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Life is full of stress. Some of it's good.
Constructive energy that gets us off our back sides and stimulates
us into action. But when it builds up too much,
it can turn against us and become distress.
The kind of stress that makes us perform under par and sometimes
stops us cold. I guess we all suffer from stress.
I know I do. I'm in a business where stress is literally the name
of the game. Performing, getting up in front of people,
getting rattled before talk shows, putting myself on the
line as such, hanging it out over the edge and holding on for dear
life. Oh yeah, you could say I've got stress.
How many times have I stood up in front of a camera
with no spit, my mouth dry as a bone, or
waited in the wings before a live performance and felt the tension
just rising up the back of my neck and my throat
closing. Oh yeah. Stress is an old friend.
Or I should say enemy. It sent me to the
chiropractor and through a whole catalog of pills and
painkillers, had me flat on my back in bed, had my
hands shaking so bad I couldn't even hold my eyebrow pencil, and had me
paralyzed with fear. Who says I don't have stress?
So what does one do? Well I'm about
to tell you. Over the years, thanks to my background in yoga,
which has always provided the basis of my fitness routine,
I've learned to control these anxiety attacks, these unsuspecting
moments of panic, when even if I plan ahead, I'm
caught off guard, thrown off balance. You see, actually
we all go through these deadly assaults on our senses
and they send us out of control, which is why I decided to make this
video. Okay, there is a way
to manage stress, to control it, instead of letting
it control you. There are medically proven techniques
to help you get the upper hand when pressures of
work, family, children, personal relationships
and bad news and even tragedy
affect us and threaten our whole health and sense of well-being.
Personally, I found that these techniques really work
to relieve stress in the body by relaxing tensions
in the mind and remind us how the mind
and body interact on each other, how deeply connected
body and mind always are. Since I
started practicing these techniques myself, I found that they noticeably
improve the quality of my life, both professionally
and personally. They've given and they continue to
give me the tools I need to control my own reaction
and attitude to things, instead of letting outside
influences or inner fears overwhelm me. They're
so simple, I'd like to share them with you and outline
the methods so that you can easily follow along, learn them
and practice them whenever you need to. But first,
I'd like to introduce someone who in my research became
happily my collaborator and inspiration.
She's the author of the best-selling book, Minding the Body,
Mending the Mind. She holds a doctorate
of anatomy and cellular biology from Harvard Medical School,
is a pioneer of a new fascinating medical discipline
called psycho-neuroimmunology and is one of the
foremost specialists in the field of stress control techniques.
Dr. Joan Borisenko. Hi, Joan.
Hi, Raquel. It's so nice to have you with us here today. I had
heard someplace that there were like 95 million Americans a week
that were going to doctors for stress-related
illnesses of all kind, from colds and minor
problems to very severe illnesses that were aggravated by stress.
That's right. Also, what we're beginning to find out is that stress can
even affect the functioning of your body's immune system, and it's the
immune system that's your first line of resistance against outside
invaders like viruses or bacteria. I think this is
so fascinating, but could you just tell me what stress
really is? What is stress? The technical definition of stress
is twofold. One of them is the feeling that we're
being threatened, either in body or in mind.
The second part of that is that we feel helpless to control
the stress. So it's two things. It's threat and lack
of control. Now, when that goes on in terms
of our whole life, when we chronically feel like I can't control what's
happening to me, I feel helpless, I feel victimized,
the body goes through a set of chronic changes, not only
chronic muscle tension, talked about I get tension here too,
but things like hormonal changes, the level of
corticosteroids in your body goes up. Most everybody
has used cortisone cream for a bug bite or poison ivy.
That decreases the potency of your immune response.
Now, if you're making all of this cortisone in your body all the time because
you're chronically stressed, it's no wonder that you're likely to be more
susceptible to a whole range of diseases, everything from
colds and flus to headaches to high
blood pressure and even a disease like multiple sclerosis.
Most people will tell you can be made worse by stress.
By the same token, there's good news. And the good news is that
studies have shown even when you practice relaxation
techniques as infrequently as three times a week,
you can improve immune function. One study showed more than a doubling
in the kind of immune cell, the natural killer cell
that fights off viruses and tumor infected cells.
That's pretty remarkable. Three periods of meditation doubling.
That's amazing. Joan, stress is caused by lots of things,
but isn't it also caused by change and isn't there a
kind of list of cosmic changes, shall we call them, that
affect people and cause stress? Yes. For instance, at the
top of the list would be death of a spouse, the most stressful thing that can happen to
anybody. Then there would be things like personal illness or injury,
taking out a mortgage, getting married. Getting married ranks
fairly high on the stress list. And then the little minor hassles
of life, getting a parking ticket, for instance. But if you take
a look at that list, you'll find an award, an honor, an achievement,
a promotion. All of those things add to stress too because
they're readjustments. Your life is going to be different. Changes. Changes.
I had a bank teller once who just won $50,000 in the lottery. She said
it was the worst thing that ever happened to her because now she was fighting
with her husband over what kind of house to buy and before her life had been
so simple. And so anything that creates change creates
a challenge. And then it is our own coping ability
that makes that challenge either a stress or an experience of
growth. In the video we talk about the relaxation response and show
a few simple ways, but there are many ways to induce this
response, John. You know, it wasn't too long ago, Raquel,
maybe the mid-1960s, when it was really believed
that the mind and the body don't affect one another. It's hard to
really believe how we could have thought this scientifically because all of us know
gee, I have a scary thought and my heart beats more quickly. It seems
obvious. But it used to be thought that it was also impossible
for the mind to influence the body in a voluntary
way. For instance, to change your blood pressure, to change your heart
rate. Biofeedback changed all of that. And in
the mid-1960s, Dr. Herbert Benson did
really the first biofeedback experiment with monkeys. And what he
showed was that you could train monkeys to actually keep their blood pressure
elevated to a certain level. And we know now that we have
much more control of the body than what we have ever thought
before. When we feel centered and
calm in ourselves, when we're not controlled by our
anxiety, the body also comes to balance. It's called
homeostasis. What Benson found was that
simple relaxation techniques restored
the sense of homeostasis to the body. And he called
that the relaxation response. Just as there's a
physiology to fight or flight where heart rate and blood pressure
and all of those kinds of metabolic increases occur,
there's a similar physiology to the relaxation response.
Heart rate goes down, blood pressure goes down,
your hormones change. You're making less adrenaline,
less of that cortisone, and
even the electrical activity in the brain changes toward
a more relaxed and creative kind of state.
Now, what's wonderful is that we can do this
naturally. We're not always walking in a sunset or having one of those
great moments of connectedness. Unfortunately not. But there are other
techniques which you're going to be showing people in the videos.
Techniques of breathing, of concentration, that
bring you back to the moment and elicit this healthful
state of physiology and piece of mind. The relaxation response. That's right.
Through the breathing. Right. Why is breathing so
important? Why is it the key note that we've selected to
base this whole video around? Breathing is the gateway
between the conscious and the unconscious. Between
the voluntary control of our body and the body's own
inner wisdom. Let me give you an example. You can't say
to your body, okay, I would like you to have a heart rate of
68 beats per minute. You can't command
your blood pressure. Well, I want you to be at such and such a reading.
The only involuntary activity of the body
over which you also have conscious control is the breathing. Right?
I mean, it happens day and night without stop, whether you're aware of it or not.
But you can also say, wait,
I can take a letting go breath.
As you're going to show people on the video, I can move into a relaxed
form of diaphragmatic breathing. When you do that, breathing
just the way that a baby breathes, your heart rate will go down,
your blood pressure will go down, your nervous system
activity will regularize, you'll elicit the relaxation
response. What could be simpler? I think you're so right.
I want to thank you, Joan, for your invaluable contribution to this video. It's been
just terrific to work with you on designing this very special
program. You're welcome. I've enjoyed the process very
much too. And I know that this tape is going to be very helpful
to all the people who watch it. I really hope so.
And so now that you have the background on this subject,
you're ready to embark on this relaxation program and on your way
to stress relief.
Music
Scientists agree that the body and mind are connected and interact
on one another, as we discussed. And we will concentrate
on that connection in this video, which is divided into two different
segments, the body and the mind.
The first part deals with the body. It emphasizes physical
techniques and exercises to help you reduce your muscular tension
and induce the relaxation response.
You'll learn to relieve tension in the body while quieting the mind.
The second part, immediately following, focuses on the mind.
It concentrates primarily on mental relaxation
to help you release emotional and psychological stress
and bring about a sense of peaceful awareness
between your mind and your body. That's the key to complete
relaxation. Both segments are best practiced in combination
with each other and, once you've learned them and mastered them,
can be taken into your everyday life, wherever and whenever
you feel the need to relax or want just an anti-stress
fix. My advice is that whether you're a beginner
or already familiar with these techniques, it's a good idea to look
through the video first before embarking on the exercises, since
what you're about to see and experience is a very comprehensive
program. So just look at it
and get acquainted. Then, when you feel ready,
choose a quiet moment to start your practice. I find
that the mornings are best before the onslaught of another
day, when the world and the phone are still quiet.
But whichever time you feel is most convenient is the right
time for you to start. And wear comfortable clothing.
Pick a very special private place in your home where you
won't be disturbed. No kids, no animals, no
no one. If necessary, unplug that telephone.
Remove your wristwatch and remember to give yourself permission to take
this time for yourself. This is your opportunity to finally
spend time alone. To finally
just be you. So now we're almost
ready to start. But before we do, I'd like
to bring your attention to something that we've all taken for granted.
But something that we need to focus on now, because
it's the key, in fact, the cornerstone to this complete
relaxation and stress relief. The all-important
bridge between body and mind.
Can you guess what that is? What we do unconsciously
that we carry with us wherever we go.
Something we even do while we're sleeping.
Breathing.
Breathing is the only real place to start.
It's the beginning of life and therefore, naturally, the beginning
of this learning process. But you may ask, what's there to
learn about breathing? After all, we trust that we exhale and inhale
automatically, involuntarily, every second of our lives.
Is there such a thing as breathing wrong? You bet there is.
Try, for example, to remember for a moment
the last time you were truly frightened or anxious
or even angry. Chances are you either
held your breath, stopped it altogether, or
that your breathing became very fast and shallow. Perhaps you even
felt your chest burning, hurting.
You were experiencing heavy stress chest breathing.
Now, think about the way a baby is
breathing, asleep in its crib, peaceful.
Do you recall how its
tummy slowly expands like a small balloon?
And when it breathes out, its tummy gently flattens down.
This is abdominal relaxed breathing.
It's relaxing just thinking about
it, isn't it? Unfortunately, somewhere
along the way to adulthood, with all the hurries
and responsibilities, mortgage payments and job promotions,
the family, the kids, we just forgot how to breathe.
Our anxious minds took over. Well,
here's the chance to recapture your natural breathing
all over again. Okay, first
let's identify the way we usually breathe.
Find yourself a straight back chair, one that comfortably supports
your posture, and then slide forward a few inches so that
you're just slightly reclining. You can put a pillow behind your lower back
if you like. Place one hand palm down
below your navel and place the other hand on your chest, like
this. Without trying to change your breathing in
any way, simply bring your attention to it
and notice whether your belly is expanding or flattening as you inhale.
If you would enjoy closing your eyes while you're doing this, it may help you
concentrate.
Keep breathing normally
and start noticing if your belly expands as you
breathe in, and if it does, you're breathing at least
in part from your diaphragm. If your belly doesn't
move or even goes flat as you inhale, you're
breathing from your chest, like most of us.
Now, let's try something.
Take a big breath in and then blow it out all through your mouth,
like a big sigh.
As you did this, did you notice how your belly flattened?
Flatten it even further by squeezing
every little bit of air out of it.
Now just let the next breath flow in naturally, automatically
by itself through your nose.
Can you feel your belly expand when your breath flows in?
Try it again. Watch me.
And then relax.
Let go.
Keep your hand on your belly. And notice now
how it slowly rises with each in-breath and gently
falls by itself with each out-breath.
Can you feel the difference?
You're now breathing with your abdomen.
Try again. Hand on your belly.
Take one deep breath in and now blow it out
through your mouth with a big sigh of relief.
Make all the noise you want. See the movement?
Feel it under your hand.
Good. Keep going.
Relax with it.
Let your eyes close
and keep your attention on the natural rise and fall of your breath.
Feel your body rise
and fall. Begin to feel the
natural comfort of your body as it relaxes
into the chair.
Every out-breath is a chance to let go.
To relax.
Give up little by little.
And remember that this state
of peacefulness is really there all the time.
Remember where your natural state is
and always has been. Just waiting for you
to tap in. Become aware of
the natural rhythm of your breath as you breathe in.
Your belly expands and gently relaxes
back as you breathe out. Imagine a balloon
blowing up gently in your belly on your in-breath
and slowly relaxing back on the out-breath.
Breathe in and
on the out-breath silently repeat the number ten.
Letting go of all your tension.
Like a wave that ebbs and flows
moving from your head all the way
through your body down to the soles of your feet.
Breathe in again.
Feel your belly expand and as you breathe
out silently count nine.
Relax even more
and feel your body sink further into
the chair. Let gravity do the
work for you. In again
and mentally imagine eight now as you
breathe out. Continue breathing normally now.
Seven.
Six.
Five.
Four.
Three.
Two.
One.
Two.
Now you can slowly open your eyes.
How do you feel?
Much more relaxed, right? Observe
how your breathing is slowed down. Feel like a little yawn
or even like falling asleep.
That's just a sign that you've unlocked the relaxation
response. As you become more familiar with this simple breathing technique
you'll be able to practice it laying down, standing up in an
elevator, sitting behind the wheel of your car or even at your desk
at work. Anytime, anywhere that you feel the need
to relax. Therefore I recommend that before you decide
to embark on the rest of the program you first try practicing
this portion of the tape again tomorrow and the day
after. As often as you like. Little by little
until abdominal relaxation breathing has almost become
second nature or your best friend.
Quite frankly if you only learned this exercise out
of the entire video you will have already opened the door to
total relaxation. So enjoy.
Have you been practicing your abdominal breathing?
Good. Ready to start?
Alright then. Welcome to part one. In this
segment we're going to focus our attention on the body. And I'm
going to lead you through a series of gentle stretches based on Hatha Yoga.
All through this series I will remind you to breathe.
To stay aware of your breathing and to use every opportunity
of letting go of tension and stress on the
out breath as you just learned to do. Okay?
Now remember you're not in competition with anyone here.
There's no need to strain, push or force yourself. Just do the
best you can. Relaxation is definitely a non-competitive
business. So learn at your own pace. Don't strive.
Just enjoy doing it. The process is its own reward.
Now that we're ready to begin make sure you won't
be interrupted. If you have an exercise mat, great. Or
a large towel would do just as well. Place it on the floor
and let's start our routine with a deep breathing exercise.
This exercise is to prepare and condition your body for the stretches ahead.
First let me demonstrate. Stand with your feet together.
Interlock your fingers and place them under your chin.
Now breathe in to the count of six.
And feel the breath vibrate off the back of the throat. Watch me.
Now exhale
and whisper the word ah.
Ah.
Got it? Okay.
Let's begin. Hands under the chin.
And
exhale
ah.
Ah.
Ah.
Ah.
Ah.
Ah.
I know.
You may feel a little uncoordinated in the beginning.
But don't judge yourself. You're just
learning.
Ah.
Ah.
Ah.
Just go with the flow.
Ah.
Ah.
Ah.
It's nice to know that even if you don't think you're doing this posture well,
you're still getting the benefits.
Ah.
Ah.
Ah.
Ah.
Just ride along on the rhythm of your
breath.
Ah.
Ah.
Ah.
Ah.
And hands
down to your side. How do you feel?
Just stretch it out. Relax all the
tensions away. Good. Now we're ready for
the next posture, which is the reed pose. Keep standing with your
legs together and arms over the head.
Stretch up. Interlock your fingers.
Inhale. And
stretch to the left.
Feel any areas of tension along the side of your
body. And release them
on each exhalation, each out breath
as you stretch. Come up.
Inhale.
And stretch. And
over to the other side.
Now feel the tight areas on the other side and breathe
through. Relax into the pose on every
exhale. And come up.
Inhale. And
over to the front.
Everything in slow motion.
Let your head hang loosely on your neck
now. And relax your shoulders.
And breathe.
And
uncurl
back up again.
Hello.
How are you doing? Good. And next
we're going to do some head rolls. So stay standing just as you are.
Inhale.
And very gently exhale.
Inhale.
Inhale.
Inhale.
Inhale when you bring your head up.
And exhale on the release.
Relax.
The neck is a prime
area for tension. So just breathe
and release.
And to the side.
Relax.
Ah.
Inhale.
Inhale.
And exhale.
Don't force anything.
Inhale.
And exhale.
Let your shoulders drop. Inhale.
And to the side.
And back to center.
Now we're ready to get down onto the mat.
Just kneel down on all fours.
Knees about equal distance as hands.
We're going to do the cat pose. Which is just stretching
like a big cat. Inhale.
Exhale.
Let your back
arch. Inhale.
Press your spine up through the ceiling.
And exhale.
Stick out your bottom behind
you now.
Press the heels of your hand into the
floor.
Ah.
Hmm.
Ah.
Doesn't that feel good?
And now just come the rest of the way down
on your mat. And relax for a second.
To the side.
We're going to do the cobra pose.
Place your hands on the mat.
Just next to your chest.
Straighten your head. Inhale.
And press up.
Exhale.
Look to the ceiling and point your toes.
Stretch all along the front of your body.
And come down very,
very slowly.
Head to the side and relax.
Sink into the floor.
And breathe.
And once again place your hand next to
your chest.
Straighten your head. Inhale.
And press up
on the exhale.
Ah.
Press your pelvic bone into the floor.
And
very gently come down again.
And relax.
And now we're going to lie down on our backs.
For the knee squeeze.
Legs straight ahead of you.
And just lie back very gently.
And relax.
And now
bend your right leg.
Pull it to your chest.
Feel your shoulders press into the floor.
Keep breathing.
Feeling and relaxing.
And now the other knee.
Feel every vertebrae in your back relax
into the floor. And breathe.
And now bend both legs.
And press
your hips toward the floor as you hold onto your knees.
And now place your hands
underneath your knees.
Kick up and rock forward.
And two.
And three.
And four.
Good. That was to massage
your lower back where you hold all that tension. And now
move to the back of the mat because we're going to do
the rabbit pose.
Sit back on your heels.
Reach around behind you. Take a hold of them with your hands.
Chin to the chest.
And rock forward. Very gently.
Keeping your weight in your hands
as they grip the feet.
Rest your head on the floor and curl.
Relax and breathe.
Feel the circulation come into the head and shoulders.
And roll up vertebrae
by vertebrae. Hello.
How are you feeling? Much more
relaxed, right? Oh, that feels good.
And now you're going to sit on your mat for the leg
extensions. Leg to the side.
The other foot into the thigh.
Inhale, arms over the head.
Stretch up.
And bend over the leg.
Just take a hold of your leg wherever
it's comfortable.
Don't strain.
Feel the stretch.
And breathe.
Relax. And very
gently come back up and
change your legs. Other leg out.
This leg into the thigh.
Inhale, bring your arms up.
Stretch and
if you're
not as flexible as you might like to be, don't worry.
Just do the best you can.
Breathe.
Exhale and relax.
And come back up again.
And arms down to the side.
Relax. And now we're going to do a very
simple version of the spinal twist.
Come forward on your mat or towel. Lie back.
Arms out to the side like a
T. And just bend one
leg. Place it over the other knee.
And roll.
While you're lying there, be aware
of what's happening in your body. Areas of tension.
And breathe.
And relax.
And roll back.
Bend the other leg. Place it over the other knee.
And roll. You may
feel areas of tightness in the neck, the hips,
the shoulders. Feel the twist
in your spine. And
relax. And
come back to the center. And
second set. Arms to the side.
Leg over. And
roll.
Feel the stretch all along the diagonal
angle of your body.
Let gravity do the work for you.
And come back.
Roll to the other side.
And relax. And breathe
into the movement of the pose.
And
leg back to the center.
And now just relax into the floor
in the dead man's pose.
You can now bend your knees and sink your lower
back into the floor. If you like,
you can close your eyes now and
just let yourself go. Give in.
Surrender. Concentrate
on your breathing. Become aware of
the natural rhythm of your breath.
And you may notice that the breath has dropped of its
own accord to the abdomen.
You can help it relax more. Become fully
abdominal now. As you did before.
By just observing your belly. Go
in. And out.
As you float along,
place your hand on your belly if you
choose. Stay with your breathing.
If perhaps thoughts come,
think of yourself sitting by the side of a
stream. And any thoughts that come your way
are like something remote
floating down that stream.
Just allow them to float there, passing
by. And concentrate on your
breathing. Letting it
flow.
Focusing on the breath.
Observing the breath.
Feel free at any time
to adjust your position for comfort.
Be a witness to anything that comes
to mind. And just let it be.
It has no hold on you.
Feel yourself sinking into the floor.
The center of your breathing rising.
And falling.
Every time you breathe out,
feel the sense of release. And sink
down into it even more.
Become aware of the natural
feeling of peace.
Ride along effortlessly
as your breathing comes and goes.
In and out.
Feel the balloon filling up
gently in your belly. And
then relaxing back as you breathe out.
If you enjoy counting
ten to one, as
we did before, you might try it now.
Breathing
in.
And then as you breathe out,
mentally imagining ten.
Nine.
Eight.
If you lose count,
just pick up wherever you think you are.
Or if you'd like to make a humming sound
instead.
Or perhaps some personal secret
word comes to mind. Repeat it
silently to yourself on the out breath.
Let yourself feel the comfortable
heaviness and warmth of your
body. When you breathe
out, you can follow your breath down
into your own inner silence.
Keep your eyes closed
and now move mentally
through your body and observe the areas
that feel most comfortable.
Notice what feels warm and relaxed
now. Observe the areas
where there might still be a little
bit of tension left.
And allow them to relax
as well.
Then use your
body as a mirror.
Start with your head.
Bring the relaxation there.
And use your breath to deepen it.
And to let go
even more. Breathe
through your areas of tension.
Move to your face now.
How do you feel?
Breathe into your eyes.
Feel
the warmth and heaviness.
Feel your eyelids.
Your eyebrows. As you breathe out
now let your tongue relax
in your throat.
Breathe into your jaws.
Let your mouth relax
and let go.
Let your lips part
gently.
Move the breath now into your neck
and as you breathe out let the relaxation
become deeper and
deeper.
And now your shoulders. Feel the
tension slip away.
Let gravity work for you.
Your breath is a stream of light
of liquid life.
Allow it to move slowly down your arms.
Now feeling it
in each fingertip.
Become aware of the natural
flow of life through your chest
now. Aware of the feelings
of comfort and relaxation.
Aware of the areas where you can still
let go a little bit
more.
And
if you find such an area of
tension, breathe with it
and let it melt away.
Feel the heaviness of your body
deep inside yourself.
Sink down and relax
deep inside your belly.
Move down to your hips
now.
Your buttocks.
Keep slowly moving on each breath
down to your legs.
Your thighs.
Your knees.
Let a gentle wave of relaxation
flow through your body
all the way down to your feet.
Each exhalation deepening
your sense of peace.
Open yourself up
to the energy within. To the life
force of your own body.
And now continue to breathe
for a few moments in silence.
Just enjoying
doing nothing.
Feeling
at peace with yourself
and the world around you.
Slowly
drifting on this warm wave
of total relaxation.
And
if you feel like stretching
do so now.
Stretch all the way up
like a big cat.
Fingers and toes reaching out
and relax.
Enjoy the feeling of renewed vitality
flowing through your body.
You can begin now to come back
slowly into the room.
Take a nice deep breath
and when you're ready
on your right side and come
back up very slowly.
And bring
that sense of relaxation into
the room. Now if you feel a little
light headed do some exhalation breathing
with me.
Inhale and exhale.
How do you feel?
And now that you have this wonderful feeling of being renewed
refreshed and rejuvenated you can take it with you
into your day. It's with you all the time. So whenever
you want to get back to that feeling of peace and relaxation
just tap into your breathing for even a moment or two
and you will be transported into that state.
We have now concluded the first part of our program.
If you want stay with us for part two of the video and we'll journey
further into total relaxation by
reconnecting with our minds. Or if you prefer you can stop your
tape now and wait until tonight, tomorrow or even
next week continuing to learn and practice part one
until you feel comfortable and familiar with it. But whatever
you choose remember relaxation
is not an exercise. It's a new way of life.
So now that you've found it don't go anywhere
without it.
Welcome back. In this portion of the video
we'll deal with the mind and stress relief. In part one
we emphasized physical techniques designed to relieve stress
in the body. You learned to practice abdominal breathing
and also how to rely on your breath to induce the relaxation
response. You've also learned to recognize
and release tension in your body with proven techniques
either centuries old like Hatha Yoga or modern ones like
body scanning. Perhaps also up to this point
you've been to the gym every day working on your thighs
on your buttocks, your abdominals, your upper arms and
maybe you look pretty good by this time on the outside.
But guess what folks we forgot
about the mind. You're still not relaxed.
You're always a few frustrations or fears
away from a bad headache, a neck pain or even a
bout of anxiety. So what have we done wrong?
What did we miss? Well now we'll deal
with that invisible friend who sometimes is our worst enemy.
The cause of many pains and a lot of physical
maladies. In this part of the video we'll focus on
the mind. As we all know by now
the body and the mind are connected for the best and for the worst.
But just as you keep your body in shape with diet and
exercise by the same token you can keep your mind
in shape with these mental techniques. So now we'll be
concentrating on our old friend abdominal breathing
and as you proceed with the following breathing session
one thing is certain. Every day will be
different. Learn to simply observe your
thoughts floating in your consciousness. Practice
allowing them to drift along without attaching
any judgment to them. Choosing to
be a witness to your own mind.
So now we are about to sit down, stop
let go of the worries and problems and just
be.
I have the feeling you're going to be a very good candidate for what's about
to follow. Okay let's start by
releasing some tensions in the areas where you feel it the most.
In your back, shoulders and neck and in the face.
These will be simple stretches that you can do anytime
and they're also wonderful before this meditation because
when you let go of your body your thoughts also begin
to quiet down. Let's begin by coming to the edge of the
chair. And for the first time you do
these exercises you might want to keep your eyes open to look at me.
And then once you understand the rhythm of the exercise
do them with your eyes closed.
Okay let's start with a spine stretch.
So begin by just placing your hands on your thighs or knees
whichever is comfortable. And we're going to stretch and
use the breath. Inhale.
Exhale.
And collapse forward in slow
motion.
Stretch up on the inhale head all the way back
and let your head roll forward
again.
And
relax back one more time.
And exhale forward.
Good. Now we're going to do
shoulder stretches. Another place where we keep a lot of tension
is in the shoulders. So now let's simply
roll your shoulders back. Comes very naturally.
Ready?
Inhale and roll
them back. And
raise them up to your ears and
stretch all the way back.
And on the breath
relax your shoulders down
again.
Good. Now let's go on to some neck stretches.
Let's repeat the head rolls that we
did in part one for the neck. Inhale
and exhale.
Drop your head forward
ever so slowly
and now backwards.
Relax the
shoulders.
And forward again on the breath.
And breathe.
Breathe into any
tension in the neck.
And to the side.
And to the other side.
And to the other side.
Exhale.
Good.
And now let's bring our attention
to facial tension. Notice what the
feelings are like in your face. The face is a place
where we very often hold our emotions. How are you
feeling right now? What are your emotions?
Can you feel them in your face?
Take a minute and let's
go to the feelings by massaging gently.
First massaging in the middle of the forehead.
The middle circles.
And reverse.
And now to the temples.
And reverse.
And now the jaw joints.
And move your fingers to the
little hollows in the back of your ears.
And now the back of your neck.
Always massaging yourself with the greatest
love and care.
And attention.
That feels much better. And now
settle back into your chair. And if your eyes are still
open, gently close them now.
And become aware of the natural rhythm of your breathing
as you've done before. Bring your
attention to the abdomen. Notice how your belly expands
as you breathe in and relaxes
back with each breath out.
Imagine there is a balloon blowing up
gently in your belly on your in breath. And relaxing
back as you breathe out. And let
the abdominal breathing go now into a complete
breath. And feeling the breath,
filling the belly, filling your chest and coming
all the way up to the collarbone.
It's almost as if the middle of your body was like
a vase. The bottom of the vase fills first.
And you bring your breath up to the middle and finally
right to the top of the vase.
As it goes out, it reverses from the collarbone
to the chest to the belly.
With its own rhythm. Like the
tide filling the belly, filling your chest,
filling your collarbone and receding like the tide.
From the collarbone to chest to
belly. It becomes more and more effortless
to observe the natural tide and rhythm
of the breath. As if it had a life
of its own that you can trust and begin
to follow now. Noticing
in your own way that the body rises so
gently on the in breath and relaxes back as we breathe
out.
Enjoy counting back from ten to one
as we did before. You might try it silently now.
Breathing in and then as you breathe out
mentally imagining. Ten.
Nine.
Eight.
Every out breath
is an opportunity to let go. To relax
a little bit more. To let yourself
sink down and feel the comfortable
heaviness and warmth of your body.
Allow the chair to support you completely and
bring yourself into the arms of gravity.
Into the arms of Mother Earth.
When you breathe out you can follow your breath now
into your own inner silence.
And as you relax you can follow
your breathing into the storehouse of special memories
and places. Travel through your mind
to the meadows of your innermost being.
To a sunlit clearing fresh with a mild
fragrant breezes of spring.
As you breathe you can relax
into the warmth of the sun and feel the gentle wind
caress your body and your face.
And ruffle your clothing. You can attune
yourself more and more to the delightful
sights and sounds and fragrances.
Feel the softness of the grass underneath your body.
The shimmer of light through
the trees. The soothing
scents and warm colors of the flowers
all around you.
Rose, yellow,
purple and blue.
The birds
and butterflies play with the breeze.
The wonderful abundance of life in the meadow
and the sounds of the crickets and the wind
in the leaves. Beyond the green
rolling hills see the gentle clouds
slowly drifting toward the distant
horizon clearing the sky completely.
Letting yourself lazily
drift along into the blue.
And hear the whispering sound of a stream
down below. Feel the wonderful freshness
of the clear water gently running through your
fingers and the welcoming coolness
of the drops of water now on your face.
Inhale the delicate fragrance
of the earth and of this beautiful sunny day.
Feel yourself smiling as you
breathe and roll slowly into the tender
caress of the grass.
And now you can feel the peace
here in this special place and the life
force of the awakening spring and you can
feel the life force within your body now.
Feel it resonating with the meadow.
Feel it
as a current of inner joy.
And the meadow is a sacred place of comfort,
security, stillness
and rest.
A place of safety, truth
and peace.
A warm place of wisdom
within yourself to which you can always
come.
And within the meadow are many special places you can
discover. Places where you can feel your own
sense of power. Places where you can feel
especially cozy and safe.
Places of peace as you practice coming to
this special place within yourself.
Discover the potential, the beauty
and the wisdom dwelling always within you.
You trust yourself and you trust
in God and you connect with all the positive
energy within you. Like a shining light
and you see it radiating out of you on your breath.
Flowing out into the horizon,
into infinity. All your
potential, all your power,
all your optimism, never
ending.
And relax and watch
it pass again out of your grasp.
No hold on you.
And you feel free.
And you feel limitless potential.
Like the sea, like the sky.
You feel the power, the center of your
being radiates out like the sun with a thousand
rays and you stay within yourself.
Secure, safe and warm.
Silent.
And now for the next few minutes
we're going to let go into that inner silence.
Let go of the images.
Let go of everything but the breath.
Just follow it simply and quietly.
And if you like, focus your awareness
on a special word, allowing
that focus to repeat itself in time
to the flow of your breath.
I'll leave you alone in silence for that next few minutes
with an occasional reminder to follow your breath.
Focus
on the breath.
Peace is within you.
Remain in the silence.
Enjoy this moment of stillness
and this sanctuary of wisdom.
Be aware.
Wherever your thoughts are, let go and return
to your breath. Return to your focus
and know that you're safe inside your breathing
and inside yourself, inside
your soul and inside.
You trust yourself and you
trust in the goodness of things, in the nature
of things and you know that you carry this
safe place inside yourself all the time.
Wherever you go and you take this safe
place, this secret place with you.
You can take it with you now and further continue
your inner journey. Or you can take it with you now
slowly back into the physical world,
the material world, very, very
gently, without any effort.
You're in contact with yourself,
with your spirit, with your soul, your
innermost being and you don't have to do
anything. Bring yourself
with you. Bring your confidence,
your inner peace, your security.
And now allow yourself to return slowly
to the room and using the breath as your bridge,
you can take a couple of deep breaths now.
And notice how the quality of your breath has changed.
Take this calm and positive
energy with you and know that whenever you
want it, all you need to do is stop
and reconnect.
It's always there, always will be.
Now you might find that you like to take a stretch
and allow yourself to come back gradually
as you reorient yourself and prepare to go
on about your day.
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