by Joan Cerio -
How do you cope with a world filled with foreclosures, job losses, natural disasters and social changes? A famous line from the movie “The Karate Kid” says it all: “Balance is key.”
TEN WAYS TO MAINTAIN BALANCE:
1) Breathe!
When we are stressed we tend to hold our breath. Pay attention to your breathing. Take a moment now to first fill your belly with air and allow it to expand and then fill your chest. Exhale the air from your belly first and then from your chest. Take several more deeps breaths. Do this whenever you feel stressed.
2) Ground yourself.
Connect with the earth. One way to feel connected is by imagining you are a tree. Send roots down from your feet into the center of the earth. Feel your feet solidly planted on the ground.
Another way to connect with the earth is to work outside. Tend a garden, rake leaves, or shovel snow. A third way is wear or carry grounding stones such as hematite or obsidian.
3) Center yourself.
Bring your attention to your belly, two inches below your navel and two inches inside from it. This is your geometric center. While standing, project a line from this point the same distance in front of you as behind you. Project another line from this point to your right and left, the same distance.
Finally, project a line from this point up your spine through the top of your head and down your spine to the ground the same distance as the other lines. Without removing your attention from these lines, gently rock back and forth forward and backward and side-to-side. Notice how stable you feel when you are centered.
4) Open your heart.
Perform any chest-opening exercise such as bringing your hands together in front of your chest with or without hand weights and open your arms to either side of you. Repeat this ten times. You can also massage or tap on your chest and sternum.
Meditate on the heart chakra while visualizing green or pink. Tone the long “A” vowel sound. Lastly, put on your favorite heart-opening music.
5) Balance your heart and your mind.
The heart holds wisdom, the mind holds knowledge. Think with your heart and feel with your head. Heart energy is right-brained, feminine, and the subconscious mind, while mind energy is left-brained, masculine and the conscious mind.
Perform any exercise that alternates your arms and legs such as walking and swinging your arms, crawling, or alternating arms and feet while swimming.
You can also balance the right and left hemispheres of the brain, and thereby balance mind and heart, by making a fist with your thumb pointing up. Hold your thumb about a foot in front of your eyes. Now move your thumb in a figure eight or infinity sign pattern and follow your thumb with your eyes without moving your head. Vary the size of the infinity sign.
6) Reduce stress.
Erase stress, negative thoughts, and residual emotion by placing your thumb at the bridge of your nose and then move it up to your hairline. Do this three times. Then place your fingertips of both hands over each eyebrow and gently move your fingertips outward towards your temples.
This relaxes your frontal brain and acts like a reset button. Another simple stress reduction tip is hum. Humming vibrates your cranial bones and creates space for your brain to breathe. It is also good for headaches and pressure in the head.
7) Take Care of Yourself.
Practice spiritual selfishness and take care of yourself first. Even the airlines know this: put on your mask before assisting another. Listen to your body. It is your messenger. Pay attention to how you feel physically and where you may have discomfort.
Meditation and massage are two great ways to alleviate discomfort and relax you. Do something nurturing each day, whether it is taking a walk, soaking in the tub, or listening to soothing music.
8) Remain in the now.
Everything that ever was, is, or is to be is happening in the miraculous moment of now. In other words, do not dwell on the past or worry about the future.
Fear cannot exist in the moment of now. If you choose, use this affirmation to assist you: “I am centered in the power of now. The present is a present I sent myself.”
9) Live in harmony with nature.
Follow nature’s lead. Live according to its rhythms, cycles, and seasons. Take time to be in the rejuvenating energy of nature. Notice the beauty around you.
The universal law, as without so within, applies to you as well. The beauty that you see around you is also within you.
10) Become an observer.
Practice what I call compassionate detachment. Do not get caught up in the chaos or others’ drama. Observe what is happening and say to yourself, “Isn’t that interesting.”
Accept everything as it is. Turn off the radio, television and computer and notice what you are creating in your world.
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