Rest is a form of wisdom.
Quote by Anne Morrow-Lemberg.
Hi,
I'm Corey.
I have a degree in holistic nutrition.
I'm a certified Himalayan Kriya tantric yoga instructor and I've worked in the wellness industry for over 12 years.
And today,
We're going to cover something helpful in the way that we can support ourselves to both prevent and to react to burnout,
That stress that becomes so overwhelming that we don't want to show up to work the next day,
Right?
So we have ways that we can adapt to stress and to tonify our systems in order to keep us thriving and healthy and out of the stress zone.
We want to be able to be excited,
Right,
To take on the next challenge in life,
Which is the position of non-burnout.
And we start by talking about state.
So stress is a state change,
We could say,
Where our physiology shifts into a sympathetic response,
Also known as the fight or flight response.
So stress is a psychological state change as well,
Right,
Where we have fear and anxiety,
Where they're more present in our field than peace and calm and presences.
So stress is also an energy state change,
So it's physiological,
Psychological,
And energetic state change,
Which involves our emotions and subconscious mind.
So those are the three states that we're gonna focus on supporting today.
Physiological state,
Psychological state,
And energetic state.
To support our physiological state,
We can use adaptogenic botanicals,
Such as ashwagandha,
Which is Indian ginseng.
And other types of ginseng,
Such as Siberian ginseng,
Can help our bodies to adapt to stress.
Additionally,
There's something called supercritical holy basil extract,
Or tulsi extract,
And organic rhodiola,
Which actually help regulate cortisol levels,
Inflammation,
And keep us mentally sharp.
Additionally,
Chaga mushroom and reishi mushrooms are adaptogenic as well and they can actually help regulate our immune function if that's something we want to support as well.
Lastly,
Certain strains of clinically studied probiotics can really help our mental and emotional physiology by supporting neurotransmitter production through the gut-brain axis.
So find yourself a good probiotic if you haven't yet.
The world of nutrition support,
Of course,
Is complex,
So always consult a professional before altering your intake or changing your diet plan.
Another way we can create physiological state support is by tonifying our vagus nerve,
Which runs down either side of our neck down into the lower parts of our abdomen.
Humming,
Singing,
Mmm,
Anything that vibrates this area?
Certain postural yoga techniques and even electronic stimulation devices such as the VeggieStim have good clinical data to support that their regular use which helps shift our state from fight or flight to rest and digest,
Really works to tonify the vagus nerves and the network.
We'll do a breathwork exercise towards the end of this video.
To learn a breath technique that actually helps tonify the vagus nerve and shift us into that.
Rest and digest state of calm.
Okay,
All right,
The second state we want to affect is psychological state.
So our state of mind,
Our state of consciousness,
How we interpret reality.
The story we tell ourselves about what's going on has a lot to do with our state of stress and burnout.
There's a lot of good research on gratitude as one category of how we can affect our psychological state.
Okay,
So here's some research.
In one study,
One group wrote about things they were grateful for that had occurred during the week.
A second group wrote about daily irritations or things that had displeased them.
And the third wrote about events that had affected them with no emphasis on them being positive or negative experiences.
And after 10 weeks of this writing exercise,
Those who wrote about gratitude were more optimistic,
Felt better about their lives,
And their happiness scores increased.
Surprisingly,
They also exercised more and had fewer visits to the physician than those who focused on sources of aggravation.
No surprise there.
In another study,
People wrote about early memories in their life,
And their week's assignment was to write a letter and personally deliver this letter of gratitude to someone who had never been properly thanked for his or her kindness.
Participants immediately exhibited a huge increase in their happiness scores upon doing this.
This impact was greater than any other form of intervention with benefits lasting for a month after they did this.
So very powerful.
So whether you write thank you notes,
Letters,
Thank someone mentally,
Or keep a gratitude journal,
Or simply just count your blessings,
Having a regular gratitude practice is vital,
We can say,
To keeping a positive,
Happy disposition.
Along with that.
Establish firm boundaries,
Set specific work hours,
And adhere to them strictly.
Turning off work notifications in the evenings and on weekends if you can.
Learn to say no to additional tasks to avoid overextending yourself.
Prioritize physical self-care by aiming for seven to nine hours of sleep nightly.
Move for at least 30 minutes a day,
Walking,
Yoga,
Lifting weights,
Whatever,
To release that tension,
Those stress hormones.
Maintain a balanced diet,
And stay hydrated with electrolytes to improve energy.
Incorporate mindfulness and relaxation into your life.
Take five to ten minutes for daily meditation,
Breath work,
Or other forms of yoga to manage stress.
Practice journaling to process emotions.
Get into a habit of using brainwave entrainment audio regularly.
Certain brainwave entrainment tracks have been scientifically demonstrated to shift our state of consciousness into a more present,
Calm,
And focused state.
And certain frequencies,
Like 40 hertz gamma,
For example,
Can also help our brains to cleanse and repair in ways that seem to reverse even the symptoms of Alzheimer's disease,
Which is powerful stuff.
Structure your workload.
Prioritize tasks and delegate or eliminate non-essential work.
Take regular breaks during the day such as stepping away from your desk,
Or going outside and even getting barefoot on the bare ground when you can to ground ourselves and to recharge our ionic energy.
Energy body.
It's important to also foster social connections.
Maintain strong relationships with friends,
Family,
And colleagues to build a support network.
Bring more love into your life by learning to master the art of conscious relating by doing relationship yoga.
Seek professional help if it's really a struggle.
If feelings of exhaustion and cynicism persist,
If you're feeling like maybe you're having a trauma response,
And that's playing itself out by you being a little more irritable or reactive than usual.
Then maybe consider consulting a therapist or mental health professional to help work through that.
On a particular episode.
Okay.
So we did physiological,
Psychological,
Finally let's get to your energetic state with a practice that will actually help us shift all three states at the same time.
So it's best to do this one standing.
So if you're in a space where you can stand,
Go ahead and stand up right now with me.
Alright,
Now that you're standing,
Either standing at your desk or hopefully you can actually take two to five minutes.
Throughout intervals of your work day to get outside and connect with the sun,
Connect with the earth,
And do a little breath work.
This breath work will really shift all of your states effectively if you even do it for just two to five minutes a day.
So consider doing this standing at your desk or outside in what's called the Wonder Woman or Superman pose,
Which is that your hands are at your sides and you're nice and tall.
And according to the preliminary research done by famous TED talk speaker Amy Cuddy.
Changing the shape of your body for a minimum of two minutes can have energetic effects which change the physiology of our bodies,
Lowering stress hormones and inflammation.
And even better,
If you can do this barefoot,
Again on the ground or concrete surface,
Then do so.
So we stand here with our hands onto our sides,
Legs are kind of slightly apart.
Feet planted in the ground.
Step two,
Begin a box breathing pattern,
All right?
So if you haven't done box breathing before,
It's a simple pattern that goes like this.
Four second inhale.
Two,
Three,
Four,
Four second hold at the top.
Three,
Four,
Four second exhale.
Three,
Four,
And four second hold at the bottom.
Three,
Four.
Okay,
So we're doing the box breathing.
Four,
It's like this,
A box.
Four count.
Inhale,
Four count,
Hold.
Four count,
Exhale.
Four count,
Hold out.
When we do the breathing,
We're going to do what's called ujjayi breath.
This is a yogic term that just means basically to constrict the throat slightly.
To make the sound of ocean waves breaking on the shore as you continue your breath,
Okay?
So it sounds like this.
Or part in.
Hold for 4 seconds.
Exhale on for four.
So this actually helps tone the vagus nerve and induces even more calm into the breathwork.
So do that ujjayi breath.
All right,
Step three,
The final part is to connect inside by doing a visualization.
This increases what's called interoception or the ability to feel inside of our interiority.
To get an energetic connection going.
And then when you exhale,
Imagine sending that sparkly rainbow energy down the front of your body,
Down to the core of your pelvis again,
Okay?
So this time,
Let's do it together.
Breathing with me.
If you want to,
You can close your eyes.
This can help you concentrate on the visualization.
Okay,
Let's put this all together.
So you're standing there,
You got your hands on your sides,
You're standing tall,
Feet planted in the ground.
We're going to begin with the breath,
The Ujjayi breath.
And we're imagining this rainbow energy coming up from the base of our pelvis,
Up our spine,
To our heads,
Then down the front of the body,
Back to the pelvis.
All right,
Let's begin.
Breathing in four counts.
Holding at the top.
And exhaling again the rainbow down the front of the body.
Hold at the bottom.
Inhale the rainbow up.
Exhale the rainbow down.
And hope.
Inhale the rainbow up.
Exhale the rainbow down.
Now the rainbow up.
Exhale,
Wrinkle down.
Inhale the rainbow up.
Exhale down.
Inhale up.
Old.
Exhale down.
Inhaler.
Exhale it down.
You can continue at your own pace.
You can even do this,
Of course,
Sitting at your desk.
This kind of energetic box breathing is an enhanced version of the box breath,
Which is really well studied for how it can reduce stress,
Induce a state of calm,
To get us present and connected to our center.
