Life in the material world can be really stressful. What are some of your stress-reducing tactics? I have a few strategies I use to calm down and de-stress.
1. Brew a cup of chamomile tea. Sweeten it with misri, also known as sakar, which is crystallized sugarcane juice. You can find it at Indian groceries. Sakar cools the body and chamomile is soothing to the nerves.
2. Take a few drops of Rescue Remedy. Just drop them on your tongue. Amazing stuff.
3. Do pranayama. Breathe in through your nose and hold it for several seconds. Then slowly blow out through pursed lips. Do this as many times as you need to feel relaxed. You can also breathe in through your left nostril while closing up the right side of your nose with your right thumb. Fill up your lungs to capacity, then hold your breath for a few seconds. Now exhale through your right nostril while holding the left side of your nose closed with your right pinkie and ring finger. The other two fingers are bent during this process so that they stay out of the way. Now inhale through your right nostril, hold your breath while pressing both sides of your nose, then exhale through your left nostril as you press your right thumb against your right nostril. Do this a few times until you feel relaxed.
4. Pray for the ability to control your mind. The mind can either be one's friend or one's enemy. If one wants his mind to be his friend, he has to train it. He has to learn to control it by practicing to keep it fixed on Krishna (God). The most highly recommended method for fixing one's mind on God in this day and age is to chant the holy names of God: Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare / Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare. Krishna says in Bhagavad-gita that He is the ability in man--paurusam nrsu.
5. Soak up some moonlight. The moon offers cooling, soothing rays to calm our minds.
6. Do yoga. Along with the stretches and asanas, do more deep-breathing.
7. Meditate. Chanting the holy names of God is the most powerful method of meditation. I chant the maha-mantra Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare / Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare. (The Hare part is pronounced Huh-Ray, and the Rama part is pronounced RAH-ma.) As living spirit souls, we are tiny sparks of the spiritual energy of Krishna, and when we are disconnected from Him, we feel disconnected. Krishna is the reservoir of all happiness. When we connect with Krishna, we feel our natural happiness. The best way to remain connected to the happiness of Krishna and experience our own natural happiness is by chanting God's holy names. That's how we can again feel connected and happy. When we chant Krishna's holy names with love and a desire to serve Him, we become reconnected to Him. God, or Krishna, is known as sat-cit-ananda-vigraha, or the eternal form of all knowledge and bliss (happiness). Because when we chant His holy names we become reconnected, we associate with Lord Krishna who is the source of all happiness. When we chant His holy names, we gradually begin to feel our own natural, constitutional happiness, or ananda, which is one of the inherent qualities of the soul.
8. Go for a walk, preferably in a natural setting, and if possible, make sure there's a body of water close by. Water is healing, especially the water of rivers and of the ocean. Go swimming or dangle your legs in the water. Do some more deep-breathing while you're soothing your nerves with the cooling movement of the waters and drinking in the beauty of Mother Nature.
9. Buy a journal that is especially for you. Choose a color of ink that you like. Write in your journal. Write about what is stressing you out. It's like telling a friend.
10. Tell a friend.
11. Laugh. Find something that tickles your funny bone and enjoy a good laugh once in a while. Laughter is healing because it lifts your spirits.
12. Create something beautiful. Dig deep into your heart and express what you're feeling in an artistic way. Share it with others so that others can benefit from experiencing your lovely creation. My Spiritual Master A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Srila Prabhupada used to say that the mind becomes peaceful by thinking of the welfare of others. So create something from your heart for the pleasure of Krishna, and other souls will be inspired. It will help you, too.
13. Forgive. If there's anyone who has wronged you, pray to be able to forgive them. Forgive yourself as well, if you have hurt someone else. If there's anyone you owe an apology to, seek them out, apologize, and leave the rest in Krishna's hands. Whether they accept your apology or not is not your business.
14. Go to bed early and rise early. "Early to bed, early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise." Dedicate the last two hours before sunrise to meditation and prayer.
15. Read something inspiring. I read the books written by A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, like Teachings of Lord Caitanya, Bhagavad-gita As It Is, Srimad-Bhagavatam, Caitanya-Caritamrta, The Nectar of Devotion, The Science of Self-Realization and Sri Isopanisad. Books by his disciples also inspire me. I just finished The Glorious Life of Narottama Dasa Thakur by Sitala Harrison. Wonderful book. I also recently read Blazing Sadhus by Acyutananda Dasa, Alien Identities by Richard L Thompson, Chasing Rhinos with the Swami by Shyamasundar Dasa, and I am currently reading Miracle on Second Avenue by His Holiness Mukunda Goswami. Blazing Sadhus made me laugh on almost every page, Alien Identities satisfied my desire for a scientific perspective on UFOs, Chasing Rhinos was a phenomenal reading experience, presented in two volumes and Miracle is hard to put down.
16. Join a kirtan. Kirtan is the chanting of God's holy names in song, and Sankirtan is the congregational chanting of God's holy names. You can usually find out the times and locations of kirtans and sankirtans by looking on the internet for Hare Krishna temples or Bhakti-vriksha programs near you.
17. Cook something delicious and offer it to God. Krishna is a name for God that means "all-attractive." Krishna likes pure vegetarian food cooked with love and devotion and offered to Him before it's tasted by anyone else, even by the cook. So make sure when you cook for Krishna that the food is vegetarian, and refrain from tasting it until after Krishna has tasted it! If you have a picture of Krishna, you can offer what you cooked to Him in His picture, or you can offer it to Him in your mind. After offering, it's called "prasadam" which means "the mercy of the Lord" and you can then honor His remnants by tasting them.
18. Personal strategy: When I'm really, really stressed, I cook something sweet to offer to Krishna and then I eat His remnants.
Please share your own stress-reducing strategies with me.
1. Brew a cup of chamomile tea. Sweeten it with misri, also known as sakar, which is crystallized sugarcane juice. You can find it at Indian groceries. Sakar cools the body and chamomile is soothing to the nerves.
2. Take a few drops of Rescue Remedy. Just drop them on your tongue. Amazing stuff.
3. Do pranayama. Breathe in through your nose and hold it for several seconds. Then slowly blow out through pursed lips. Do this as many times as you need to feel relaxed. You can also breathe in through your left nostril while closing up the right side of your nose with your right thumb. Fill up your lungs to capacity, then hold your breath for a few seconds. Now exhale through your right nostril while holding the left side of your nose closed with your right pinkie and ring finger. The other two fingers are bent during this process so that they stay out of the way. Now inhale through your right nostril, hold your breath while pressing both sides of your nose, then exhale through your left nostril as you press your right thumb against your right nostril. Do this a few times until you feel relaxed.
4. Pray for the ability to control your mind. The mind can either be one's friend or one's enemy. If one wants his mind to be his friend, he has to train it. He has to learn to control it by practicing to keep it fixed on Krishna (God). The most highly recommended method for fixing one's mind on God in this day and age is to chant the holy names of God: Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare / Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare. Krishna says in Bhagavad-gita that He is the ability in man--paurusam nrsu.
5. Soak up some moonlight. The moon offers cooling, soothing rays to calm our minds.
6. Do yoga. Along with the stretches and asanas, do more deep-breathing.
7. Meditate. Chanting the holy names of God is the most powerful method of meditation. I chant the maha-mantra Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare / Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare. (The Hare part is pronounced Huh-Ray, and the Rama part is pronounced RAH-ma.) As living spirit souls, we are tiny sparks of the spiritual energy of Krishna, and when we are disconnected from Him, we feel disconnected. Krishna is the reservoir of all happiness. When we connect with Krishna, we feel our natural happiness. The best way to remain connected to the happiness of Krishna and experience our own natural happiness is by chanting God's holy names. That's how we can again feel connected and happy. When we chant Krishna's holy names with love and a desire to serve Him, we become reconnected to Him. God, or Krishna, is known as sat-cit-ananda-vigraha, or the eternal form of all knowledge and bliss (happiness). Because when we chant His holy names we become reconnected, we associate with Lord Krishna who is the source of all happiness. When we chant His holy names, we gradually begin to feel our own natural, constitutional happiness, or ananda, which is one of the inherent qualities of the soul.
8. Go for a walk, preferably in a natural setting, and if possible, make sure there's a body of water close by. Water is healing, especially the water of rivers and of the ocean. Go swimming or dangle your legs in the water. Do some more deep-breathing while you're soothing your nerves with the cooling movement of the waters and drinking in the beauty of Mother Nature.
9. Buy a journal that is especially for you. Choose a color of ink that you like. Write in your journal. Write about what is stressing you out. It's like telling a friend.
10. Tell a friend.
11. Laugh. Find something that tickles your funny bone and enjoy a good laugh once in a while. Laughter is healing because it lifts your spirits.
12. Create something beautiful. Dig deep into your heart and express what you're feeling in an artistic way. Share it with others so that others can benefit from experiencing your lovely creation. My Spiritual Master A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Srila Prabhupada used to say that the mind becomes peaceful by thinking of the welfare of others. So create something from your heart for the pleasure of Krishna, and other souls will be inspired. It will help you, too.
13. Forgive. If there's anyone who has wronged you, pray to be able to forgive them. Forgive yourself as well, if you have hurt someone else. If there's anyone you owe an apology to, seek them out, apologize, and leave the rest in Krishna's hands. Whether they accept your apology or not is not your business.
14. Go to bed early and rise early. "Early to bed, early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise." Dedicate the last two hours before sunrise to meditation and prayer.
15. Read something inspiring. I read the books written by A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, like Teachings of Lord Caitanya, Bhagavad-gita As It Is, Srimad-Bhagavatam, Caitanya-Caritamrta, The Nectar of Devotion, The Science of Self-Realization and Sri Isopanisad. Books by his disciples also inspire me. I just finished The Glorious Life of Narottama Dasa Thakur by Sitala Harrison. Wonderful book. I also recently read Blazing Sadhus by Acyutananda Dasa, Alien Identities by Richard L Thompson, Chasing Rhinos with the Swami by Shyamasundar Dasa, and I am currently reading Miracle on Second Avenue by His Holiness Mukunda Goswami. Blazing Sadhus made me laugh on almost every page, Alien Identities satisfied my desire for a scientific perspective on UFOs, Chasing Rhinos was a phenomenal reading experience, presented in two volumes and Miracle is hard to put down.
16. Join a kirtan. Kirtan is the chanting of God's holy names in song, and Sankirtan is the congregational chanting of God's holy names. You can usually find out the times and locations of kirtans and sankirtans by looking on the internet for Hare Krishna temples or Bhakti-vriksha programs near you.
17. Cook something delicious and offer it to God. Krishna is a name for God that means "all-attractive." Krishna likes pure vegetarian food cooked with love and devotion and offered to Him before it's tasted by anyone else, even by the cook. So make sure when you cook for Krishna that the food is vegetarian, and refrain from tasting it until after Krishna has tasted it! If you have a picture of Krishna, you can offer what you cooked to Him in His picture, or you can offer it to Him in your mind. After offering, it's called "prasadam" which means "the mercy of the Lord" and you can then honor His remnants by tasting them.
18. Personal strategy: When I'm really, really stressed, I cook something sweet to offer to Krishna and then I eat His remnants.
Please share your own stress-reducing strategies with me.
