Youth Enhancing Moments
When asked to evaluate your mood or "attitudinal climate," do you have a vocabulary for your state of mind? Do you have a glossary of adjectives at your disposal: energetic, harried, frantic, tired, happy, productive? Take a brief inventory right now. What is your energy level, low to high, on a scale of 1 to 10? Do you feel focused or diffuse, melancholy or present? Do you feel you have the ability to change your state of mind through positive self-talk, a quick call to a friend, a walk, a fitness class, a yoga session, a guided relaxation, or a simple breathing exercise? All of these are viable.
The most direct method is to simply follow your breath. Through breath awareness we enhance our well-being. We create a "youth enhancing moment" by giving attention to a slow, conscious breath. Two mind-body principles are activated: breath centering and introspection. At the end of the yoga classes I teach, I remind students: "In any moment throughout the day you can inhale and receive energy, vitality, peacefulness. And in any moment you can exhale and release tension, fatigue, fear."
Our limbic system responds to our thoughts. Deepak Chopra, MD points to studies indicating that when we have sad thoughts we dispense sad cells throughout our systems. If our limbic system is flowing with good hormones, those happy cells adhere to our organs and we feel a strong sense of well-being. If we are centered on fight-or-flight thoughts, the opposite is true; continued exposure to adrenal hormones such as cortisol weakens our system. There is a reason you feel good when you laugh, when you smile, when you remember a special moment. Good hormones are released into your system and bathe your healthy cells.
By employing simple mind-body techniques, breath awareness, centering, and introspection, we not only witness our state of mind, but more powerfully we author what we choose to focus upon. When I react to another person, even in my mind, by being curt or negative, I simply create one or two more positive responses. If a driver cuts me off and I glare and say "You jerk!", I check myself and say quietly, "Please be careful!" Very different underlying meaning. If I catch a glimpse of my thighs in a window and indulge in self-criticism, "Your thighs look big," I substitute a self-acknowledgement, "All the cycling I have been doing is making my thighs look strong."
Exercise enhances our state of mind; a simple walk can change our attitude almost immediately. Try adding some active imagination to your walk. Think back to a peak experience. Or see and feel yourself exactly where you want to be, at the apex of a desired accomplishment. Imagine how that would feel. Give yourself permission to develop and own your dreams. We know our emotions are powerful generators of energy. Each time we think about something, we lay down a layer of energy. That is why it is said that what we think about, we create.
I have created two products to assist you in this process. The first is the E-MOTION Mind Body Fitness Relaxation, a 16-minute guided meditation, a virtual power nap guaranteed to renew and refresh you.
The second is Yoga Walk, a guided walking experience drawing you into all of your senses and your active imagination.
So make yourself smile right now. Fill your mind with positive self-talk, with pleasant experiences or memories. Imagine, play, and say "no" to self-judgment and self-criticism. Be your own best friend!
Whispers of the Breath Diva:
Our sense of Self can be our treasure, a territory to explore, our friend. By your thoughts and actions, you create an expectancy. In this moment I can inhale and author my life!