Join me! 
We'll cover:

• The effects of stress on the body and mind.
• What biofeedback is and how you can benefit.
• Introduction to a couple of relaxation techniques you can use to lessen your stress response.

Here's a remake of my December 2013 blog post: 

Even Santa, like so many of us in the Western world, can reach a point at which something has to give.  For months on end, he works long hours, planning for a big event, laboring over endless details, managing a work crew, getting along with coworkers who often have an agenda of their own, feeding and caring for the little ones under his care, not to mention his four-legged friends.  Work, limited time for sleep and play, along with trying to assume responsibility for the happiness of every person on the planet, can put anyone in fight/flight mode.  It can become a habit, stuffing more and more responsibilities in your bag with the goal of delivering the goods.  After all, if you don't do it, who will?  And did I mention the thinking, fretting and worry that can accompany all this?  It's enough to keep anyone awake at night.  

Staying in this pattern for an extended period of time can take its toll on the body, mind and spirit.  Grabbing a quick sugar fix or a caffeinated drink can keep you going for awhile, but eventually something's got to give.  That's when your body starts talking to you.  Headaches, body aches, muscle tension, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, tired adrenal glands and immune system, inflammation, cold hands, shallow breathing, tightness in the chest, insomnia, forgetfulness and more.  And it's not just the body talking...there's also those endless thoughts swirling through your head.  Feelings of irritability and resentment can creep in.  

"I'll do it differently next year", Santa says, as he begins making a list...
       New Year's Resolutions

1. Take time to quiet my body and mind.
2. Exercise regularly.
3. Take time to play (and pet the reindeer). 
4. Eat and drink mindfully.
5. Cookies and caffeine in moderation.  
6. Get more sleep.
7. Breathe lower and slower. Click here for diaphragmatic breathing instructions.
8. Find balance.  Check out the website Mrs. Claus sent me for exploring balance.  Read blog post below...

It's that time of year when many are setting New Year's Resolutions while others are vowing not to.  Even if you're not one to set resolutions, you likely have some thoughts about what you might like to accomplish in the upcoming days, weeks or year.  Or a thought about how you might like to "do it differently" this year.

You may be familiar with the concept of using a pie chart as a way to assess your life for stress, balance or wellness.  A circle or pie shape is drawn and divided into sections.  The sections are labeled with various aspects of your life.  You then rank each of these labeled areas of your life by shading in a portion of each pie segment.  The center of the circle = 0, meaning you're less satisfied with that area of your life.  The outer edge = 10, indicating that you are extremely satisfied.

Some say the wheel should be balanced so that you're not experiencing a "bumpy ride" as you navigate life.  But is it unrealistic to strive for a balanced wheel?  What feels like imbalance for one individual may feel like balance for another.  I suggest using the wheel to increase your awareness of your level of satisfaction in various aspects of your life.  Once aware, you can begin to identify what action or inaction is needed to move you toward increased contentment with life.

This website offers an interactive pie chart. Click here, then click again on "access the interactive wheel."  The guided exercise can be completed in just a couple of minutes, or you may choose to spend more time.  It allows you to design your own "custom" labels for segments on your wheel, or you can use a ready-made one.

Denver 9 News "Stress Week Series" was broadcast in November just in time for the holidays.  If you missed these, you can still watch via the 9News website.  I've provided the links below.  Topics covered included 1) the effects of stress on the body; 2) stress in the workplace; 3) email and social media as a source of stress; and 4) an excellent piece on the effect of stress on kids.  

In their series kickoff, these questions were raised: "Is your stress self-induced?" "Are you making yourself too busy?" My first thought was, "I'm guilty--always trying to do too much."  Oops, that's negative self-talk.  Here's what I really meant:  "More and more, I'm learning to focus on what's really important and to let go of the rest." My holiday greeting card  to you gives a few tips for reducing your stressors. 

Wishing you a meaningful and not too hectic Holiday!


 http://www.9news.com/story/news/health/2015/11/23/stress-week/76249186/
http://www.9news.com/story/news/health/2015/11/27/how-email-social-media-are-causing-tech-stress/76452652/
http://www.9news.com/story/life/moms/2015/11/26/stressed-kids/76381186/
http://www.9news.com/story/news/health/2015/11/25/stress-physical-pain/76360150/

If you listen to the news, life can look pretty grim at times.  Most of us have encountered and moved through our own grim circumstance.  At the time, you may feel as though it's all you can do to get through your day (or a sleepless night). With time, the stress or pain associated with the difficult situation will likely ease, only to resurface when triggered by a thought, memory or event.  Strength and personal growth are a probable consequence.  Down the road, it may even be possible to find some gratitude in some aspect of it.  We now have a term for this process.  Keep reading.

You've likely heard of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), but do you know about posttraumatic growth (PTG)?  I heard this term for the first time when attending a recent presentation featuring Scarlett Lewis whose 6 year-old son, Jessie, was murdered in the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting.

PTG is a positive change experienced as a result of the struggle with a traumatic event or a major life crisis.  Ever had one of those?  

The term, PTG, was coined in 1995 by Dr. Richard Tedeschi, a psychology professor at the University of North Carolina and co-author of the handbook Post Traumatic Growth.  If you care to take a "Post-Traumatic Growth Inventory", click here. 

Individuals with PTG tend to experience change in 5 general areas:

• New opportunities and possibilities emerge.
• New relationships develop; or current relationships change, often becoming closer.
• One's sense of personal strength increases.
• Appreciation for life is enhanced.
• A deeper spiritual connection is found and/or a change in one's belief system.

Despite the circumstances, there is always something to be grateful for.
I challenge you to:

• Pause briefly each day (at least once). 
• Inhale as you say to yourself: "I am thankful". 
• Slowly exhale as you say to yourself "Grateful for ___________". 
• Use your next breath to breathe in that sense of gratitude. 
• Allow it to fill your heart space. 
• Then exhale slowly, letting it spread throughout your body.
• Do it again as you remind yourself to drop your shoulders and jaw.

Oprah and Deepak Chopra team up once again, offering their free 21-day meditation challenge.  The focus of this series is "Become What You Believe."  It starts TODAY, Monday, November 2nd! Here's how it works. Click on the link below to register.  Don't worry, its quick and easy.  You'll receive a daily email with the meditation link so that you can listen  when convenient for you. The meditations are typically less than 20 minutes in length. 

Click here to register for Chopra's FREE meditation series.

How will you fit this opportunity into your day?  Here are some possibilities:

• In the morning before getting out of bed?
• Taking a few moments to yourself after getting the kids off to school?
• Leaving 20 minutes early for work, parking and meditating in your vehicle before entering your work place?
• Incorporating meditation into your lunch hour?  Perhaps with your co-workers?
• Taking time to rejuvenate when you feel that mid-afternoon slump?
• Before or after dinner; perhaps with other members of your family. 
• Meditation coupled with a luxurious soak in the tub.
• Bedtime meditation to help you wind down at day's end.
• And yes, I've even used it in the middle of the night to lull me back to sleep.

Here are some suggestions to help you get the most out of your meditation practice.  Those of you with prior biofeedback training have an advantage, as hopefully, you are using these techniques already.  

• Arrange yourself in whatever position is comfortable.  
• Establish a slow, easy and effortless, diaphragmatic breathing pattern. 
• Do a body scan, moving head to toe, or toe to head, noticing and releasing muscle tension. 
• Use affirmations or your "go to" calming phrase to discourage intrusive thoughts.
• Pull in a pleasant image or memory that brings up feelings of joy, appreciation or gratitude.  
• Start the meditation, allowing Chopra and your breath to guide you to a place of inner peace.  

Per Chopra's website, this meditation series will invite you to "embrace your positive beliefs and step into your highest potential..."  Since November is often associated with a time to take inventory of all you're grateful for, why not turn this meditation series into a gratitude practice.  I wonder if you might come away from each meditation with something about yourself to be grateful for?  What if you were to jot down that thought and place it where you might view it throughout your day.  Let it remind you to talk kindly to yourself.  To send a little self-compassion your way.  I would venture to guess that in doing so, that attitude of compassion and gratitude will spread to others in your life.  

Here's my personal example after experiencing the "Day 1" meditation.  My gratitude list:  "I am grateful for my inner strength."  I am grateful for my sense of self-worth."  I wrote "inner strength" and "self-worth" on a sticky note and placed it near my computer screen.  I sent the following email TO MYSELF: "I admire your inner strength and resiliency.  Take note to see the strength and worthiness in everyone you encounter today.  I am grateful!"

Now this made me think of a Facebook post I saw a couple weeks ago.  It stirred up a lot of controversy and that is not my intent. I'll share the link because I believe if we all did a bit of affirming "mirror work" each day we'd be better able to see our own self-worth.  Click here to check it out!

The force of nature is certainly trying to get our attention this time of year--shouting out her message in vivid colors!  Begging for attention as a falling leaf flutters across your path.  It’s as if the changing of the seasons is her reminder to be mindful of areas in our lives that could benefit from change.  And perhaps a more dramatic lesson is offered as the trees “let go” of their leaves.  Or is it the leaves that are letting go? 

I invite you to participate in nature’s process of letting go.  Be mindful of the trees and leaves, observing their patterns.  Those that let go so easily, being the first to reach the ground.  Those that fall fast and hard.  Those that flutter and scamper across the path.  Those that linger on the tree, soaking up the last glimmer of Indian Summer.  Or are they simply displaying their stubbornness? 

Is there something you’d like to let go of?  Let each falling leaf serve as a reminder to release whatever is not serving your highest good.  Consider both the body and the mind.  I’ve listed some ideas, but you’ll know what’s right for you!

Letting Go in the Body:

• Muscle tension—shoulders, jaw, hands, muscles in the face, back, legs and feet.
• Pain—give it permission to leave.
  
• Fatigue—breathe energy into your body.
  
• A long exhale with an audible sigh can signal the body to let go.
  

Letting Go in the Mind:

• Busy mind chatter  
  
• Negative thoughts and self-talk
• Anger, resentment, unforgiveness
  
• Worry, fear or other pent up emotions
  
• Perfection and the need to please
  
• Let go of one needless “to do”
  
• The sense that there is “not enough time”
  
• Confining beliefs
  

Having said this, perhaps there are situations where we need to let go of the need to let go!  What about just accepting what is?  Sitting with uncomfortable thoughts and emotion as you breathe and offer yourself some acceptance and compassion. 

Some of my favorite meditations are those of Jon Kabat-Zinn.  His CDs can be purchased online and I highly recommend them.  Another of nature’s lessons can be found within his Lake Meditation.  He presents an image of a lake, noting that at times the surface is smooth and still.  At other times, it is “disturbed, choppy and stirred up.”  Despite this unrest on the surface, there is stillness and life below.

He suggests that we “be the lake”, being aware of uncomfortable thoughts and feelings and holding them with acceptance and compassion.  He asks, “Isn’t having a rippling and wavy surface part of being a lake?”  Can you be still, breathe, and find the calm deep within your inner being, despite external circumstances?

Dr. Russ Curtis, PhD, LPC, has adapted Kabat-Zinn’s lake meditation in his 4 ½ minute YouTube video.  Be the lake!  

Now that’s a conversation starter.  We’ll get to the bliss part later.  Insomnia is a common reason for seeking biofeedback.  Most of my clients with sleep issues have wisely consulted their health care provider to rule out or treat any medical conditions that might contribute to insomnia.  In many cases, however, insomnia is due to learned thoughts and behaviors, both of which can be unlearned or changed.

Stress and insomnia often unite, launching a vicious cycle.  Stress disrupts sleep.  Disrupted sleep creates stress.  Anxiety frequently enters the equation as well.  Anxiety causes loss of sleep.  Loss of sleep results in anxiety.  The stress of not sleeping can create a fight/flight response, even when lying in your comfy bed.  During the day, worry about lack of sleep triggers negative thoughts and emotions that further encourage the stress response.  Daytime stress elicits a rise in stress hormones which may remain elevated during the night.  As I mentioned, it’s a vicious cycle.

Sleep control mechanisms in the brain consist of the “wakefulness system”, which allows for daytime alertness, and the “sleep system”, which promotes restful sleep.  With biofeedback training, you can learn to weaken your wakefulness system and strengthen your sleep system.  And no, this doesn’t mean you’ll be drowsy during the day, although you may feel calmer and manage stressful situations better.

Strengthening the sleep system and weakening the wakefulness system using biofeedback:

• You’ll be able to see what an “overly awake” response looks like in your body by seeing it on the computer monitor, so that you can practice taming it.  With this, you’ll gain awareness of what “overly awake” feels like in your body/mind, and also, what a truly relaxed state feels like.   With this new awareness, you’ll be able to catch these signals and manage them, both day and night.
• You’ll learn to detect and release muscle tension, scanning your body for tightness or bracing and “letting go”.  With this, you be able to create a sense of heaviness and warmth in the body that can result in the sensation of sinking more fully into the mattress below you.  Don’t worry, if you tend to feel too warm at night, you can learn to invite in a cooling sensation.
  
• Slow, diaphragmatic breathing!  We’ll work to create a balance in the autonomic nervous system; reducing the fight/flight mechanism and eliciting the relaxation response.  Scroll to the end of a previously posted blog for a “how-to” on slow, diaphragmatic breathing.  
  
• Catching negative self-talk and refuting it will be another goal.  A steady stream of racing thoughts can wreak havoc on a good night’s sleep. These often include self-defeating thoughts about sleep, some of which may be present during the day.  It may seem implausible at this point, but you’ll learn to use positive affirmations about sleeping well.  For example, “I plan to sleep well tonight.”  “With the techniques I’m learning, it’s becoming easier for me to get back to sleep.”  You may even discover that you can pair the statements with a pleasant “feeling state” about how good it feels to create a relaxation response in both body and mind.
  
• Healthy and sleep-promoting lifestyle routines, habits and sleep hygiene will be explored, including caffeine and alcohol intake, light exposure, eating and activity patterns.
  
• Mindfulness techniques will be practiced, enhancing your ability to induce a relaxation response.
  
• Where does the bliss come in, you ask?  Even though sleep is sure to come easier after biofeedback training, an occasional sleepless night is inevitable.  You can learn to create a very pleasurable and relaxed state in body and mind, so that even if you lie awake for an hour during the night, you may experience it as a blissful state of being.  This drowsy, peaceful state, when respiration slows, muscles relax, heart rate drops and pleasant images or thoughts reign, can be quite blissful.  This state can be very restful and beneficial, even if deep sleep eludes you. 

I invite you to join me in a 21-day meditation challenge offered by Deepak Chopra at the Chopra Center.  The focus of this series is “Manifesting Grace through Gratitude.”  Couldn’t we all use a dose of that!  It starts Monday, July 13, so sign up today at https://chopracentermeditation.com/.  You’ll receive a daily email with the meditation link.

Here are some suggestions to help you get the most out of your meditation practice.  Those of you with prior biofeedback training have an advantage, as hopefully, you are using these techniques already.  Arrange yourself in whatever position is comfortable.  Maybe you’ll find a quiet place in your backyard and use your smart phone to access these meditations.  Begin your slow, easy and effortless diaphragmatic breathing.  Do a body scan, moving head to toe, or toe to head, noticing and releasing muscle tension.  Use affirmations to discourage intrusive thoughts.  Pull in a pleasant image or memory that brings up feelings of joy, appreciation or gratitude.  Aah.  “I can calm my body.  I can calm my mind.”  Now, hit the start button and invite in the wisdom of your higher self as you continue to breathe, relax and be...