Two simple methods of relieving stress, fear and pain

-




Through much study and experience, I discovered two of the simplest ways to relieve stress, fear, anxiety, pain and a variety of other things that trouble humans are

  1. Mindful breathing
  2. Mantra Jap

Not only do either of these ancient and time tested methods relieve problems mentioned they can also be used for emotional and spiritual development when practiced in peaceful moments. Mindful breathing is a type of mindfulness when a person focuses on one’s breathing silently. The interested reader can find an excellent note on it by the author at,

https://ashokbabaji.blogspot.com/2017/02/the-breath-of-life.html

Mantra Jaap (or Jap)is repetition of holy word or name of the Lord. One may use any word that one can repeat comfortably, musically or even in a monotonous manner. While mindful breathing can be practiced if one believes in God or not, Mantra Jap is for those who believe in God. Personally I feel that it is not possible to attain peace without belief and trust in the Almighty Lord because life is fragile and full of uncertainties. It is only belief in Him and His love, an all powerful Universal Intelligence that can control everything, that one can feel secure and therefore be at peace, and how can there be happiness without peace?

There are innumerable names of the Lord in different religious or mystic traditions across the world and a larger number of phrases that contain His name and therefore Innumerable Mantras. The interested reader should search for one that pleases. Here is a brief recording of one based on a name of the Lord popular in South and South east Asia – Ram – that I recorded on my phone one peaceful morning in the garden. It is a mantra that saved my life and protected me repeatedly, when I had undertaken a difficult travel mostly in the Himalayas during the summer of 2007. Listen to it right now by clicking on the video below and experience the peace it generates for yourself.



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

From Birds to Telepathy

-
Image
  Sparrow by  Laitche T he house that I live in presently was built in stages  beginning in 1991 during  vacations and sabbaticals in my career. By 1995, the ground floor of the house was more or less complete except for some finishing that continued later. In the center of the roof of the living room was a hole meant for a center light. To hide the protruding wires a small round plastic sheet covered it with another circular hole in the center of it for the light. A similar one existed in the front porch of the house. I lived in the house through most of 1995 with frequent visits of three or four days to Delhi. At this time a pair of house sparrows occupied the porch roof cavity and made it their home. There were no complaints about that since it was not intended to fix a light there in a hurry. Sparrows are cute little birds anyway and I often leave seeds out for them in the garden. Sometime later the female of the pair moved into the living roo...
Read more

The Palash Tree - Magic of Medicinal Herbs and Flowers and Back Pain

-
Image
The Palash Tree Flower B efore modern medicines became prevalent, humans treated many ailments with flowers, leaves, roots and barks of plants and trees. Ayurveda,  an ancient Indian medicinal science, makes use of many herbs and plant materials without substantial extraction of active ingredients as modern medicine does. The idea is that additional compounds in a medicinal or edible plant is an organic whole and a part of life that supports other life.  The complimentary compounds appear to play a useful balancing role whereas individually extracted and isolated compounds can be harmful. A modern example in wide use as food is sugar, a pure chemical isolated from the juice of sugar cane. Indeed there is no food or herb that does not contain a compound or two that could be from mildly to extremely dangerous if isolated and consumed but is beneficial as a group with other compounds. That is the reason why alcohol distilled from a natural fermented fruit juice and ...
Read more

You are what you eat, and drink

-
Image
C onsume an ounce of whiskey and you will notice the change in mood and behavior immediately. However, it is not just whiskey everything we drink, even the quality of water, or anything we eat has some subtle or significant influence on our behavior. Consumed over a period, not just the weekend binge, the type of food we consume literally shapes our personality prompting ancient thinkers like Hippocrates to remark, “You are what you eat”. Some question this by saying that it is our experiences and habits that shape our personality but the two are linked because it is our habits that shape our tastes and food choices. In another post in this blog it was  mentioned that a human personality is shaped by memory and experiences and one might ask which of the two is more significant - food or experiences?. My understanding is that humans gravitate towards the foods and actions that agree with their inner inclinations and personality and so in the end both causes are two sides of th...
Read more