Interrupting Stress

Welcome.

Make yourself comfortable by sitting still or laying down.

Close your eyes.

Begin to focus on your breathing.

Breathe deeply and slowly.

Try to listen to yourself breathe.

Feel the air enter your body.

Imagine the oxygen being absorbed by your lungs and entering your bloodstream.

Imagine your heart beating steadily as your blood enters and exits this remarkable muscle.

Now imagine your body as a container for stress.

Accept that stress is our body and mind's natural byproduct to pain.

And that purposeful mechanism of pain is to make us aware that something needs to change.

And it is our duty to care for ourselves so that we may have enough clarity of mind to give the best version of ourselves to others whom we care for and who care for us.

So together,

Let's focus on purging the mind of stress,

Thereby automatically inviting the body to follow the mind.

Please take a very slow deep breath in and out.

And imagine for the rest of this meditation that each time you inhale,

You absorb clarity of mind.

And each time you exhale,

You dispel stress.

In your mind,

Picture the clarity you inhale as blue smoke and imagine the stress you exhale as red smoke.

Now deeply inhale clarity.

Slowly exhale stress.

In your mind,

Picture the thick density of the smoke.

Notice the spinning vortices and dancing contours of the blue and red smoke as you inhale and exhale.

Now let's deepen the intensity of your breath a little more.

Inhale blue.

Exhale red.

And again,

Inhale blue.

Exhale red.

To help make this exercise more effective,

Let's link associations to the red and blue smoke.

Please feel free to link any other association you please.

First,

The red smoke.

As we know,

Stress comes to us in many forms and from many elements of life.

Some manifestations are physical and some are emotional.

Let's associate elements to the red smoke,

Kind of like a chef adding ingredients to a stew.

Stress may come from areas in life such as at work.

Maybe it's your boss or a co-worker or workload overwhelm,

Monotony or deadlines.

Or perhaps stress may come from another area of life like at school,

Where there is the pressure to succeed.

There is debt,

Unending study or the writing of exams.

Stress may come to us at home,

Perhaps in the form of not connecting with your spouse or having little or no time for yourself.

Maybe having challenges with your kids or enduring your parents' expectations or feeling alone.

And generally in life,

Stress may come to us through the discomfort of change or the fear of failure or the fear of the unknown.

Imagine combining some or all of these elements or memories with this red stress smoke.

And now let's add associations to the blue clarity smoke.

It's not always apparent to us,

But clarity comes to us in many forms and from many elements of life as well.

Like stress,

Some manifestations of clarity of mind are physical and some are emotional.

Let's link elements to the blue clarity smoke,

Like a smell or a song can manifest a wonderful memory or a feeling of joy and calm.

Think of who you love and who loves you.

Recall images of your favorite vacation.

How about the sense of freedom that you had when you got your driver's license?

Imagine and feel the love your parents had for you the day that you were born.

Think of tasting your favorite food and drink.

And if you have a hobby,

Imagine yourself practicing that activity with whom you want,

Wherever you want,

For as long as you want,

And in perfect conditions that you deserve.

Imagine combining these memories and feelings with the blue clarity smoke.

Take a deep breath in and out.

Slowly inhale blue smoke.

Calmly exhale red smoke.

And now,

Let's focus on a simple skill,

Not only to manage our stress,

But to protect ourselves from stress.

Think of yourself as a soldier that stands guard at the gates of your mind,

And it is your duty to decide whether stress will or will not affect your mind each day.

It's important to continuously interrupt our minds from defaulting to the manifestation of stress.

So this is how we can help control our stress through the redirection of our attention.

One of the ways to do this is by rapidly conjuring humorous imagery and assigning it to our environment and the people in it who cause us stress.

Over time,

I believe this is an effective way of interrupting stress.

Take a deep breath in and out.

Slowly inhale blue.

Calmly exhale red.

Now please imagine a person or people or an environment that unsettles you.

Maybe it's your boss at work.

Maybe it's a friend or someone else.

And if it's a person or group of people,

Whenever a stressful event begins to occur,

Imagine changing their appearance to something funny that makes you laugh.

Imagine their face changing shape like in a funhouse mirror.

Or imagine big elephant ears sprouting out of their heads.

Or a big red nose on their face like you'd see on a clown.

My favorite image is to imagine their head as a newborn baby's head.

With a facial expression that reminds me of an infant tasting new food for the first time.

Watching the baby's expression twist in uncertainty and childish innocence.

What silly mental distractions can you think of during times of stress?

And now imagine a stressful setting or situation.

Something you know you will have to face in the future.

Perhaps continuously or unexpectedly.

Remember that when you face this environment again,

You can recall this exercise to help you.

Take a deep breath in and out.

Slowly inhale blue.

Calmly exhale red.

Think of the stressful environmental situation as a circus tent.

Inside the circus tent are objects that fill the room.

They could be circus equipment.

Get creative.

Imagine hoops,

A trapeze,

Nets,

Cannons,

Elaborate costumes,

Animals.

Beautiful and silly decorations.

Now simply populate that imagined circus with all of the baby faced people you choose over and over again.

Until you feel yourself begin to distract from stress.

And maybe even smile.

Slowly inhale blue.

Calmly exhale red.

These are mental images meant only for you.

You don't have to laugh out loud as you practice them.

Let them wash over you calmly,

Repeatedly,

Until it becomes an instinctive reflex to the early onset of stress with people and environments.

Take a deep breath in and out.

Slowly inhale blue.

Calmly exhale red.

And again,

Slowly inhale blue.

Calmly exhale red.

Please take a moment to appreciate and thank yourself for the discipline you've shown throughout this meditation.

Take all the time you need to just breathe and remember you can return to this meditation whenever you please.

Remember that the more you practice this meditation,

The faster and easier it will work for you.

Thank you for taking the time to begin learning how to interrupt stress.

And when you're ready,

Slowly open your eyes and let me leave you with these words.

It's a great day to be alive.