What is anxiety? We all struggle with it.
When you think about it, anxiety comes when you are deviating from the Now.
Anxiety is a product of the mind, you disconnect with your Self and your
environment. There is nothing per se that you can do when anxiety hits, all you
can to is to look for the interferences that have temporarily disconnected you
from the Now. Accept it! When you notice that you are anxious, you actually
already detach yourself from it. Experience your anxiety just like the Tao is
experiencing you. The more often you practice this, the more skilled you will
become and the quicker you will manage to recover from an anxiety attack. Just
know that anxiety is like a signpost that says “stop everything here and now and
just watch”. When you can treat anxiety this way, she has become your friend
already. She becomes a positive force in your home-coming journey.
When
you face a difficult situation, you become tense, you make mistakes so that the
situation you are in becomes even worse and your mind suddenly goes into
overdrive. Learn to disconnect from this voice in your head, it is just that, a
voice that doesn't have to be connected to the real You. Whenever you panic,
know it is not the situation or the environment you are in, it is you having
temporarily lost faith in the Tao and yourself. Try to connect with yourself
again, pay attention to your body, experience how it feels. Is it tense, do you
have your arms and legs crossed? Is your face looking old and haggard when you
pass a mirror? Is there any message that your body tries to communicate to
you? Be your body at that moment and step outside of the tension as you gain
this awareness. It is possible.
Another way you can reconnect with your Self
is by focusing on your breathing. There is something very powerful in your
breathing. Did you know that "spiritus" means breath in Latin? In the same
vein, in the Indo-Germanic language connection, the expression Atman (Soul or
True Self) is connected to the word "atmen" (to breathe). So the different
cultures have long figured out that meditative breathing can instantaneously
connect you with who you truly are. So don't think about calming yourself down,
but just focus on the breathing instead. Try to breathe as deeply as possible.
In the beginning, it is probably very difficult for you and annoying, however,
if you make it a habit, you can witness how this simple technique changes your
life.
By being present while you are experiencing your environment you can reconnect with the Tao. You must have experienced that sometimes you are
overwhelmed by some worries, but when you go to office and concentrate on your
work, suddenly, your worries go away and never come back. They just disappear.
Or sometimes when you experience the environment you have been dreading,
somehow it doesn't look so scary anymore. To the contrary, it becomes
interesting to see everything unfolding in front of your astonished eyes and you
can't wait for the next moment.
Take some time off and do something you
really enjoy. This will give you a good opportunity to disconnect from your
worries. It is like magic. You probably think when you are so worried that
time is running away from you. This is not so. Time is just a reflection of your
inner state. If you approach a problem with the attitude that time will be
running away from you, it will. If you approach it with the mindset that you
have everything you need to handle the situation, you will master it instead. So
work on your mindset first. Find the activity that disconnects you with your
worries first. Play wholeheartedly with your kids, be present when you are
cooking. The Tao is ready to reconnect with you whenever you are.
Once
you re-connect with the Tao you realize that you can handle any situation at
hand. And if you can experience this magic turn-around once or twice, soon the
confidence will grow that you will always have access to this magic force. You
will also get a feel for what your interferences are and you will learn to avoid
them at any cost. You can stay centered regardless of the situation. Yes, you
can follow the flow of the Now always. For the experienced Tao master it is as
if there is a red line on the ground, plain to see but apparently invisible to
everybody else. If you are a novice spiritual path traveler you will have your
phases of magic with the occasional moment of panic sprinkled around. You may
claim yourself as a victim of the environment but as a matter of fact, you are
only a victim of your self-imposed interferences.
Study these different
phases in spiritual consciousness. Observe the environment you are operating in
when you are anxious and contrast this to the environment when you are calm.
Observe your breathing, be mindful of the voice in your head. Fact of the matter
is that you are literally emitting very different levels of energy dependent on
which state you are in. Learn to perceive these energy states in yourself and
your environment. Only when you are not present, the environment you are in
and other people can hurt you. Otherwise you are centered as a massive rock;
that is your natural state in fact. The Tao will bring you lots of opportunities
to practice being present and centered; appreciated these disturbances instead
of complaining about them.
The Tao always knows what is best for you from
the perspective of your soul development. Do not dread things you are afraid
off, see them for what they are, learning opportunities to connect you with who
you truly are. Without a little challenge you would never focus your energies in
the same way to accomplish that feat. The Tao is here to help you. Soon you will
learn that there is only one natural state, one of happiness, love, peace and
light! This is not a slogan, this is for real. Embrace life and let Her show
you the Way and a new master will be born. Please join us in this fun-filled
learning classroom!
By Christian and Su Zhen
Showing posts with label breathing. Show all posts
Showing posts with label breathing. Show all posts
Saturday, March 30, 2013
Sunday, February 3, 2013
When Anxiety Takes Over
The other day we talked about how to follow the Tao,
how to be open to life and how necessary it is to accept whatever comes your
way. However, you can only do that when you command all your psychic powers and
when you have the faith that you can handle any situation. But what do you do
when anxiety sets in? Fear and anxiety are incredible negative emotions and when
they undermine your power base you feel helpless when problems and conflicts
come your way.
When anxiety takes over you think that someone is taking something away from you. Your time, your health, your money, your family, your job, your youth. You feel restless and lose this connection with your True Self. You work harder, you run around aimlessly, you are getting out of touch with the natural rhythm of life. So if you give in to anxiety a vicious cycle is likely to start, that is, the more you do, the more anxious you will become until you are totally disconnected from the Path. With stress comes lack of sleep, you don't eat well and your power base erodes even further.
This situation sets you up for a great opportunity to learn how to reconnect with your power base. Stop everything. Reflect on the possibility that you have everything to deal with the situation at hand. Sure you are anxious and what if this divine intervention doesn't happen in this case? Well, what do you have to lose? The way you are on is a dead-end anyway, so perhaps you want to give our experiment a try.
When you experience anxiety you have a sure sign that you have deviated from the Tao already. Stop and reposition yourself. This will not be easy because the anxiety and fear emotions are very strong negative energies. But you are the master of your emotions and not the slave of them.
There is actually an easy, yet incredibly powerful trick to reconnect yourself with your power base. Take a deep breath in through your left nostril, hold the air for a few seconds and then breathe out through your right nostril. Repeat this exercise until your "system" has slowed down. You can actually feel the cold air enter your brain and it is as if this stream of psychic energy tunes out the endless chatter in your brain. Reconnect with that quiet Voice inside that way. The nice thing is that you can practice this exercise anywhere really until it becomes a natural habit.
Meditation is also very important. Find a quiet time in the day when you have enough psychic power to observe your mind racing. Don't do anything about it. Just see all the worries, ifs and buts fly by your spiritual eye and don't engage. The trick again is to realize that there is an authority within who is unfazed by all this meaningless chatter.
We know that it is very hard in the beginning when you have all the anxiety. Sit quietly, pay attention to your breath. You will probably want to run away. But please be patient, focus your attention on breathing until your restlessness goes away. You will be amazed how well you can sleep after a good meditation or yoga session. With better sleep your psychic energy will return.
When you have regained your psychic powers somewhat try our magnificent experiment that claims that no natter what situation you are in, you already have everything you need in hand. It is certainly true if you have the faith that it is. If Moses managed to part the sea when the Egyptian army approached, don't you think you will find a creative solution for whatever it is that plagues you? Along the Tao all anxiety and fear will vanish, the sooner you start our magnificent experiment the happier you will be. Along the Tao trust and peace arise in you. At this moment, you reconnect with Tao again. You take one deliberate step in the opposite direction and all anxiety and fear will leave you instantaneously. Try it, it works.
By Christian and Su Zhen
When anxiety takes over you think that someone is taking something away from you. Your time, your health, your money, your family, your job, your youth. You feel restless and lose this connection with your True Self. You work harder, you run around aimlessly, you are getting out of touch with the natural rhythm of life. So if you give in to anxiety a vicious cycle is likely to start, that is, the more you do, the more anxious you will become until you are totally disconnected from the Path. With stress comes lack of sleep, you don't eat well and your power base erodes even further.
This situation sets you up for a great opportunity to learn how to reconnect with your power base. Stop everything. Reflect on the possibility that you have everything to deal with the situation at hand. Sure you are anxious and what if this divine intervention doesn't happen in this case? Well, what do you have to lose? The way you are on is a dead-end anyway, so perhaps you want to give our experiment a try.
When you experience anxiety you have a sure sign that you have deviated from the Tao already. Stop and reposition yourself. This will not be easy because the anxiety and fear emotions are very strong negative energies. But you are the master of your emotions and not the slave of them.
There is actually an easy, yet incredibly powerful trick to reconnect yourself with your power base. Take a deep breath in through your left nostril, hold the air for a few seconds and then breathe out through your right nostril. Repeat this exercise until your "system" has slowed down. You can actually feel the cold air enter your brain and it is as if this stream of psychic energy tunes out the endless chatter in your brain. Reconnect with that quiet Voice inside that way. The nice thing is that you can practice this exercise anywhere really until it becomes a natural habit.
Meditation is also very important. Find a quiet time in the day when you have enough psychic power to observe your mind racing. Don't do anything about it. Just see all the worries, ifs and buts fly by your spiritual eye and don't engage. The trick again is to realize that there is an authority within who is unfazed by all this meaningless chatter.
We know that it is very hard in the beginning when you have all the anxiety. Sit quietly, pay attention to your breath. You will probably want to run away. But please be patient, focus your attention on breathing until your restlessness goes away. You will be amazed how well you can sleep after a good meditation or yoga session. With better sleep your psychic energy will return.
When you have regained your psychic powers somewhat try our magnificent experiment that claims that no natter what situation you are in, you already have everything you need in hand. It is certainly true if you have the faith that it is. If Moses managed to part the sea when the Egyptian army approached, don't you think you will find a creative solution for whatever it is that plagues you? Along the Tao all anxiety and fear will vanish, the sooner you start our magnificent experiment the happier you will be. Along the Tao trust and peace arise in you. At this moment, you reconnect with Tao again. You take one deliberate step in the opposite direction and all anxiety and fear will leave you instantaneously. Try it, it works.
By Christian and Su Zhen
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