Nature

Spending time in nature can help relieve stress, reduce feelings of isolation, and lift your mood. More and more studies are showing that nature is an antidote for stress.

Some studies even suggest that spending 2 hours a week outdoors significantly increases your wellbeing. How much time are you spending outside?

Earthing

A recent discovery suggests that “bodily contact with the Earth's natural electric charge stabilizes the physiology at the deepest levels, reduces inflammation, pain, and stress, improves blood flow, energy, and sleep, and generates greater well-being.”

Placing your bare feet on the earth or laying on the ground can actually improve your health!

Nature Sounds

More and more research is validating that nature sounds can enhance nervous system function and human behavior. New studies suggest that even listening to recordings of nature sounds can have a positive impact on your wellbeing, lowering stress, and even lowering annoyance!

What are you listening to throughout your day?

WHY MEDITATE?

“Meditation refers to a wide variety of practices that include techniques. They are designed to promote relaxation, build prana (internal energy or life force) and develop companionship, love, patience, generosity, and forgiveness. It involves an internal effort to self-regulate the mind.” -Heartwood Institute

You can do it can sitting down, lying down, walking, or anywhere.

The practice of meditation is a practice of being still with yourself (observing yourself) in the present moment without judgment. It helps to still mental chatter, and it also helps the body to deeply rest. This process strengthens the neural connections that help us to slow down, see possibilities more clearly, and be more flexible and adaptable in our responses to situations that arise.

Basically, it helps us to get better at life!

BENEFITS:

• Gaining a new perspective on stressful situations

• Boosts productivity

• Boosts your immune system

• Building skills to manage your stress

• Increasing self-awareness

• Focusing on the present

• Reducing negative emotions

• Increasing imagination and creativity

• Increasing patience and tolerance

• Lowering resting heart rate

• Lowering resting blood pressure

• Improving sleep quality

• Decreases pain

WHAT TO DO:

You can meditate on your own (start small) giving yourself a place and a space to center yourself and allow the mind to calm itself.

Remember “not-thinking” is not the key to self-meditation. Meditation, rather, is about allowing the thoughts to pass by like clouds on a beautiful day.

Click here for a video on tips to start meditating!

Self-meditation is for all skill levels but if you are uncomfortable with starting there then the second option may be best for you.

BENEFITS:

Guided meditation has all the benefits of unguided meditation.

It moves the brain waves through the different stages, from beta to gamma.

Just like unguided meditation, it’s a transcendent practice with purification benefits. It drops the body into the parasympathetic nervous system which allows the body to rest, digest, and restore.

WHAT TO DO:

You can practice a variety of guided meditations, from guided imagery meditation (where someone leads you into visualizations that help relax the body) to grounding meditations.

Watch this Guided Grounding Meditation Video to get your meditation practice on!

YOGA NIDRA:

Yoga Nidra is a specific type of guided meditation that has the power to transform, heal and rejuvenate the body.

It’s often referred to as “sleeping yoga,” however you are not asleep (but if you happen to fall asleep, that’s totally okay)!

In this type of structured meditation, you are guided through different stages of body and breath awareness to calm the nervous system.

Yoga Nidra is equivalent to 4 hours of sleep!

WHAT IS A MANTRA?

The word mantra is derived from the root ‘mind’, meaning to think, ‘tra” meaning to liberate.

“Mantra thus means a sacred thought or prayer to be repeated with full understanding of its meaning.” (Light of Yoga, B.K.S. Iyengar)

A mantra can be a word, a group of words, a sound, a syllable that is repeated in meditation practice. The mantra helps one’s wandering mind focused, and was said to keep you from worldly desires. Essentially, mantra helps you to focus your mind and free the mind from emotional blocks, judgments, and limiting patterns.

It creates a vibrational experience, and is said

“to be a vehicle that allows the individual’s attention to travel naturally to a less active, quieter style of mental functioning. Mantra derives its power from the energy effect its sounds produce. Pronouncing a mantra creates a particular physical vibration in the form of a sound that in turns produces various energetic effects into the physical and subtle body.” (Heartwood Institute)

WHY ARE MANTRAS POWERFUL?

The power of a mantra is derived from the repetition of the mantra, which creates a vibration that can transform your state of consciousness, when repeated for a long period of time.

When you are fully focused on the mantra, your mind does not have room to pay attention to any interrupting thoughts, sensations, or memories. If you continuously string together the ending of one mantra repetition to the beginning of the next, you can remain connected to the present moment for the duration of your meditation.

If you have trouble being still and allowing your mental chatter to calm on your own, this active form of meditation may be for you!

WHAT TO DO:

Think of a mantra that comes to mind, perhaps it’s an emotion, an energy or something that is unique to you.

Some examples are “I am calm,” “Peace,” “Release,” or “I am Safe.” The most basic common mantra is “Om.”

Repeat this mantra.

For a step-by-step example, check out this video.

WHAT IS PRAYANAMA?

Prayanama is the practice of breath regulation. In Sanskrit, “prana” means life energy and “yama” means control. Using different styles and lengths of breathing can improve your mental and physical wellbeing in different ways.

Practicing breath regulation that soothes your nervous system can prepare you for sleep.

BENEFITS:

• improves your cognitive function

• improves lung function

• increases mindfulness

• lowers stress

WHAT TO DO:

Watch this video for guidance into a breath regulation exercise to help prepare your body for a good night’s rest.

PRANAYAMA FOR STRESS RELIEF:

Sheetali Pranayama (cooling breath)

This pranayama technique cools the system. I’s a great technique to treat hot flushes or general temperature increases due to anger, exercise, and stress.

It’s used to lower blood pressure and insomnia.

*NOTE: It is not recommended for people living with asthma.

STORY OF ORIGIN:

Ancient sages observed and imitated the world around them in a noble attempt to master body, breath, and mind. They noticed the curve of a bird’s lower beak, a new green leaf uncurling, and the hiss of a cobra. They emulated those shapes and sounds in a practice called sitali (the cooling breath).

In this pranayama, the inhalation is moistened as it passes through the curl of the tongue (alternately described as a bird’s beak and an uncurling leaf) so that you are “drinking” water-saturated air. - Heartwood Yoga Institute

HOW TO DO THIS PRAYANAMA:

• Sit comfortably with your head, neck, and spine aligned.

• Close your eyes, breathe from your diaphragm (from the belly) for several minutes, then open your mouth and form the lips into an “O.”

• Curl your tongue lengthwise and project it out of your mouth (About ¾ of an inch.)

• Inhale deeply across your tongue and into the mouth as if drinking through a straw.

• Focus your attention on the cooling sensation of the breath as the abdomen, and lower ribs expand.

• Withdraw the tongue and close the mouth, exhaling completely through the nostrils.

• Continue for 2-3 minutes, return to the diaphragmatic breathing for several more, and repeat the cooling breath for 2 to 3 minutes longer.

• Gradually you can work your way up to a 10-minute practice.

Watch this Cooling Breath Pranayama Video for an illustration.

WHAT IS SOUND MEDITATION?

Sound meditation is a form of meditation that uses sound as an anchor (focal point) for achieving a meditative state.

There are many ways to meditate with sound, with both guided and unguided options for each. One of the most common ways to meditate with sound is by receiving a sound bath. You can attend a group sound bath or receive it as a private 1:1 session, either virtually or in person.

(Of course, it is always recommended to try it as an in-person experience, whenever possible, as the sounds created are very physical vibrations that can be physically felt in the body and space in a way that is not fully replicable through digital means.)

A sound bath is a meditation of specifically arranged ambient sounds that help calm the nervous system and shift consciousness into a deep meditative state effortlessly through the sound vibrations and/or rhythms played. There may be some guidance, but sound meditation can really be as simple as following these easy steps:

1. Get comfortable lying down or sitting up (lying down is recommended, to let the body fully relax).

2. Tune into the natural rhythm of your breath.

3. Keep an open, curious mind as you begin to notice how the sounds feel as they wash over your body.

4. Offer yourself an intention or feeling that you’d like to invite into your consciousness (or follow the guidance to consider a predetermined group intention)

5. When thoughts distract, simply return to your breath and the sensations of sound.

Listen to the sounds of crystal bowls and other sound therapy instruments in this Guided Grounding Sound Meditation by Yogahood.

LEARN MORE:

Zooey Seraphine is a Master Sound Therapist, with many years of experience educating the public on how to meditate with sound, and use sound as a tool for emotional and nervous system regulation. You can visit her website to learn more: https://zenseraphine.com

Or, sign up for her Sound Wellness Newsletter, to get free education and tips on using sound as part of your everyday wellness routine.