Technique 2 : PENETRATION MIND POWER

As stated earlier, it is important to move quickly from the problem zone to solution zone. The energy magnifies and multiplies where one focuses on. If the focus is on the problem then the problem multiplies & when focus on the solution, solution magnifies and multiplies. Stress is a problem and we need to move to solution zone to find out the solution for the stress. But, while you are in the solution zone, the attempted solution has the potential to get converted into a problem if the penetration level is less. This is where the power of focus becomes the key. Unfortunately, the attention-faculty of the brain has a declining trend in the recent years. People have very short attention span time. But, good news is that it is a learnable skill.

Technique:

Duration: 3 minutes

1.            Sit upright in a calm and quite place either on the floor or in a chair.

2.            Relax the body consciously and let there not be any form of tension in the body.

3.            Pay attention to the rise and fall of your breath.

4.            You may get distracted by the external or internal means in the form of noise, smell or even our own mind distraction. Gently, discard the distractions and pay attention again to the rise & fall of breath. Remember in order to strengthen the attention muscle distractions act as the dumb bells.

5.   Continue this attention strengthening exercise for three minutes.

Initially, one may notice distractions are annoying because the attention on the breath is such a boring exercise and awareness picks up the distractions more easily. With the period of time and consistent practice, the neural network of the brain changes & the attention capability improves.

"While in the solution zone, the attempted solution has the potential to get converted into a problem if the penetration level is less. This is where the power of focus becomes the key"

Technique 1 :Free up space

Having discussed so far the engineering mechanism of the stress response, the causes for the stress, the mind game in the context of the stress and the understanding of those three universal power laws, it is time now to move on to the methods, techniques, and tools to lead a tension free life. With the practice of the following techniques, tension free life is not going to be a far-fetched reality. It is very much practical.

Free up space:

As stated in “this moment” chapter, stress cannot coexist when we live in this very moment. In this very moment, we are somehow connected within. To illustrate this phenomenon, let us assume that you are on holiday trip to a beach resort. You are at the resort and when you slide the curtain of your bedroom window, you get a nice view of the deep blue sea and the sun has just begun to rise. The reflection of the rays of the sun can be seen on the ocean surface. The orange colour of the sun & blue colour of the sea, the combination is so mesmerizing and you are in that moment. Now, at this very moment, there is absolutely no sign of stress. You are somehow connected with the display of external energy which in turn lead you a connection within. Influence of mind at this very moment is negligible.

As stated earlier, without any external support, living in THIS present moment is a challenge because of the influence of the mind. But, it is an art that can be developed.  Mind when it is cluttered, it has the maximum outside movement. This is the time, the mind tends to swing from back and forth from the past to future and vice versa. The practice here is simply to free up space inside the mind. When there is a free space there is a way for the free flow of energy. How to create this free space? The answer is simple. Plainly, observe the mind willingly. One cannot control the mind. If one attempts to control the mind then the mind becomes violent. But, give the liberty for the mind to act in its own terms and just observe the wandering pattern. Observe the mind willingly but with one very important condition. Do not engage the mind while observing. This means, irrespective of the movement of the mind, we stay aside watching just only the movement of mind, our own thoughts without passing on judgments. Initially, when one directs his awareness, he will notice the chaotic movement of the mind from the past to future back and forth. But with the boundary condition, the mind does not know what to do after some time. This is the state we need very often. Over a period of time, one develops this distinctive skill to stay in the moment just on demand. It slowly then becomes his default state of existence.

Practice method:

Duration: 3minutes

1.            Sit upright in a calm and quite place either on the floor or in a chair.

2.            Relax the body consciously and let there not be any form of tension in the body.

3.            Pay attention to the rise and fall of breath for a period of ten breath counts.

 4.           Simply, divert your attention to your mind. What is the thought that surfaces out of the mind? Observe the movement of the mind and importantly, stay non-judgemental. The moment one tends to engage with the mind, the system of mind goes haywire. Stay here in this mode for three minutes.

5.            After three minutes, slowly come out this state.

This practice appears to be simple and even stupid. But, this has a profound impact in training the mind not to swing back and forth from the past to future. Swinging is due to the entertainment and voluntarily, in this practice, we force ourselves not to entrain with the mind. The above technique, when practiced for a consistent period of four weeks, changes the pattern of movement of mind. We slowly get the ability to live in the present moment.

THIS MOMENT

I got the opportunity to deal with many numbers of clients who have the chronic stress. Eventually, they all pose with some kind of psychosomatic illness such migraine, anxiety, hypertension, cardiovascular diseases etc. With all these people when I posted one single question. “Right now, at this very moment, in this split of the second, do you have stress? Uniformly, the answers were NO. I am now asking the same question to you now. Do you feel stressed at this very moment, this split of the second? If the answer is NO then we have the answer to handle stress. 

When we live in THIS present moment, we don’t feel stressed. Let us live the same way the next moment. We will not feel stressed in that moment too. Let us then extrapolate this pattern of living from moment to moment from now on. We will not be stressed out lifelong. But, this is not as simple as it looks.

The biggest hurdle to living in the present moment is caused by our own mind. At any given point of time, the mind has the movement. It moves from the past to future and future to past without stopping in this present moment. It is like a clock pendulum that swings from one end to another with a brief crossing at the neutral point. Both the ends of the swing are the locus of the past and future and the neutral point is the present moment.

Take an example of driving the car to the office. Strictly speaking, we need to be in the experience of driving the car, how we handle the break, gear and how we manage the traffic, how we follow the rules of the traffic etc. There is no great conscious effort is required in doing all of those above activities as we have repeated the driving for many years. So, naturally, we work on a kind of autopilot mode and do all those actions without any conscious effort. The mind is now free to fast forward to the event that is going to happen in the office or rewind to the past event that happened back at the home. This is the mind pendulum action.

Chronic stress is a construct of our mind. The pendulum action of the mind is the cause. Mind constructs the meaning from our own past experiences and projects those in the future. We need to train the mind to work in the present moment. This is again a skill and it is a learnable skill.

Alive: Mind seeks what we don’t have. There are so many other things which we have. But, still, the mind looks for something which we don’t have.

This is the effect of the distinctive attribute that human species possess which is called CURIOSITY. There is nothing wrong in becoming curious in life but on the other hand, one should develop the ability to be of grateful of what one possesses.

The value of the leg is known only after we break our leg in an accident. Until the time, the leg functionality is taken for granted. Human system and in general, this entire universe are complete orchestrated system and cherish the experiences of these every moment.

So, do not cherish stress, hectic life and so on. There is a flip side to it. Cultivate our awareness to cherish those other fine experiences to which we have taken those for granted. For an instant, in this moment, we are alive. In spite of all those ups and downs of the life, the life force is pretty much active in this very moment. Is it not a magic? It is the greatest realization.

But, have you realized this wonderful gift? Let us try to realize this by increasing the level of our awareness. Cherish life

ROUGH TERRAIN

Value: Imagine a life without stress. It is great and full of happiness & joy. But, how one knows that he is joyful? There should be a reference to measure the happiness. How happy are you? Without a proper reference, he may not even realise that he is joyful even though he is in a state of joy. Stress provides this reference. A state of joy cannot become meaningful without a state of the stressful situation.

The value of the shadow of the tree can be fully realised only when we walk in the harsh heat of the sun. Without the experience in the sun, our experience of the shadow has void meaning. Rough terrain makes you realise the value of smooth surface. We encounter stress to know the value of our experience of joy. The danger is that some of us are so much entangled in the mode of stress so that they lose the ability to see another side of their life. This is the sorry state of chronic stress. So, it is safe to have stress but it should not become chronic.

Balance act: Life is a cyclic pattern of on and off. The sun appears in the morning and vanishes in the evening. Moon comes in the night and vanishes in the morning. The modern digital world is a construct of this binary system only. It is just on and off. So, accept the stressful state willingly like how one accept joyful state cheerfully.

New Learning: Growth of a person comes from his new learnings. Growth ceases when there is no learning from the experiences of life. If one repeats the same set of activities day in and day out, he will soon hit the wall. He gets bored. New learning means one dare to venture into those unknown zones. This unknown zone is a rough terrain to maneuver. Stress provides an opportunity of this rough terrain. Let us play here for our new learning and gain new experience.

Rough terrain requires good maneuvering skill. It is a learning ground. It is a learning opportunity to learn new things. Learning becomes our experience. The collection of those experiences is our definition. Rough terrain provides an opportunity to know the value of the smooth surface.

Stress provides the reference. A state of joy cannot become meaningful without a state of the stressful situation.

New learning becomes our experiences. The collection of those experiences is our definition.