Q&As
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What are some quick exercises I can do at home to reduce stress, nerves, anxiety?
The quickest way to reduce stress and nerves is to connect with you breathing. Your breath is your anchor. The more you befriend your breath the more your breath will help you find calmness, whatever the situation you are in. You could start your day doing the following: Before even leaving your bed, take a moment to be with your breathing. You do not have to do anything with it. Simply notice how you find it, without any judgment. Become aware of how it moves in your body and how it moves your body. You can choose to place one hand on your belly and one hand on your chest to notice your breathing more easily. The more you practise being with your breath the more natural it will become for you to tune into it several times a day. Practise daily so what you have already established a close relationship with your breath next time a stressful situation comes up.
Do you have any tips for ways to change my everyday routine to feel more energetic?
With “more energetic” I hear “more alive”, and the first thing that comes to mind is to go for a walk in nature. So move your body outdoors. I suggest you go for a walk outside every day so that you quickly notice how being in nature can energise you. When you are outside, ensure to BE outside and not stuck in your head. Be present enough to notice if it is warm or cold, windy or still. Take in the scenery around you. Always without any judgment. Secondly, you could stand up and shake your body as an everyday routine at home. Shaking will give you a sense of feeling free. It brings space and ease to your body. You are releasing stuck energy and opening for more vitality. As you end the shaking, allow time to bring your awareness to sensations of buzzing in your body, wherever you may feel it. The more you connect with your body and notice the energy that is already there, the more present it will become for you. Finally, I would recommend you practise physical yoga for wholeness of energy in breath, body and mind. Yoga is both calming and energising.
Can you give me some useful breathing exercises for different scenarios?
Breathing exercises are excellent for calming and clearing the mind and I guess that is the reason for your question. There are a multitude of breathing exercises and it is important you go with the one that works best for you. To start I wouls recommend a short breathing meditation that will increase your awareness to your breathing. It is called the “Three-minute breathing space meditation” and you can practise it several times a day. At the start it will take about three minutes each time and it is helpful that you sit still with your eyes closes. However, once you become familiar with this meditation, you can practise it standing with eyes open for 30 seconds in any situation. The meditation goes through three stages, which are: (1) Becoming aware of thoughts, feelings and sensations in the body, (2) gathering and narrowing your attention to only focus on your breathing, and (3) expanding your awareness to your whole body breathing. Stay tuned for a guided Breathing Space Meditation that I will soon publish on my YouTube channel. In time I will also present more specific breathing exercises that are easier to explain visually than by written words only.
How can I learn more / book a session?
What are the benefits of practising mindfulness or meditation regularly?
You will come to fall in love with life! You will be in more joy and have more peace. This was the very quick answer. More specifically, you will increase your awareness and thereby become aware of your thoughts, sensations in your body, and how you feel, so that you can take better action instead of living on automatic pilot. You will know that you always have a choice, whatever the situation. You will feel more at peace within you and have more clarity of mind. In addition to increased compassion towards others you will have more self-compassion and act in a way that is good for you. You will live more in the present moment and feel less stuck in your mind. You will also have more acceptance for what is, complain less, have more patience, and be able to handle challenging situations in a better way. And your sense of gratitude will increase. Have I missed anything? 🙂
How can I feel more present during the day?
There are many ways of feeling more present and as an example, as you are reading this, how about taking a moment to notice where you are right now. If you are sitting, is the seat hard or soft, warm or cold? If you are standing, can you feel your feet on the ground? Or you could go to your breathing. How do you find your breathing? Can you keep your awareness on your breath coming in and going out? You are in the present moment. Or let´s say you are pouring yourself a cup of tea. Can you bring your attention and curiosity to the action of pouring the tea into the cup? Or maybe you are in the shower. Are you in the shower feeling the water on your skin, or are you in your head planning the workday ahead? Can you bring your attention to feeling the water instead? Then you arrive in the present moment. There are plenty of ways of entering the present moment. These examples are just a very few of them. The more you practise being present the more you are living in this moment instead of in the past or future in your head. Allow for acceptance of the moment as it is, be both patient and curious, and you will find yourself more in the present moment.
I have trouble sitting still/clearing my mind, what should I do?
I would recommend that you practise mindfulness meditation so that you increase your awareness and go from agitated mind to clarity of mind. Based on your question I can tell you are already on your way to more awareness as you are acknowledging the challenge you have to sit still. Mindfulness meditation practice will help you come into “being” more often, instead of “doing” something all the time. It is helpful to practice being with your breath every day and train your awareness to stay with it. You could start by practising sitting with eyes closed for five minutes every day and tune in to your breathing. The mind might feel agitated and that is okay. Every time you notice your mind has gone to a thought, simply acknowledge where it went and then direct your attention back to your breathing. You might notice it takes a lot of practice to come to a calm and clear mind. That is normal. A little bit of practice every day is better than only sometimes during the week. As you go along, you will notice that the more you sit in stillness, with your awareness on your breath as it moves in and out of your body, the more clarity of mind you will have.
How can I stay grounded when everything feels uncertain?
When everything feels uncertain externally it is very helpful to go within, into the sensations of your own body. There are endless of events around us that are not in our control and that is why coming home to ourselves is so crucial. In mindfulness meditation there is a meditation called the “Body Scan Meditation” which helps you connect with your body and increases your awareness. This meditation, which is a lying down meditation, helps you notice sensations in your body. It can be all the way down to for example noticing a tingling sensation in your left foot or a sensation of warmth around your right upper arm. It is about training your awareness to check in on you, on what is here, in this moment, instead of constantly taking in everything that is happening externally. Stay tuned for the Guided Body Scan Meditation that will soon be uploaded on my YouTube channel.