When life speeds up, perspective spins out and stress can strangle any enjoyment of what lies in front of us.
While we may or may not need to create macro change to address the cause, there are micro methods that can make a big difference day-to-day, bringing us back to centre, creating energy and more mental space.
'The breath has lots of secrets'
It is our most immediate tool to transform the way we feel. Research shows what we intuitively know – our emotions and our breath are linked – when we are angry or distressed our breath is shaky and shallow, when we are happy or relaxed our inhalation deepens and our breath slows and when we are sad, our exhalation lengthens. But just as our emotions affect our breath, we can use our breath to shift our emotions.
In fact, one study of war veterans found that a breathing practice was more effective than drugs or therapy. Other research has shown that a breathing practice trains our body to be calmer (activating the rest and digest parasympathetic nervous system response) and lowers our "stress" hormones.
"The breath has lots of secrets to offer," says Swami Sadyojathah a renowned yogi and peace activist, currently in Sydney for a series of talks and workshops with NGO organisation Art of Living. "We learn everything else but not how to breathe properly."
"We stop reacting and start responding when we are in touch with our own centre ... sadness is moving away from ourselves," he continues, adding that returning to our centre is often as simple as returning to our breath.
Resting awareness on the rhythm of the breath, without trying to alter it, can help us connect back, Sadyojathah explains.
"We can use different patterns of breath to manage our emotions – 10 minutes of [conscious] breathing is all that is required," he says. "There are rhythms in nature and rhythms in the body – Breathing helps to restore the harmony between the rhythms."
One technique, taught by Sadyojathah at the Art of Living, is the Sudarshan Kriya (or SKY).
Some research has shown it may reduce anxiety scores, enhance brain function, and support resiliency to stress.
The technique is a three-part rhythmic breath with slow, medium, and fast cycles which has been taught to more than six million people in 152 countries worldwide:
- Ujjayi or "Victorious Breath": This involves experiencing the conscious sensation of the breath touching the throat. This slow breath technique (2-4 breaths per minute) increases airway resistance during inspiration and expiration and controls airflow so that each phase of the breath cycle can be prolonged to an exact count. The subjective experience is physical and mental calmness with alertness.
- During Bhastrika or "Bellows Breath," air is rapidly inhaled and forcefully exhaled at a rate of 30 breaths per minute. It causes excitation followed by calmness. The third phase is chanting "Om" three times with "very prolonged expiration".
'The only way to transcend the negative thoughts'
Why not just use the time to get a little extra sleep?
"Meditation gives the body and mind a much deeper quality of rest than sleep," explains Deepak Chopra. "This can be seen through EEG measurements of the brain, hormone levels in the blood, and cellular metabolism. But the real value of meditation goes far beyond rest; it is how we awaken to our true selves and attain our full human potential. Sleep does not give you that."
Sadyojathah adds that we don't need to lock ourselves away for long to experience the benefits.
"Ten to 15 minutes of meditation gives energy for eight hours," he says, adding that exercise is good for the body while breathing and meditation are exercise for the mind. "Meditation is 'de-concentration' it is to relax and it gives energy ... it is restful alertness."
It offers many more perks and, according to the Art of Living "is the only way you can transcend the negative thoughts". New research which found that meditators experience a reduction in worrying and negative thoughts compared with those who simply practice relaxation, supports this. Separate research from Harvard has shown that meditation reduces the size of parts of the brain linked to fear and anxiety and stress.
While there are many techniques for meditation, Sadyojathah suggests just becoming aware of what is happening in your mind – not attaching or trying to control your thoughts, "accepting everything – not running away from the world ... just taking some time out".
We can meditate with our eyes open too.
"Sitting and watching the sunset, watching scenery can also bring you back to your soul," he says. "Every day is a practice – even when your eyes are open, observe."
Ask instead of catastrophising
Stress and unhappiness often comes, not so much from our situation as our thoughts about it. For instance, reframing stress as a challenge instead of a threat not only helps us to perform better, it inoculates us to its negative effects which include impaired immune function, inflammation and depression.
Similarly, reframing adversity can help to reduce the stress around it and create perspective – even happiness.
"Adversities do not destroy happiness," says clinical psychologist, Russell Grieger author of the Happiness Handbook. "Though frustration, disappointment, sadness, and grief naturally and appropriately come with adversity, depression, anxiety, and bitterness does not. These come when we catastrophise about our adversities – when we awfulise, horriblise, and terriblise about them."
One way to create perspective and reduce the negative feelings of stress is to consider this question, Sadyojathah says:
"Consider that billions of years have passed and there are billions of years to follow – see life from the context of space and ask 'who am I in the context of the universe and what is my life for in the context of the universe?' – it helps to create a broader perspective," Sadyojathah says.
"Don't be in a hurry to find answers – they are just tools to dig within. You can start with a book and pen – start by writing what is not the purpose of life."