Slaying The Stress Dragon

The hero’s journey of our life involves many obstacles we must hurdle, dodge, and break right through like Walter Payton on the four-yard line, moments from that glorious touchdown.

Sick family members, bitchy bosses, crowded subways, minimum wage, broken iPhones, and low quality “food” at supermarkets amongst an endless tirade of scorching flame from the jaws of the dreaded stress dragon.

What many fail to realize is that there are weapons and techniques all around us for combating this ever-hungry monster. Besides proper diet and movement, every day here are a few simple ways to relieve stress.

Meditation

Meditation is an ancient practice where an individual uses a technique, generally referred to as a metaphoric “anchor” such as focusing their mind on a particular object, thought, or activity, (e.g. breathing in a particular pattern or focusing solely on a flame, as it dances and flickers) to achieve a mentally clear and emotionally calm state of being.

There are a plethora of viable methods to achieve this serenity. As with many techniques on this list, an entire essay, documentary, or book could be/have been produced on this topic alone.

It should be noted that within each type of meditation, there are several subtypes to discover and practice. As with many fields of science or spirituality meditation teachers have a varying array of ideas about how long & how frequently one should meditate.

It is fine to blend types or to test different approaches until the right one is found. Experiment. I do.

Mindfulness- Mindfulness is the practice of bringing one’s attention fully to the experiences occurring in the present moment. An example of this would be sitting in a dark quiet room and focusing your gaze and attention on the flame of a candle for 10-15 minutes. There is no set time limit but I find at least 10 minutes is necessary to quiet the storm of the mind and allow this magic to work itself. You may begin to itch or feel uncomfortable in your particular position. Trust me, this is very common. Simply acknowledge, disregard, and ride the dancing waves of your discomfort to the shores of internal peace.

Transcendental- This is a simple technique in which a personally assigned mantra, such as a word, sound, or small phrase, is repeated in a specific way. It’s generally practiced for 20 minutes twice each day while sitting comfortably with the eyes closed

Metta or loving/ kindness- This technique involves compassion, understanding, and forgiveness to achieve a more positive relationship with the universe and subsequently every interaction you come across, human or not.

Many of us have heard of the golden rule of treating others as you would like to be treated. I prefer the platinum rule coined by Onnit CEO, shaman, and warrior-poet Aubrey Marcus. The platinum rule is to treat others as if they were you living another life because they are. Start by focusing on a loving relationship with yourself, then progressively working towards accepting and shedding love light on all beings.

Usually, this progression is advised: oneself

a good friend

a “neutral” person

a difficult person

all four of the above equally finally, the entire universe

Zazen- More commonly shortened to Zen meditation. This technique is essentially turning your attention internally and allowing your thoughts to flow as effortless as a lily pad gliding along a gentle stream.

Allow thoughts to flourish and drift away while being aware of and observing what passes through the mind's eye and around you, without dwelling on any thought or sensation in particular.

An excellent exercise for this is to purchase a Zen Buddha board generally sold by book retailers. This is a type of board upon which you paint something with water before watching it dry and fade away. This helps to dissolve connection issues or the inability to simply let go, and let be.

Zen meditation is a truly powerful force. To quote Hyde from “That 70s Show”; “Zen, at peace, aloof….you can’t just teach someone to be Zen, you can only learn to be Zen.”

Visualization- A common tool of many athletes, warriors, and speakers or presenters, in which one will close their eyes and purposefully visualize or reenact a specific movement, thought, or technique. See yourself honestly, as you would if a camera were showing you the visualization. This can be a powerful mental tool when used often and correctly.

In a fascinating study conducted by Guang Yue, Ph.D., an exercise physiologist at the Cleveland Clinic Foundation in Ohio, he asked 10 volunteers aged 20 to 35 to imagine flexing one of their biceps as hard as possible in training sessions five times a week.

The researchers then recorded the electrical brain activity during the sessions. To ensure the volunteers were not unintentionally tensing, they also monitored electrical impulses at the motor neurons of their arm muscles.

Every two weeks, they measured the strength of the volunteers’ biceps. The volunteers showed on average a 13.5 percent increase in strength after only a few weeks of visualization, furthermore, they maintained that gain for roughly three months after the training stopped. Controls who missed out on the mental workout showed little to no improvement in strength.

Moving meditation- Flow state. When most people think of meditation they may picture a yogi sitting lotus style on a cushion with incense burning while chanting “om” to themselves, perhaps holding a cup of tea.

While this is a very good practice it isn’t the only way to meditate. Often, I’ll ask someone what meditation means to them and then I’ll tell them not to let me hit them before throwing a few loose jabs or slaps at them.

While they move and frenzy in an attempt to protect themselves ill laugh and ask them what’s on their mind, always getting the same answer, “not getting hit”.

That my friend is moving meditation and therefore an extended metaphor for all meditation.

A few examples of moving meditation would be; archery, pool, martial arts, (especially fighting or sparring), and free-solo rock climbing.

Breathwork

Breathing may be the single most potent, undervalued, and disregarded ability of our human soul vessel, which is ironic considering the sheer number of breaths we accumulate over a lifetime or even an hour. Breathing in a particular pattern or system as a means of changing one’s mental and physical state is as old a practice as any you’ll find. While there is a plethora, (varying in degree of difficulty & effectiveness personalized to each human,) of approaches to breathing here we will focus on my personal favorite & most effective methods.

Box breathing- Evenly timed and controlled breaths in a series of four motions,(e.g. breath in for 7 seconds, hold for 7 seconds, breath out for 7 seconds, resist breathing for 7 seconds). This can be done sitting still or moving. Try it between light posts next time you walk but be mindful not to pass out!

Wim Hof method- If you’ve never heard of this incredible man I urge you to put this down now and return after the fresh blowing of your mind. This powerful practice is in layman’s terms breathing deeply from your diaphragm for 40-60 breaths (as Wim would say,” Any hole as long as you breathe fully in”) followed by letting go (as opposed to pushing) the exhale. Follow this with as long as possible without taking a breath in and witness the magic after 3-5 rounds!

Nauli Kriya- Popularized by MMA and BJJ legend Rickson Gracie (considered by many the greatest Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu practitioner of all time) and even featured in a scene with The Incredible Hulk!

The lungs are likened to bottles, skinny on top and wide at the bottom. According to Rickson, when we breathe by focusing on inhaling, we don’t fill our lungs properly. Mammalian predators, on the other hand, are said to breathe by simply exhaling. This breathing technique is essentially exhaling so that the lungs become empty and then allowing the lungs to fill up automatically and effortlessly. As opposed to gasping for air, one is exhaling continuously.

Once you gain enough control practice breathing on each side of the diaphragm. This is described as a more efficient way of oxygenating blood and as breathing through the diaphragm.

The diaphragm is seen as any other muscle in that it can be trained for maximum utility through exercise. At the most advanced level, these diaphragm exercises take the form of shifting abdominal contortions. For footage or more just search “Rickson Gracie Breathing” on YouTube.