"When you own your breath, nobody can steal your peace."
Now each of us has learned unconscious patterns and habits in ANS Activation i.e. in patterns of ANS mode that we typically operate in and from. Some people are much more prone to Sympathetic dominance and therefore more prone to experiencing stress, fight and flight responses. They are attuned to being stressed and to getting aroused and aggravated easily. Other people are more Parasympathetic dominant in their typical response to life, they are more chilled, or even somewhat depressed. Or they kick quickly into depression in response to the challenges of life.
Your ANS Response and ANS Mode are really key to how you cope with life, to how you respond and to the sorts of competencies you can bring to any situation. As we show in our book mBraining (www.mbraining.com), the competencies and functions your multiple brains (head, heart and gut) operate in are influenced and determined by what your ANS is doing. You can't feel relaxed and filled with joy if you are massively stressed and in Sympathetic fight or flight mode. Equally you can't be filled with love and joy for life if you are massively depressed and in Parasympathetic over-dominance.
So learning to track for and control your Autonomic Mode and your Response is vital for creating a life of success, happiness, wisdom and joy.
And here's a powerful and simple tip: You can quickly and easily control your ANS Mode/Response through your breathing. Yes, in a few simple breaths, you can shift from one mode to the other. I could describe in detail all the neuro-physiology involved in this, but I won't... instead if you are interested you can read about it in mBraining. What I'll do though is share a simple strategy for helping you to shift out of stressed mode, and depressed mode.
As NLP Trainer (and now an mBIT Coach and Trainer) Linda Kaye, one of the participants of our recent mBIT Coach and Trainers trainings in Toronto, Canada said to me last week, "This technique and information has been life changing for me, it's so simple, but makes such a huge difference. Who would have thought it could be this easy!" And it was her suggestion I write this blog post and share it with you.
To stop stressing - The mBIT StopStress Technique
If you find yourself getting stressed, angry, frightened or any other form of Sympathetic ANS response: Stop, take a breath for 2 seconds in, and 10 seconds out. Repeat 5 times. This will quickly calm you down. Then begin to breathe for 6 (approx.) seconds in, 6 seconds out. This is called Balanced Breathing, and requires the inbreath and outbreath to be of the same duration, and will bring the ANS into balance i.e. a balance between Sympathetic and Parasympathetic. It is calming and healthful. Add into the breathing process that you imagine with every breath your heart, mind and body is filling with a beautiful peaceful loving joy. Breathe this into your heart, up to your head and then down to your gut.
To stop depressing - The mBIT StopDepress Technique
If you find yourself getting depressed, emotionally down or any other form of Parasympathetic ANS response: Stop, take a breath for 10 seconds in, and 2 seconds out. Repeat 5 times. This will pump you up, fill you with energy. Then begin to breathe for 6 (approx.) seconds in, 6 seconds out. This is called Balanced Breathing, and requires the inbreath and outbreath to be of the same duration, and will bring the ANS into balance i.e. a balance between Sympathetic and Parasympathetic. It is calming and healthful. Add into the breathing process that you imagine with every breath your heart, mind and body is filling with a beautiful peaceful loving joy. Breathe this into your heart, up to your head and then down to your gut.
It really is that simple! Practice the two techniques now and see and feel how they powerfully shift your energy states and your mood. Then practice them in the appropriate situations. And before long you'll find that you can overcome stress and lift yourself out of slumps. You'll be in control of your powerful ANS, and bringing a new-found choice to every situation.
“Feelings come and go like clouds in a windy sky. Conscious breathing is my anchor.”
― Thích Nhất Hạnh
life enhancing wishes and smiles
Grant
Grant, I had just awakened thinking about my ANS, went into my office, turned on the computer, and there was your email about this post! Can't wait to use this technique!
ReplyDeleteThanks Jean, isn't synchronicity a funny thing. Amazing how this sort of thing happens. And do let us know how well the technique works for you.
DeleteGrant, I started closely following your work after a recommendation from Becky Walsh very recently. I asked her about the connection between my 10yrs long IBS look a like symptoms and power of intuition to finally cure the symptoms. She said if I can believe that I live in a loving, caring universe then the symptoms have to go which led me to start meditation to balance my ANS. The breathing technique you give in mBIT is sure way for me to start getting benefit. I still have those symptoms but they seem to be fading, the more I believe in the loving universe theory, a.k.a mBIT. Thanks so much for becoming a beacon of light.
ReplyDeleteHi CS, thank you so very much for sharing your experiences with this. You validate just how powerful these techniques can be to change a person's life and ultimately to evolve their neural patterns and their world. There's no magic pill that will change things in 'one shot', but as you point out so beautifully, the more you do the mBIT techniques, the more the symptoms fade, and eventually you'll be doing yourself in a whole new way and have become a new 'being', or as Humberto Maturana puts it 'we aren't human beings, we are human becomings'.
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