On stress--from my Kripalu visit

Dr. Susan Lord on Stress—Kripalu 2010

Mindfulness is the tool, not willpower. Awareness changes reality.

What are the thoughts you have that make you unhappy—Look at what you think and feel

Buddhists say—two kinds of suffering:
1.Things happen—suffer
2. How you think about things that are happening—what are the meaning we make of things. –The meaning of things equals stress.

He or she who adopts well to an insane society cannot be well

What to do:
· Cut out what doesn’t serve you, even people. Some people are toxic. Who are the energy vampires—either eliminate or find some other ways of dealing with them, talking to them. Have good boundaries
· More nervous cells are in our guts than in our heads
· If you are under stress, you are in flight or freeze state. This can lead to chronic physical problems. The immune system is on alert!

Mindfulness: this all works with biochemistry and the brain changes
1. Aware—notice what is bothering you
2. Express it! Talk to friends, dance, shake your body, keep a journal—Exercise—no matter what it is… When the lion chases the gazelle and the gazelle gets away it shakes!
3. Be in the present—not in the past or future. Accept the present. It doesn’t mean that you can’t plan, but be in the moment. If you are too future oriented than you can’t relax.
4. Patterns—what are the thoughts you have that make you unhappy—just notice what you are thinking and feeling
5. Suspend judgments

With the energy vampires. How can we make this relationship into something else? What is your part in it? You are doing a dance with them. Be honest and kind, even about boundaries and your needs. Keep on examining and noticing where you are on this spectrum of being in the present and relaxed with the opposite end--- flight or freezing. Just notice. We can only make shifts. Change is not going to happen over night