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Transforming Stress ~ Guest Article by Lennart Krogoll

As we travel through our day, figuratively or literally, we all encounter occasional experiences of anxiety or stress – sometimes light and subtle, at other times more obvious and tangible, or even traumatic. This is of course a natural part of our lives. It may be that the traffic does not run as smoothly as we would like or someone cut us off; or maybe we anticipate a difficult conversation and we keep test-running it through our head while busy with other things; or we might remember and re-live an unpleasant interchange or an old emotional wound gets triggered; or we don’t quite feel on top of our world and are inundated with demands we would rather not relate to.

All this is quite common and natural. Rather than rejecting them as obstacles, we can look into how these things can be turned into opportunities for us to grow and be more awake, effective, confident and resilient. However, often we do not notice how these stresses and stressors keep building up and settle into our system, creating tension or blockages. Even very minor amounts of stress and anxiety have an effect on our physical energy, our health and stamina. They also affect our cognitive faculties – how attentive, intentional and effective we interact and re-act. They reduce our emotional intelligence, relaxation and presence, how open and heartfelt we can be for others and in the moment.

If we were ignoring these messages, or pushing them aside with medication and distraction, it would be like removing the light bulb from the little warning lamp in our car, which informs us that it is time to replenish the oil.

Various ancient methods cultivate and direct our inherent capacity for mindfulness and awareness of mind, body and heart. Modern science has recently discovered that these techniques afford us to notice, accept and relieve physical, mental and emotional stress, disturbance and even trauma.

Not only can we relieve current and old stress, re-opening and energizing our channels, but these simple techniques also help us to mange stress ‘as it happens’, on the spot, and give us tools to prepare for situations of stress and develop greater relaxation and resilience.

We can actually enjoy applying simple, elemental wake up ‘tools’, while walking down the street, sitting at the computer or having a conversation – making any moment more delightful and meaningful.   

Lennart will be teaching about stress, mindfulness and using the wake up "tools" mentioned above at our yoga studio in November:

http://yogastudio.ns.ca/workshops.htm#lennart
 

Waking Up in Daily Life: Disclaimer.

Traditional texts on realizing the true nature generally start with a homage of some sort. This thread begins with a homage if the form of a disclaimer. It is quite possible to realize that the actual nature of your mind is free from pain and full of joy, without the extremes of excitement or dullness. This however is only possible when you relate directly with your life. Daily life and mindfulness need to be joined together. You could say that is the real meaning of yoga. Often times people approach yoga and meditation as an alternative to daily life, like some kind of escape. This is natural because dissatisfaction with the ups and downs of life will often lead to a desire to be free. The key here is that with mindfulness meditation and practice, daily life becomes the path and all of life's experiences are opportunities to be present.

So the disclaimer is like this: you will not find mindfulness in the future or in the past, and you will not find it any place other than where you are now. Your current life situation is what you have to work with and the true nature of mind is also found within your current experience.

Button Pushers: Meditaton, Yoga and Triggers # 1.

Before I write about recognizing the true nature of mind, it would be good to talk about buttons. Its important not to get discouraged by how we react to situations on the meditation journey. You may have heard the phrase "That person really knows how to push my buttons!" When we get upset by the words or the presense of another person, it often feels as though they are the ones causing the emotional response. From the meditative point of view, however, we can take a close look at our own minds for the source of the suffering and for the source of freedom from that suffering. Buttons are a good example of this.

Where did the button come from anyways? Where is the button? It's helpful to realize we are the ones with the buttons. There is nothing to be ashamed of either. We need to be curious about what is going on in order to become free from these painful reactions. The button is in our minds and it is usually placed there based on past experiences. Memories of painful experiences or joyful experiences get laid down in the normally dormant layers of our consciousness. Occaisonally we either see, hear, touch, feel or even think of something which triggers a response in us that seems un-related to the current context. We are reacting to something that is conditioned within us.

For example, when my mother died I was holding a cordless phone taking instructions for giving CPR from a 911 operator. Two years later I was at home on a teleconference holding a cordless phone and got extremely angry for no apparent reason and my behavior on the phone seemed completely out of proportion for the situation. I started yelling at everyone. It was an important moment because I was able to recollect in that moment holding the phone, that I had been giving CPR. Having my button pushed pointed at a difficult moment that I had not yet properly acknowledged.

Meditation practice may have provided the clarity necessary for me to make the connection and to look into my needs for grieving that were being suppressed. What can often happen is that we blame the situation in front of us for the reaction and fail to make the connection. Yes, there is something pushing our buttons, yet where is the button and why is it there? It can be an important key to healing what could be holding us back. Blaming the external situations that trigger our upheavals can cause more suffering and really just distracts us from getting to know what is really going on beneath the surface.

Recovery from PTSD (post traumatic stress disorder) is described as the point when the person recovering from the trauma is able to reflect on the events and realize what happened is in the past. Once the event is not longer seen as a present event, but put into proper perspective, the reaction to the trigger fades. This doesn't mean we have PTSD when we get triggered, yet the process is similar.

So, when someone is pushing your buttons, feel free to give them some credit for triggering a response in you, yet if you are interested in understanding yourself you may want to look at the button itself. Freedom from such suffering could be in the palm of your own hand. These buttons are only a temporary covering over the deeper experience of mind so there is no need to get discouraged when they get pressed. Its just a good time to get even more curious.

.... see part 2 Triggering Mindfulness by clicking here.

Joy, Pain and Joy.

 ~ a follow up article from: http://amindfulnessblog.blogspot.com/2011/03/mindful-hypothesis-guided-contemplation.html

The purpose of this article is to point at lasting joy. To get there, we have cover some uncomfortable spots, so please stay tuned to the end if you want the good news.

Life is full of ups and downs. On a day to day basis you may experience peaks and troughs of feelings like pain and pleasure, good moods and bad moods, which often depend on what appears to us through the senses. Maybe you get up for breakfast and find out that you are out of milk. Bummer. Then you look out the window and see a blue jay on the window sill. Look! A blue jay! You might say out loud with excitement. Cool! You get an hour to go to yoga which you really need, but when you show up the yoga teacher you like is away. That day you might be on your way to a wonderful wedding or a maybe a funeral. All on life's appearances whether big or small seem to have an effect on us. This is an alternating joy and pain, in big and small ways, which is totally dependent on our habitual thinking and how we mix that habitual thinking with the unpredictable series of events which appear to us.

Whether you are getting that new great job, or getting fired, whether you are getting that fudge oat bar you love or spilling coffee on your new pants, when we look outside ourselves for happiness we are at the mercy of a never ending stream or changing appearances. As well, we may also be trying to ignore some uncomfortable truths such as the fact that no matter what kind of life and world we construct for ourselves on the outside, it all eventually comes to an end. All things change and even our body is impermanent. When I look at how we busy ourselves with technology and entertainment I often wonder if it is all done just so that we can ignore this un-examined area called impermanence and death. We are very busy doing something that is for sure. Yet, where is it getting us?

Most spiritual traditions have a way of pointing this out. The Buddha's first teaching was suffering. He taught four noble truths and the first one is the truth of suffering or dukha in sanskrit. Yet the Buddha also taught that this kind of suffering is not necessary and that we can actually discover lasting joy.

So if joy is not something that we can attain at the whim of appearances and habitual patterns, then how do we attain it? And how is that possible? Well you could look at some simple logic and say "Duh, then don't be at the whim of appearance and habitual patterns?" Certainly, that is part of the picture and this is way easier said than done. The mindfulness traditions also point to the basic nature of mind itself as a key part of the solution. The "experiencer" of temporary joy and pain is the mind. So the key point here is to bring the mind to the path of training and awakening. Mind becomes the main tool we use to free ourselves from our confused relationship with appearances and our addiction to self-defeating habitual patterns. Not only that, but mind is also the source of happiness itself, once we are able to see its true nature. The actual deeper nature of this experiencer is quite joyful. This kind of joy is independent of any pattern or appearance. The mind in its ordinary state is peaceful, kind, at ease and happy. So looking to mind as the source of lasting happiness is the recommendation here. You could say it is another hypothesis we need to test. If you have tried all the promises from external sources only to see there is something fishy going on and that lasting happiness based on a sand castle is not realistic, then you might be ready for an alternative. That alternative is within your own being.

So in the next post I will be talking about how to get started with training the mind and recognizing the true nature of mind.

Earth Day Reflection and Aspiration

The day before Earth Day I found myself in a grocery store checkout line having my groceries being loaded into plastic bags.  I realized as I was well into getting things checked through, that I had left my reusable grocery bags in the car.  I felt somewhat disappointed in myself for doing this.  I have also found myself lately getting cups of coffee after having forgotten my travel mug at home or at work.  In my efforts to be prepared to make small choices that favor taking care of the environment, I have taken some steps to participate a lifestyle that supports sustainability.  Yet, I am forgetting to use the basic materials I have in place to live that way.

As I reflect on Earth Day today, I have to admit that to whatever degree I have tried to prepare, I have also failed at being mindful.  Mindfulness is often defined as remembering; remembering to come back to the breath, remembering to come back to the present moment, or remembering to follow through on choices that align with ones desires to be of service to the environment.

Today I make the following aspiration in honor of Earth Day, in honor of the planet, in honor of the community and in honor to this human body.


For the sake of all beings
I aspire to remember
the earth and my community
in the choices that I make
each and every day.

May the choices that I
make in a small way
help create harmonious connections
that aid in the environmental health
of the larger community and the planet as a whole.

Dear Earth, may I remember you
so that I do not forget you
as I use the resources we have
taken from you.

May we all continue to live
here and make you our home
for may years and generations to come.


Sincerely,

Mike Munro

Willow Is Not Real

Willow is a dog. When I first met Willow she was introduced to me as a house pet that needed to be penned in during a meeting because she was so excitable. Her keeper gave the visitors two options: 1. have her in the bedroom where she would bark and bark and bark. 2. Let her come in where she would jump up on us and run around in circles. Willow is an Australian Shepperd and can only relax after herding you like a sheep. We chose the bark-free option since we were about to have a meeting and needed to hear each other. And besides, we all needed to sit in the same room together so we were easy to herd. My experience of her was that she was an uncontrollable, scraggly looking, utterly annoying ... dog.

I have never considered myself a dog person. I was a cat person. I was annoyed at the dog before I even got to experience its excitable nature mostly because I identified myself as a cat person ... and definitely NOT a dog person.

As it turned out my relationship with Willow started to change. To make a long story short I ended up volunteering to help take care of Willow on a part time basis as Willow's owner was in need of some support. After spending several days a week with Willow something eerie started to happen. I was beginning to act like a dog person. I was picking up poop, talking to the dog like a person, looking up dog training resources and last but not least .... I was starting to feel some real affection towards her. Now when I go a few days without seeing Willow I start to miss her. I have become a dog person. I am not sure what happened to me. I was cat person you know!

So what does any of this have to do with mindfulness? Well if you watch how you identify yourself as something ... a friend, lover, single person, whatever, you will also notice something else. Things change. The identities we label ourselves and others with are not fixed. When we fix a label on ourselves we often try to maintain it as real and permanent. Upon closer examination things are freer than that and if you watch ... you might just notice yourself becoming something you never thought you could be ... and thank goodness for that freedom.