line stringlengths 1 117 |
|---|
others that you are not afraid of them or what they might do to you once you are |
unconscious It demonstrates to them that you see them as allies and that you wouldnt |
attack them if they fell asleep Most importantly it proves to your biological system that |
completely lowering your guard among friends is not taking a risk |
When cortisol levels lower for weeks or months the cerebral cortex exhibits a remarkable |
capacity for healing Many of the cellular changes of stress that compromise intelligence |
reverse completely Mammals in lowstress conditions produce large amounts of beneficial |
neurochemicals and brain growth factors The absence of stressors stimulates neural stem cell |
proliferation in the learning areas of the brain As you know from Chapter the relaxation |
response which can be induced by meditation and breathing practices is characterized by a |
distinct gene transcription profile This means that relaxation results in the expression of an |
Chapter Think Peacefully |
entirely different set of genes designed to build the mind and body up as opposed to tearing |
it down |
When you start operating without stress you will feel dull for a few days However |
after a few weeks and months of living at this calmer level you will find yourself regaining mental |
aptitude feel my memory and attention are better than they have been in over a decade |
attribute this to meditation mindfulness and once again to diaphragmatic retraining |
Diaphragmatic Breathing and Unbracing the Mind |
if a mans mind becomes pure his surroundings will also become pure Buddha c BCE BCE |
Judging resisting attaching and craving make us tense and cause us to breathe shallowly |
Shallow breathing and muscle tension are preparatory Because they keep us on guard for |
negative occurrences we cant help but think negative thoughts When you start breathing |
diaphragmatically you are sending your body a signal that nothing bad can happen |
Diaphragmatic breathing allows us to coexist with our thoughts peacefully and it is the most |
reliable way to find rest in the present moment Many clinical researchers agree that breathing |
diaphragmatically fills the mind with unprovocative content It disconnects you from the fear |
grief and startle systems of the brain that seek out desperate lastditch tactics |
Diaphragmatic breathing is a core component of most meditative practices especially |
mindfulness Mindfulness practitioners notice the sensations arising from the stomach and |
chest and listen to the sound of the air as it passes through the nostrils Focus is placed on |
taking longer steadier breaths and on the abdamens movement to ensure that the diaphragm |
is engaged To this end practitioners often think about the word rising when breathing in and |
the word falling when breathing out Some visualize inhaling positivity and exhaling |
negativity To promote belly breathing they also imagine that the air they breathe enters the |
navel fills the stomach and then exits the navel If one becomes distracted from the breath |
they acknowledge this nonjudgmentally and return to focused breathing Mindfulness is also |
commonly combined with progressive relaxation and episodes of scanning the body for the |
tension we experienced in Chapter |
Being aware of your breath forces you into the present momentthe key to all inner transformation Whenever |
you are conscious of the breath you are absolutely present You may also notice that you cannot think and be |
aware of your breathing Conscious breathing stops your mind But far from being in a trance or half asleep you |
are fully awake and highly alert You are not falling below thinking but rising above it Eckhart Tolle b |
The quote above reaffirms the thinking of many spiritual leaders They know that breath |
awareness helps us refrain from gasping and shallow breathing However mere breath |
awareness is not enough to shift you into a parasympathetic state Paced breathing is much |
more effective in this regard Paced breathing allows you to permanently lengthen deepen |
and smoothen your breath which does much more to rectify your thought patterns Moreover |
once the functioning of your diaphragm is improved you dont have to worry about staying |
aware of your breathing or constantly living in the now Diaphragmatic retraining makes it so |
that you dont have to hide from the past or future or retreat to the present moment just to |
stop negative thinking |
PROGRAM PEACE Self Care Exercises to Reprogram Your Mind and Body |
Before started paced breathing my internal monologue was full of argumentation often |
could not stop myself from playing out the most dismaying and socially awkward events in my |
head constantly fought people in my mind saying spiteful things that would never say in real |
life would practice ridiculing people that had wronged me in an attempt to provoke an |
altercation was trying to finetune my angry personality to be convincing quickwitted and |
sharptongued was practicing hate |
This had been going on for years but it ended very abruptly Only one month after started |
paced breathing with a breath metronome my inner speech lost its violent negativity no |
longer had any hot buttons for people to press and felt nothing that anyone could say could |
make me lose my cool Years of meditation breath awareness and living in the present |
moment led to modest gains My entire ethos was transformed by only a single month of paced |
breathing minutes a day |
Sustained Firing and Reconsolidation |
When a thought shortens your breath it is given priority Upsetting thoughts stimulate the |
release of the brain chemical dopamine Dopamine then amplifies the thoughts vexing aspects |
by causing the neurons involved to fire for longer periods This extended cellular activity is a |
phenomenon in neuroscience known as sustained firing Thus dopamine makes sure that the |
subjects we deem important either because they are rewarding or punishing are kept active in |
mind longer Whether you are excited about something going well or worried about it going |
wrong dopamine causes the emotional elements of the situation to be retained in the stream |
of thought Because the relevant brain cells keep firing you cant help but think about those |
elements for a while |
The thoughts that upset us are lasting due to our neurochemistry However when you |
dont allow upsetting thoughts to decrease the length of your breath as when paced |
breathing the startle doesnt happen the dopamine doesnt surge and the activity of the |
neurons that code for the upsetting aspects of the thought is not sustained The thought enters |
and then quickly exits the mind without feeling compelling Any time you recognize a disturbing |
thought forming focus on prolonging the breath and eliminating the discontinuities This will |
negate the thought and make it and others like it less likely to revisit you in the future Lucky |
for us this wont diminish dopamines response to positive thoughts which works via a |
different mechanism |
When you practice paced breathing pay attention to your train of thought and notice how |
your mind refuses to cling to worry An alarming idea that would usually capture your attention |
now seems inconsequential This will permanently alter how you feel about that topic by |
physically changing its memory trace in the brain Consolidation is the name for the complex |
brain processes responsible for turning a fleeting experience into a longterm memory |
Reconsolidation is the name for the reevaluative process that occurs whenever a memory is |
recalled Emotional reconsolidation happens each time something is remembered and it can |
be either positive or negative |
Psychotherapists coax patients into remembering and talking about their past traumas |
trying to get the patient to reprocess the memory in a better light reconsolidating it in a way |
that is not as troublesome When one speaks to a friendly therapist seated in a comfortable |
Chapter Think Peacefully |
chair that safe environment reframes the traumatic memory Similarly every memory you |
recall during a paced breathing episode will be retrieved in a more relaxed affective context |
Memories that are normally retrieved under sympathetic dominance are now being retrieved |
and reconsolidated under parasympathetic dominance systematically desensitizing you This is |
Subsets and Splits
No community queries yet
The top public SQL queries from the community will appear here once available.