What it will do is allow us to look at them head on.  When we acknowledge our fear, our anxiety, our uncertainty, we give that experience a name and shine a light on it.  In the light of day it begins to lose its power over us.  We can observe it from a place of calm curiosity without attaching any particular story, meaning or drama to it.  When we attend to ourselves without judgment, in an open and compassionate way, we can learn to accept the full catastrophe, we can even welcome and embrace its highs and lows as an integral part of our extraordinary human experience.