http://www.care2.com/greenliving/release-stress-and-pain.html
Release Stress and Pain
Adapted from The Book of Secrets, by Deepak Chopra (Three Rivers Press, 2004).
We rely on our bodies to tell us when we are in pain, and the body, like the mind, follows familiar patterns. Hypochondriacs, for example, grasp the first sign of discomfort as a clear message that they are seriously ill.
In your own case, you are also taking familiar sensations and using them to confirm your suffering. Many depressed people, for example, will interpret fatigue as depression. Because they haven’t gotten a good night’s sleep or have been overworked on the job, they interpret feeling depleted as a symptom of depression.
The way to deal with these sensations is to strip away the interpretations. Instead of being sad, look upon this as the energy of sadness. Like fatigue, sadness has a bodily component that can be discharged. Instead of being an anxious person, deal with the energy of anxiety.
All energies are discharged in the same way.
1. Take a deep breath, sit quietly, and feel the sensation in your body.
2. Feel the sensation without judgment. Just be with it.
3. Let any feelings, thoughts, or energies that want to come up do so. This often means listening to the voice of anxiety, anger, fear or woundedness. Let the voices say what they want to say. Listen and understand what is going on.
4. Watch the energy disperse as much as it can. Don’t demand complete discharge. Take the attitude that your body will let go of as much stored energy as it is able to.
5. After a few hours or the next day, repeat this whole process.
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7 comments
add your comment »I totally agree with this and it works very well for me. I've been doing this exercise for quite a while and now I've a better understanding of the sensations in my body, I have clearer prespectives and a peace of mind.
Thanks for the reminder, Mr. Chopra.
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Feeling out of it can be caused by an imbalance in any of the systems of the body. I have found the best way to combat feeling drained and exhausted is to listen to signals the body and mind generate; and to live as close to how humans were intended to live as possible. Eating, sleeping, and expressing emotional energy in natural rhythms is key...
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My goal is to become more evolved and more present. Deepak Chopra's books have given me such guidance and clarity. He is, indeed, one of the best living role models this world has.
The concept of "wellness" is finally becoming better understood. People today want to give their bodies and minds an opportunity to heal without the use of pharmaceuticals. There are many alternative treatments available that coincide quite naturally with what forethinking medical practitioners recommend, i.e. healthy eating habits, regular exercise and good sleep. Many alternative methods help people achieve these goals. I'm all for wellness!
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Have you ever noticed that there are 2 types of people when it comes to health. The first focus on reasons to stay well. The second focus on the reasons why they are not well today.
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Pains associated with the body are within grasp and cure. Those pains caused by factors that are external=some times controllable and some times not-lead to frustration and anger.Frustration is the manifestation of unrelenting anger and anger is the direct cousin of hurt ego.
It is very right to calm down as Deepak says and reflecting and slow motion running of events will reveal hat really went wrong and a bit of inward looking will help make the coming days less stressful.So simply stay cool and collected and this shall also pass
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thank you so much for the encouragement and food for thought.
all my life I have felt sadness, anger, fear and depression, with its helplessness and hopelessness, and knew why I was feeling those emotions, yet felt unable to relieve them or experience them productively.
then, when my son's dog was purposely and ruthlessly killed, I experienced all of these emotions at once without being able to make any sense of them at all, much less relieve them or use them productively. I felt (still feel) completely lost in my life, and desperate to help my son and his daughter process what happened.
it seems now that we just have to be in pain and feel helpless until the time comes when we have learned the lessons and the pain subsides.
I suppose it will happen, but then I am left to anticipate how I will deal with the same issues and loss when a person close to me dies.
the pain right now in my heart and soul don't feel like energies - it feels like pain! but I will continue to work on letting it discharge and disperse.
and I will continue to work at learning and understanding and letting go.
I am very grateful for the insights of more evolved people like Deepak Chopra!
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Thanks! I didn't think of feeling down and out just may be fatigue. So simple. So enlightening!
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