20 Nov Living Deeply: A Himalayan Yoga Deep Relaxation Practice to Reduce Stress
According to a report by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, almost two thirds of Americans with a ‘great deal’ of stress feel they have no control over it.
Although we may be aware of how stressed we are on an every day basis, we may be less aware of simple practices that can help reduce stress and its debilitating effects.
The book I co-authored, Living Deeply: The Art and Science of Transformation in Everyday Life, includes a number of practices that can help in reducing and managing our stressful lives.
One of these practices was inspired by an interview with Swami Veda Bharati, a teacher and spiritual leader in the tradition of the Vedas and the Himalayan yogis. Swami Bharati shared insight that points us toward the peaceful, and powerful, inner silence within us all.
Why do you want to see outside what you can already see inside? Silence…endure silence. Now you can measure brain waves. But by that, you cannot convey the silence. In that silence, something else happens. We talk of the entire universe as being an entity in space. Something in the space of your heart grows and expands. It encloses the whole universe. All the living beings are embraced in silent space, which you have entered in this cavity of the heart…(pp. 78-79).
In the companion DVD to the book, he leads us in a deep relaxation meditation practice. I share this in the clip below and invite you join in his meditation. You may find that as you embrace your profound inner quiet, it is far more deafening than the noise created by the stress of our lives.