In my last blog – I started looking at some ideas for maintaining good mental health in times of Covid 19. I began to explore the idea of connection with your inner light. How we react to what goes on around us has a great impact on our general health and the strength of our immune system.
Ongoing stress can lower your immunity and make you more likely to become ill due to our endocrine systems releasing various hormones which get us into a state of fight or flight - ready for an emergency but at the same time supressing our immune systems. The current state of stress and perspective around the uncertainty of Corona Virus will be hugely implicating many of us right now.
The good news is that this is something we can influence.
Common problems:
I’m starting to feel under pressure
I’m finding myself snapping at the kids or partner
I’m feeling anxiety in my body
I’m experiencing unhelpful thinking that is leading to frustration
I am finding myself in a panic, worrying or getting my mind in a stir
I have physical palpitations and other discomfort in my body like IBS symptoms, headaches and dizziness
I am having trouble sleeping
I need to find ways of coping with my sadness, loss and grief
I have no time. Life is too busy with too many demands and I’m overwhelmed
Prevention is better than cure …
There are many ways to describe the practice of exploring your inner light. The principle reason to start doing it is that it can help you to find some perspective. You can, by starting to practise some of the methods described here, begin to train your brain. Which means you are actively re-programming what you are thinking, and in turn, your stress response and immunity!
With these types of practises and all complementary healthcare, including reflexology, the idea is not to wait until you feel your life is falling apart but to use these methods as a preventative strategy. Refuel the car before it runs out of petrol. It’s the famous oxygen mask analogy of fit it on yourself first and then you can help others. Unfortunately, many complementary therapies that would be beneficial are not accessible right now. However these practices will empower you to work on yourself and bring benefit to stressful and intense times.
“Here is a new spiritual practice for you: don't take your thoughts too seriously.”
Eckhart Tolle
It has long been said that every thought that enters the mind eventually finds a place in the body where it bears the burden. I call it the physiology of thought or thoughts manifesting themselves physically. I have experienced much of this in my own story and with many of my clients. Your mindset is everything. Your perspective is the most powerful thing you can control. In the last blog I discussed that it is, in fact, one of the very few things you can control.
These practises will support you and wield incredible benefits. You will find the treasure in the shit storm, the opportunity in the difficulty. The lessons that await you that will create growth and that will help to keep you well.
When you can’t control what’s happening – control the way you respond to what’s happening, for that is where your power is!
You may resonate to one of these ideas more than the others. I have used them all and a combination of a few at different times for different reasons. The fact is, no matter which method you chose, if you practise just one, you will feel better.
Sitting in silent contemplation / meditation
The benefits of sitting in silence and listening to your thinking. You are able to notice what thoughts you are having and start to actively, consciously control them. Either by adding one of the below methods or by rationalising and making logical choices. Ask yourself questions to enable more awareness. (Please see previous blog for questions). Alternatively, you can try to quiet your mind by focusing on your breathing or by starting to practise meditation. One example that is nice to try for beginners is the tea meditation below.
Tea meditation
Taking your cup of tea in your hands you feel the warmth of the teacup on your palms and notice the warm sensation moving up your arms. Very slowly bring the cup to your mouth and before sipping feel the warmth of the steam on your face, smell the tea, actively explore all the sensations ahead of putting the cup to your mouth. Once you take a sip, instead of swallowing immediately, use all your senses to investigate how the tea feels in your mouth, how it tastes in your mouth. Really notice it. Swirl it around before swallowing. Concentrate on how the liquid feels travelling down your throat, into your belly – pay close attention as if you were running in slow motion. How does it make the rest of your body feel? Before you take another sip explore the senses again. Then repeat the above but do it as slowly and as mindfully as you can.
Tapping into a practise of daily gratitude
Simply recognising what you have in your life to be grateful for - as opposed to complain about - can really help to switch a chip in your brain. There is always something to be grateful for - no matter how small or how challenging life may feel. Challenge yourself to write a daily gratitude list of 20 things each day and see how much more positive you feel after a week.
Breath work
There are lots of disciplines for this including yoga and qi gong and other movement classes that encourage you to breath. One simple technique that will help to calm you is to simply focus on each inhalation and exhalation. Take a deep inhale and extend your belly out like a balloon filling up with air. When you exhale the balloon empties and your belly goes back to normal. Repeat this cycle a few times laying down. There is an energy centre just below your navel and I recommend gently laying your hands on this part of the body whilst you do this. It helps to feel the belly expand with each breath and helps you to focus.
Journaling
This is writing your feelings, triggers and frustrations or thoughts down on a page and asking yourself questions about them. It’s basically having a written conversation with yourself. You may also prefer to do a flow of consciousness – this is where you simply write out whatever comes to you and see where you end up. Either way, this process is remarkably cleansing and clarifying.
Grounding and Visualizations
These are tricky if you find it challenging to visualise – so some people find it easy and for others it can be more difficult. Visualisation for me is a bit like daydreaming. I envision things I might aspire to in my life and try to feel in alignment with the thoughts. Grounding is the ability to anchor oneself and bring attention to the soles of the feet. This in turn helps to bring the energy down from your head - where it can create all sorts of chaos if not channelled in a helpful way. This anchoring or grounding enables you to stay centred. However, it does also require some ability to visualise. The most popular is to imagine roots growing out the soles of your feet – like a tree grounding with its roots down into the earth.
Relaxing deeply & allowing yourself to slow down
This is really just about remembering to take some time out. It could be a bath, some gentle yoga or movement which taps into your body’s innate ability to heal. Endorphins and hormones in your body will assist you with a greater feeling of wellbeing as well as the accomplishment of doing something physical. Self-compassion and self-care mean creating healthy boundaries for YOU. If you can’t do anything else on the list be sure to spend some time doing something for YOU every day.
Eating healthy food & drinking / Eating fluids mindfully
An age-old practise which can be used to build a greater sense of awareness. When you really slow down and eat or drink something mindfully you help your mind to STOP. You focus on how you are in that moment, focusing on the food or drink takes your mind away from the anticipation or expectation or fear. See tea meditation above for an example – you will be able to adapt it to food for yourself.
Wilful powerful positive affirmations or mantras
Saying something helpful to yourself over and over again will help to re-programme your mind. In the past, I have used various mantras to help lift myself from depression or anxieties around various challenges. You could set a reminder on your phone to help you to remember to embed them in your brain. More often than not, I have literally made them up - depending on what I have needed at the time. Just be sure the language is all positive. An example: I am calm, healthy balanced and full of joy. OR I am open to welcoming positive changes into my life.
“The goal of spiritual practice is full recovery, and the only thing you need to recover from is a fractured sense of self.”
Marianne Williamson
The practices I have shared here, really are a whistle stop tour of some of the most helpful methods I have used in the past to connect with my inner light. I hope that they will help you to find ways to support yourself independently and all at no financial cost. They are a way of resetting the programme and getting some perspective on any problems you may be facing today or any day.
The methods are just some examples and ways to reduce anxiety, get some distance and control the gremlins taking over your mind day-to-day. One of my favourite sayings is ‘Meditate for 10 minutes a day and if you do not have the time, meditate for 2 hrs.’ We all have busy lives but following this advice is sound. The more time you take to ‘check in’ with yourself when you feel fractures will provide you with more time with mental clarity.
The more crisis and chaos that is going on in your life, the more these techniques can help you. When the going gets tough the best way to take care of yourself, build resilience and keep fighting a good fight, is to increase self-compassion and self-care so that you do not become so easily overwhelmed.
Furthermore, continued practice can open up deeper ways to access your inner light, deeper knowing and knowledge and build up your intuitive mind - which in time will assist you further toward a healthy perspective and mind set.
Remember it’s okay to not be okay
The ambition is to recognise it, practise self-compassion and make a choice to help yourself by doing something towards improving it. This is something - that due to my personal circumstances - has been an evolving way of life for many years and has also been of great value to many of the reflexology and coaching clients I have worked with.
If you need more examples or detail, please contact me at Raising Spirit.
Empower yourself and try find some head space to tap into you and check in.
