How to keep calm
Once you’ve had the serene, authentic experience from calm practices, your body wants more. Here are some tips on how to keep the calm going. Imagine if you could be calm, anywhere, anytime…
It’s important to remember that calm comes about from the absence of both physical and mental tension.
We can let physical tension go through restorative or yin poses. Muscles release what we are holding. The nervous system switches to rest and digest through these poses, especially if you practice calming breathing techniques. This paves the way to release mental tension. - we feel safe and able to let go. Calm the body to calm the mind.
However, doing restorative poses with an anxious mind may not be enough. The same can be said for just meditation. If there is oodles of tension in the body, then the mind may be too distracted to let go. Your nervous may receive conflicted signals. So doing guided meditations, especially MindRest (Yoga Nidra) will send you to that serene, mental tension-free place. You go back to your life off the mat, having made a lovely imprint of calm.
For those who have done the BeCalmed Yourself 5-week series you already have some practices to do regularly. But your mind may kick and scream and give you lots of reasons to not practice: Your mind is not always right. It doesn’t like change and it doesn’t like to let go of control. We are more than our mind and what we do. Trust the subtler layers of yourself and your ability to feel how you want to feel more often.
Relaxation can only happen in the now
Our mind is tricky - it prefers to skip over the experience of letting go and being calm in the moment. It prefers to jump again to a time in the future when we are living the life we want. We put off the one and only place where your nervous system could reset and return to the rest it so desperately needs.
So here are some tips to keep you practicing:
Keep connected
Of course my favourite is going to be to keep connected with me at BeCalmed Studio! Here are some ways to do that.
Do something every day
Especially around the same time each day. Make practicing calm like brushing your teeth. Over time, it will transform your natural state of being. It will also allow your body to yearn for this calmer state.
Practice calm when you’re feeling good
As well as not so good. Think of it has creating a calm background for all that arises in your life.
Create a permanent calm place
Place a yoga mat, or a favourite cushion and a candle or something else you love, somewhere at home. It’s important that you don’t walk past and scowl at your mat, feeling bad, if you can’t make it there. Replace this with something like, “I rest in calmness”. It doesn’t need to be a whole yoga room. You could see it as metaphorical, and in the middle of a busy room, if that’s all that is available. My favourite poet, Apirana Taylor, said he wrote some of his best work in the middle of a drunken party! That’s what his life was at that time. Let your yearning for calm create the change you need.
Watch any new habits
Many habits and addictions begin when we are under stress. If you’ve had a major event, it’s okay of course to indulge and do things as a reaction, but be careful that they don’t turn into behaviors. The more we do something, the more it becomes habit. When I first started leading Yoga Nidra sessions, I gave up my drinking habits at the same time. At the end of a session, this thought would pop into my head… what drink will I have after the session? It took months to let that go. I gave the thought no energy what so ever. Kamini Desai says to enjoy habits in moderation, and have enough serotonin in your system to let you know when enough is enough. If you’re depressed or other serious conditions, you may need more than relaxation. Of course if you have addictions, PTSD or unresolved trauma, you may need other kinds of emotional support, like a counsellor, to walk alongside you.
Create your own calm practice sequence
It takes 15 minutes for your nervous system to reset. Of course the longer the better. Remember to include something physical (restorative or yin yoga pose/s), breath techniques, and a meditation or MindRest (Yoga Nidra). Some ideas for a calm practice:
Use the restorative morning practice video in your Member resources (if you’ve done the BeCalm Yourself series - hint, hint)
Even if you’ve only got one minute, sit in your calm place. Place your hand on your chest, close your eyes, bring a slight smile to your lips. Feel that as a sensation.
Listen to my BeCalmed breath track. If you’ve done the BeCalm Yourself series, you have lots of other breath tools to use.
Do a restorative yoga pose (like supported twist or supported child, or legs up the wall.)
Listen to a MindRest (Yoga Nidra) track. Here is one from the I AM Yoga Nidra method, focused on letting your body heal itself. The intention setting in Yoga Nidra is incredibly powerful for reprogramming your mind and releasing old habits. The deeper our habits become, the field of choices we have narrows. If you tell yourself, “This is just who I am”, then that will be so. There’s a little truth that’s hard to hear: Our mind only has the power we give it. And your body hears everything your mind says!
These practices are powerful. Buddhists practice the three jewels to stay on their path: The Buddha (having a teacher), the Dharma (the practices), and Sangha (community). Meet others with like minds to support your path. BeCalmed Studio runs full day retreats too, a lovely way to connect with others.
And let me know how you are. If you can’t afford to come to a class, don’t let that stop you. We’ll work something out.