Christmas is a season for spending with loved ones. If you’re like me, who’s not used to socializing anymore, the gatherings, festivities, and eating may be causing you some holiday stress.
For those working, the stress may be from running after deadlines or quotas before the end of the year. And for others, you may be preparing for holiday reunions or a big trip out of town. Not to mention, the traffic build-up may be adding to your stress.
Stress isn’t always bad. It can keep you focused, energetic, and alert when working correctly. The adrenaline and cortisol released as a stress response can help you perform under pressure and motivate you to do your best in small doses. But when you’re always tense, worried, or anxious, your mind and body pay the price. It could also have long-term effects on your mood, productivity, relationships, and your quality of life.
If you’re feeling stressed out, I’m sharing this breathwork meditation to calm your mind.
It’s called the One Minute Breath meditation, where you inhale for 20 seconds, hold for 20 seconds, and exhale for 20 seconds. The breathwork helps the mind relax and calms anxiety, fear, and worry.
Here’s how to do it: Sit in a comfortable position. Inhale slowly and steadily, filling your lower abdomen, stomach area, going up to your lungs, and then up the chest. Lock the breath once you fill your upper chest and hold. Then, exhale slowly, gently, and steadily pulling the navel in. It may be challenging to do 20 seconds on the first go. Start with 10 seconds – 10 seconds inhale, 10 seconds hold, and 10 seconds exhale.
Meditation is a practice to train attention and awareness, to achieve a mentally clear and emotionally calm and stable state. It is the art of breaking habits. Yogi Bhajan explained it as process of cleansing the mind, clearing out the old junk, so that “we have the freedom to create and project a healthier, happier, truer version of ourselves to the world”.
A serendipitous time
On Tuesday, December 21 at 5pm, we will be celebrating the Winter Solstice by doing the Master’s Touch meditation for 31 minutes. This meditation is powerful in its ability to break through negative blocks and connect you to your highest truth, the Master within. It will help increase mental clarity which we all need to plan out our 2022.
The last full moon is in Gemini and happens this Sunday at 12:35 pm (Manila time). It coincides with the Scent and Sound Healing session, which will help you reflect on how your year has been. If you’ve been distracted or carried away with the events and challenges of your life, this is a time to reconnect with yourself, be present, refocus and set your goals for 2022.
May your days be merry and bright, and may your radiance shine through the season.
In loving service,
Rosan
