What Does Real Love Look Like?

Let’s face it: the definition of love in our society is very different from what actual love is.

If you want proof of this, go see the latest Hollywood romantic blockbuster and then head over to a Pema Chodron or Thich Nhat Hanh talk.

 

Your mind and heart will be blown away. 

What our greatest spiritual teachers say about love is completely opposite to what society says.  And maybe that’s why relationships can be so difficult and painful sometimes.

If we all learned the difference between real love and “ego love” (as I like to call it), I truly believe we would live fuller lives. 

Real love is incomparable.  And once you get a taste of what it feels like, you will never want the fake Hollywood version again.

 

So, what’s the difference?  What does real love look like? 

 

 

 

Article c/o Christina Lopes for Elephant Journal

 

 

 

 

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5 Minute Morning Rituals To Leave You Supercharged

"Start the day off right.”  That’s a great sentiment, but how can you create a morning routine that will keep you happy, fit and healthy? We found out. And it’s a lot easier than you might think. Here are 10 healthy habits that will set you up for success for the rest of the day.

1. Stretch

You’d think after a long night’s sleep, that you would instantly feel refreshed and ready to take on the day. But even a good night’s rest can be tough on the body because of the positions we nod off in. According to active.com, sleeping can stiffen the body, and stretching is the way to stimulate and loosen muscle tissues. So go ahead and get right into Child’s Pose and stretch out your back. That in turn will increase blood flow and reduce stress and tension, reports the website. Not sure what to stretch? Go from top to bottom, starting with the neck, shoulders, chest back, quads, hamstrings and calves.

2. Wake Up on Time

Pressing the snooze button, forsaking 10 more minutes of sleep for a rushed morning, a skipped breakfast and the added stress of getting the kids off to school and yourself to work on time, isn’t worth it. Makeuseof.com says that this terrible morning habit can lead to mental health issues, such as anxiety and recklessness, in addition to stress. None of which is a good motivator for working out. Instead the site recommends making sure your alarm clock is effective. Are you more likely to get out of bed with a loud ringing or do you need a more gradual whistle. There are a ton of apps you can try too. It’s really about finding what works for you and to stick with it.

3. Set Your Internal Clock

You know how when you travel your body is set to the clock back home for when it’s time to hit the hay, and when it’s time to rise and shine? Well, for some, that internal (circadian) clock might not be accurate, even at home. And it’s not because they’re lazy or bad people – it’s just who they are. Fitness.com reported on a Harvard Medical School study that discovered those who sleep more than nine hours a night secrete more of the hormone melatonin than those who sleep six hours or less. Check with a health professional to find out if supplementing with melatonin might be right for you.

4. Have a Cup of Lemon Water

An upset gut can wreak havoc on energy levels. So take care of your digestive system with a mug of warm water with lemon. Chatelaine.com suggests that this morning habit “increases the flow of digestive juices, helps to cleanse the body, and resets our pH balance, making us less acidic, which helps reduce the risk of disease.” It may also give your metabolism that nudge it needs in the morning and help combat food cravings.

 

 

5. Do Your Workouts in the Morning

The next time you exercise, take note of how you feel before and after. That post-workout glow isn’t just from your glistening (aka sweaty and flushed) skin. Being physically active gives you a huge energy boost. Another benefit: discovergoodnutrition.com says that that early-bird gym sesh gets your heart pumping and the blood flowing, which will help you feel alert.

6. Read in Bed

To get a good night’s sleep, we know to keep technology out of the bedroom. The lit-up screens on our phones and laptops can be too stimulating at night, and the stress from work can also keep us awake. But according to a story on telegraph.co.uk, maybe it’s not such a bad thing to do when you wake up. Reading the news and checking emails are a good way to wake up your mind.

 

7. Eat an Iron-packed Breakfast

Breakfast is the most important meal of the day. There’s no doubt about that. But if it’s lacking in iron, you might be setting yourself up for failure energy-wise. Time.com reports: “An iron deficiency can leave you feeling sluggish, irritable, weak, and unable to focus.” It affects the amount of oxygen your body receives. So make sure your breakfast includes foods like eggs, green leafy vegetables, peanut butter, beans or tofu. And have some orange juice while you’re at it. Time says that the vitamin C will help with iron absorption.

8. Dress Like You Mean It

Whether you work from home or do shifts, you still need to put on a “work wardrobe” when you wake up. Forbes.com says that wearing “comfortable” clothes plays with your mind and your motivation. “You’ll still think it’s relax time.”

9. Calm Down and Meditate

A clear head will make you more focused and allow you to tackle all of your tasks for the day. You won’t get bogged down or make excuses if you’re thinking clearly. Take just five minutes in the morning to meditate. Don’t know how? Find a quite place in your home, get comfortable, put on some relaxing music (or not, if you prefer the silence) and focus on your slow breath. Activevegetarian.com says that even just doing this for one minute every day will bring “mental clarity, spiritual well-being and set the stage for the day.”

 

10. Don’t Sleep in on Weekends

Don’t screw up your schedule with lies that are too long on Saturday and Sunday. Keep to your sleep schedule, even on weekends, says sparkpeople.com. You’ll be able to squeeze in that weekend workout, have a more productive day off and you’ll eventually stop dreading Mondays. Or at least hate them a little less.


Article c/o The Hearty Soul

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Hugs and Cuddles Have Long-Term Effects

The Power of Love
How often do you hug?  Do you like to sit close and hold each other’s hands?  Recent research shows it’s good for your health.  Between loving partners, between parents and children, or even between close friends, physical affection can help the brain, the heart and other body systems you might never have imagined.

For centuries, artists have examined love through poetry, painting, music and countless other arts.  In the past few years, scientists supported by NIH have begun to understand the chemistry and biology of love.

At the center of how our bodies respond to love and affection is a hormone called oxytocin.  Most of our oxytocin is made in the area of the brain called the hypothalamus.  Some is released into our bloodstream, but much of its effect is thought to reside in the brain.

Oxytocin makes us feel good when we’re close to family and other loved ones, including pets.  It does this by acting through what scientists call the dopamine reward system.  Dopamine is a brain chemical that plays a crucial part in how we perceive pleasure.  Many drugs of abuse act through this system.  Problems with the system can lead to serious depression and other mental illness.

Oxytocin does more than make us feel good.  It lowers the levels of stress hormones in the body, reducing blood pressure, improving mood, increasing tolerance for pain and perhaps even speeding how fast wounds heal.  It also seems to play an important role in our relationships.  It’s been linked, for example, to how much we trust others.

Dr. Kathleen C. Light of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill studies oxytocin in married couples and those permanently living together.  She and her colleagues invite couples into the laboratory and ask them to spend at least 10 minutes holding hands and talking together about a happy memory, usually about how they met and fell in love.

“What we’re trying to do in a lab situation,” Light explains, “is recreate some of the experiences in real life where they felt close.”

The couples then get their blood drawn and fill out a questionnaire about the quality of their relationship.  When the researchers compared their responses to the levels of oxytocin in their blood, they found that people who have a more positive relationship with their partner have higher levels of oxytocin.

One thing researchers can say with certainty is that physical contact affects oxytocin levels.  Light says that the people who get lots of hugs and other warm contact at home tend to have the highest levels of oxytocin in the laboratory.  She believes that frequent warm contact may somehow prime the oxytocin system and make it quicker to turn on whenever there’s warm contact, even in a laboratory.

The same holds true for mothers and infants:  they both produce higher levels of oxytocin when they have lots of warm contact with each other.  “Those women who hold their babies more at home have higher responses when they hold their baby in the lab,” Light says.

Much of what we know about oxytocin has come from research in animals.  Mother rats, for instance, can stimulate oxytocin in their pups by licking and grooming them.  This loving care has long-term effects.

When researchers separate pups from their mothers for 10-15 minutes a day and then reunite them, many mothers are so glad to see their pups that they lick and groom them intensively.  If the separation lasts for several hours, however, it can have the opposite effect; the mother won’t lick and groom her pups.  Some mothers just never lick and groom their pups when they come back.

Pups that are groomed a lot when they’re reunited with their mothers become more comfortable exploring new environments.  The ignored ones develop more anxiety disorders, produce higher levels of stress hormones and have higher blood pressure.

Research from other animals, including monkeys, confirms that the quality of care a mother gives her offspring can have long-term effects on their personality characteristics and mental health as well as physical problems like heart disease.

Animal research is also shedding light on oxytocin’s role in other social bonds.  Mice that lack oxytocin can’t recognize other mice, even after repeated encounters.  When they’re given oxytocin, however, they can recognize other mice again.

Dr. C. Sue Carter, co-director of the Brain Body Center at the University of Illinois at Chicago, has been studying oxytocin in prairie voles, which form strong bonds with their mates.  When the researchers block oxytocin, the voles don’t form such bonds.  Oxytocin is especially important for females to form bonds with their mates.  In males, a related hormone called vasopressin also plays a role.

Oxytocin and vasopressin aren’t miracle compounds, however.  Giving these hormones to other animals—even other types of voles that don’t normally form social bonds—doesn’t suddenly cause them to form loving bonds.  Animals must have the proper genes to respond to these hormones in the first place.

“Most of us are genetically programmed to form social bonds,” Carter explains, relating the results back to people.  But the ability to form close bonds, she says, is shaped by early experiences.  In the end, a complex interaction of genes and experience makes some people form social bonds more easily than others.

We may not yet fully understand how love and affection develop between people—or how love affects our health—but research is giving us some guidance.  Give those you love all the affection you can.  It can’t hurt, and it may bring a bounty of health benefits.

Feel the Love

Love and affection can have many positive effects, both mental and physical, that have been linked to the hormone oxytocin. Much of the research in people is still preliminary, but Dr. Kathleen Light of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill says it certainly can’t hurt to follow the advice the research suggests:

• Mothers should have as much warm contact with their infants as possible, especially during the first few weeks of life. If you can’t do this, though—because of illness, a premature birth or other reason—just give all the love and affection you can.
• Mothers who’ve had a cesarean section may need even more warm contact time, because they haven’t had the increase in oxytocin that labor produces.
• Couples that have warm contact several times a day—hugging, holding hands, sitting close, etc.—have higher oxytocin levels than those that don’t.
• Some studies have shown a decrease in stress hormones with massage, for both the person getting the massage and the one giving it.
• Light thinks that anything that helps you feel a sense of support and a bond with someone—even by phone or email—may help activate your oxytocin system.

Article c/o News in Health

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The Brain Before and After Meditation

 

Scientist’s Brain Scans Show How Meditation Literally Increases The Size of Your Brain

 

Most people seem to think meditation is only a spiritual practice that spiritual people use to ‘find themselves’. This could not be further from the truth.  When practiced correctly it has amazing effects for both your mental and physical health.

In the video you are about to watch neuroscientist Sara Lazar carried out an experiment which showed how meditation can actually change the size of key regions of our brain, improving our memory and making us more empathetic, compassionate, and resilient under stress.

 

 

Based on the findings in Sara’s experiments it was found that meditation practice can actually slow down and even prevent the natural age-related decline our brain suffers as we get older. So not only is this ancient practice backed by science you only have to speak to anyone who has meditated and they will tell you that it is a wonderful practice for both mental and emotional development.

 

People who meditate will tell you how they feel more connected to the world around them and more at peace with themselves. You will probably notice how they deal with stressful situations better than most and are able to appreciate things in life that perhaps most people take for granted.

 

This is no longer spiritual mumbo jumbo but science confirms – Meditation is good for you and it literally changes your brain for the better!

 

 

Article c/o thespiritscience.net

 

 

 

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Mindfulness Meditation & Addiction

 

Causes for addiction and how mindfulness meditation can help with them.



One of the first steps in dealing with addiction is to discover the emotional cause of it, whether it is fear, depression, anxiety, or pessimism. Many times these unwholesome thoughts and beliefs come from what I call the “wanting mind.” In wanting mind, we feel that our current state of unhappiness could be cured if only we could have the money, job, relationship, recognition, or power we had and lost, or never had and strongly desire. Often we cause ourselves suffering when we ache for something that lies out of our grasp or cling in vain to something that has already passed away. Sometimes, wanting mind involves tightly holding on to something negative: an unwholesome belief about how things ought to be or should have been, or an unwholesome emotion such as anger, sadness, or jealousy. Mindfulness practice helps us develop the capacity to see clearly exactly what we’re attached to so that we can let go of it and end our suffering. The hidden areas of resistance that emerge into our awareness can be noted and examined later so that we can make the conscious choice to reject them.

You can never completely avoid the wanting mind or any other hindrance. Desire is part of being human. It causes us to strive toward bettering our lives and our world, and has led to many of the discoveries and inventions that have provided us with a higher quality of life. Yet despite all that we can achieve and possess, we can become convinced that we won’t be happy or contented unless we acquire even more. This unwholesome belief can lead to competitiveness and feeling resentful toward, or envious of, those who seem to have an easier life.



If I have a patient who is using drugs or even food to manipulate their moods I first refer them to a nutritionist; a psychiatrist or psychopharmacologist; or a holistic doctor, such as an integrative medical doctor, to break this habit. In addition to this I recommend mindfulness meditation, yoga practice, and regular exercise as they are all excellent to help mood regulation. These types of activities lower the levels of the stress hormone cortisol in your bloodstream, increase your interleukin levels (enhancing your immune system and providing you with greater energy), and streamline your body’s ability to cleanse itself of chemical toxins, such as lactic acid in your muscles and bloodstream, which can affect neurotransmitter receptors and alter your mood (Chopra 1994; Rossi 1993).

The challenge to altering addictions is the fear that you can’t change which can push you into denial and cause you to minimize the consequences of your unproductive behaviors. Whatever you discover about yourself and however painful your discovery, dramatic breakthroughs are always possible. Research on mindfulness meditation indicates that qualities we once thought immutable that form temperament and character can actually be altered significantly. By retraining your mind through mindfulness practice, you create new neural networks. If you’re aggressive, you can find ways to temper that aspect of yourself, becoming assertive and clear about your boundaries without entering into a competitive and possibly even hostile mind-set that will sabotage you.

For many years, scientists believed that the brain’s plasticity, that is, its ability to create new structures and learn, was limited after childhood. However, new research shows that we can alter the structure of the brain and reap the benefits well into adulthood. Sara Lazar, a researcher at Massachusetts General Hospital, discovered that the more one practices mindfulness meditation, the thicker the brain becomes in the mid-prefrontal cortex and in the mid-insular region of the brain. Changing your mind (or thought processes) actually causes changes in the brain (Lazar et al. 2005). Lazar found that, while people who’ve practiced meditation for ten or twenty years are adept at quickly achieving a state of concentration and mindful awareness, newcomers who engage in mindfulness meditation as little as four hours a week can achieve and sustain a state of mindfulness that leads to creative flow, or what I call “open-mind consciousness.” She discovered that even beginning meditators in their early twenties were able to achieve advanced states of concentration and insight (what I refer to as “mindstrength”) equal to that of senior meditation practitioners. Intention and attention of focus were the keys to reaching these states, not the number of hours spent on a meditation cushion (Lazar and Siegel 2007). From my own experience and work, I know that regular mindfulness practice allows us to set aside distractions and enter the transformative state of open mind.

Mindfulness practice may positively affect the amount of activity in the amygdala, the walnut-sized area in the center of the brain responsible for regulating emotions (Davidson 2000). When the amygdala is relaxed, the parasympathetic nervous system engages to counteract the anxiety response. The heart rate lowers, breathing deepens and slows, and the body stops releasing cortisol and adrenaline into the bloodstream; these stress hormones provide us with quick energy in times of danger but have damaging effects on the body in the long term if they’re too prevalent. Over time, mindfulness meditation actually thickens the bilateral, prefrontal right-insular region of the brain (Lazar et al. 2005), the area responsible for optimism and a sense of well-being, spaciousness, and possibility. This area is also associated with creativity and an increased sense of curiosity, as well as the ability to be reflective and observe how your mind works.

By building new neural connections among brain cells, we rewire the brain, and with each new neural connection, the brain is actually learning. It’s as if we’re adding more RAM to a computer, giving it more functionality. In The Mindful Brain, leading neuroscientist Daniel Siegel (2007, 5), defines the mind as “a process that regulates the flow of energy and information.” His early brain research showed that “where neurons fire, they can rewire” (2007, 291); that is, they create new neural pathways or structures in the brain. He postulates that one of the benefits of mindfulness meditation practice is this process of creating new neural networks for self-observation, optimism, and well-being. Through mindfulness meditation, we light up and build up the left-prefrontal cortex, associated with optimism, self-observation, and compassion, allowing ourselves to cease being dominated by the right-prefrontal cortex, which is associated with fear, depression, anxiety, and pessimism. As a result, our self-awareness and mood stability increase as our harsh judgments of others and ourselves decrease. By devoting attention, intention, and daily effort to being mindful, we learn to master the mind and open the doorway to the creativity available in open-mind consciousness.

It’s entirely possible that the same effects can be achieved through other practices that appear to open up new neural pathways, such as tai chi, yoga, and other forms of meditation, but thanks to researchers studying mindfulness meditation, we now know that we can actually remap the brain and affect the way it functions, as well as the way it influences the body.

 

Article c/o Ronald Alexander, Ph.D. for Psychology Today 

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Five Fascinating Health Benefits of Mindful Meditation

“Meditation is not a means to an end. It is both the means and the end.” ~ Jiddu Krishnamurti


Mindfulness meditation has been around for literally thousands of years, and there’s a reason for that: it works. Through science we’re starting to get a better understanding of why it is so beneficial. Everyday more research is drawing a clearer link between meditation and human health. Its effect on our mind body and soul is undeniable. People as diverse as David Lynch and the Dalai Lama have praised the benefits of mindful meditation, asserting that it can increase attention, combat stress, boost overall health, and even foster compassion. With that in mind, here are five interesting health benefits of mindful meditation.


1.) Stress & pain relief:
“What we have to learn in both meditation and in life is to be free of attachment to the good experiences and free of aversion to the negative ones.” – Sogyal Rinpoche

A new study in the journal Health Psychology shows an association between increased mindfulness and decreased levels of the stress hormone cortisol. Another study conducted by Wake Forest Baptist University found that meditation could reduce pain intensity by 40% and pain unpleasantness by 57%, compared to morphine which only shows pain reduction of 25%. As such, it lowers anxiety and depression by helping us feel, more than think, about that which conflicts us psychologically.

Meditation on the Brain

Anybody who has practiced mindful meditation long enough understands that meditation beats almost all other methods of stress relief, except maybe physical exercise. This is because being present with that which stresses us out turns the tables on the push-pull power dynamic between our daily troubles and our ability to withstand them. In the quiet spaces between our thoughts, stress itself becomes a thing for us to embrace and understand as opposed to a thing that controls us and dictates our happiness.


2.) Increased Gray Matter & Neuroplasticity:
“It is likely that the observed larger hippocampal volumes may account for meditators’ singular abilities and habits to cultivate positive emotions, retain emotional stability, and engage in mindful behavior,” –Eileen Luders

We don’t have to be Yogis to reap the health benefits of mindful meditation. It turns out that our brains are being molded in profoundly beneficial ways by daily meditation practices. In 2008 a team of researchers from UCLA compared the brains of long-term meditators with those of control subjects. In the brains of the meditators, they found larger volumes of gray matter in the right orbito-frontal cortex and the right hippocampus, regions thought to be implicated in emotion and response control.

Breathe in; Breathe out: Focus!

Sustained meditation can also lead to something called neuroplasticity, which is defined as changes in neural connections and synapses, both structurally and functionally, which are due to changes in behavior and environment.

Research by University of Wisconsin, neuroscientist Richard Davidson on Tibetan Buddhist monks has shown that experienced meditators exhibit high levels of gamma wave activity that seem to reflect the impact of meditation on attention and synchrony of high-frequency oscillations that probably play an important role in connectivity among widespread circuitry in the brain.


3.) Increased Focus:
“Meditation is not a way of making your mind quiet. It’s a way of entering into the quiet that’s already there – buried under the 50,000 thoughts the average person thinks every day.” – Deepak Chopra

Have you ever wondered why meditation can make you feel more aware of yourself, others, and your environment, giving you that awesome sense of Zen? How we begin to notice details and textures that we never noticed before? How everyday life becomes clearer, sharper, and at the same time more spacious? According to a study in the journal Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, it’s because meditation helps the brain to have better control over processing pain and emotions, specifically through the control of cortical alpha rhythms, which leads to focused engagement, body awareness, self-awareness, and the regulation of attention.

It even makes music sound better! According to a study in the journal Psychology of Music, meditation improves our focus, thus helping us to truly enjoy and experience what we’re listening to. Indeed, from Beethoven to Bon Jovi, Bach to Beck, mindful meditation seems to improve our enjoyment of music. Perhaps this is what Nietzsche was referring to when he wrote, “Without music, life would be a mistake.”

“The flowering of love is meditation.” – Jiddu Krishnamurti

4.) Increased Empathy:
“I believe that reading and writing are the most nourishing forms of meditation anyone has so far found. By reading the writings of the most interesting minds in history, we meditate with our own minds and theirs as well. This to me is a miracle.” – Kurt Vonnegut

Spiritual traditions have suggested for years that mediation may boost our ability for compassion, but there has never been any scientific proof – until now. It turns out that mindful meditation can benefit non-meditators as well. This is because meditation can actually make us better people and improve our compassion for others.

According to a study in the journal Psychological Science, researchers from Northeastern University found that meditation is linked with more virtuous behavior. “The truly surprising aspect of this finding,” researcher David DeSteno said, “is that meditation made people willing to act virtuous – to help another who was suffering – even in the face of a norm not to do so.”

Couple these findings with the discovery of mirror neurons, which constitutes our powerful system of empathy, and we see exactly how influential we can be as social creatures. When we see another person suffering, we can feel their suffering as if it is our own.

When we’re able to think more deeply about what others are going through, it can lead to some profound learning. “Mirror neurons,” writes Lea Winerman, “are a type of brain cell that respond equally when we perform an action and when we witness someone else perform the same action.” Daily Mindful meditation on these neural correlates of empathy could have a profound effect on our evolution as social animals.

At the end of the day, I can end up just totally wacky, because I’ve made mountains out of molehills. With meditation, I can keep them as molehills.” – Ringo Starr

5.) Better Sleep
“Sleep is unconscious meditation. Meditation is conscious sleep. In sleep we get limited energy. In meditation we get abundant energy.” – Anil Kumar Singh

Have you ever wondered why you seem to sleep better when you consistently practice mindful meditation? According to a 2013 University of Utah study, mindfulness meditation can not only help us better control our emotions and moods, but it can also help us sleep better.

Study researcher Holly Rau said in a statement, “People who reported higher levels of mindfulness described better control over their emotions and behaviors during the day. In addition, higher mindfulness was associated with lower activation at bedtime, which could have benefits for sleep quality and future ability to manage stress.”

Meditation practices were also reported to regulate cortisol and catecholamine, and increase melatonin levels. Meditation increases melatonin concentration by slowing its metabolism in the pineal gland.

Diurnal melatonin levels were found to be significantly higher in Vipassana meditators than non-meditators, concluding that meditation practices could enhance melatonin levels and hence quality of sleep. Perhaps this is what the Dalai Lama was referring to when he said, “Sleep is the best meditation.”

Article c/o Fractal Enlightenment

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4 Ways to Breathe Through Overeating Urges

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By SARAHJOY MARSH  |  Nov 19, 2015

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We hope everyone fully enjoys the holidays and treats themselves on occasion, but do you feel the urge to overindulge regularly or throughout an entire season? Discover the science behind that drive in Hunger, Hope, and Healing by Sarahjoy Marsh and learn how to counter it with your breath. Here’s your holiday-party, home-alone-with-the-pie pranayama practice.

Each year as the holidays approach, my students—and people everywhere—find themselves facing food dilemmas. These aren’t limited to whether to serve cranberry sauce or not. No, the sorts of dilemmas my students face are the ones that can downward spiral into surges of regret and despair, spike into anxiety and panic, and may last for hours, overnight, or even careen out of control for months (Halloween candy started in September!). While the lure of the New Year taunts with its tempting resolutions, the kinds of resolutions that promise retribution, re-centering, and, yes, some weight loss, I am honored to teach my students how to better navigate the holiday season on behalf of their sanity, health, and vitality.
For any of us who’ve struggled with food or body image, the holidays become peak times for stress. Our vulnerability to our usual triggers may heighten. Our thoughts (“I’ll eat nothing all day because of that party tonight with all the appetizers and the buffet”) may be in conflict with our wisdom (“Maintaining balanced blood sugar makes my moods more stable. I’ll be more present if I’m not starving myself all day and feeling frenzied about indulgences at the party”).

The Science of Stress Eating

As we try to manage feelings, thoughts, fears, and stressors, our primitive brains are wired to come to our rescue by activating our “Fight, Flight, Freeze, or Submit” strategies in the face of threat (which very well may be tantalizing pie and eggnog, as opposed to a pacing mountain lion).
The Fight reaction is aggressive like a dog barking or attacking. Flight helps us escape, much like a cat fleeing a loud noise. Freeze immobilizes our decision-making as we stunned by a threat, like a deer in headlights. And submit mimics resignation or death, much like possums.
With food “dangers,” the brain employs these same hard-wired primitive reactions. We fight with ourselves—often experienced as the ruthless voice of the inner critic. We flee by taking leave of our body, our wisdom, or our self-care. We freeze when we brace against and clench in reaction to our inner or outer experience. And we submit when we collapse again to behaviors we later regret.
Although these reactions are biologically programmed to protect us, many of us have learned to over-rely on them even when there is no real threat to our biological survival. Feeling mentally, emotionally, or psychologically threatened (i.e., stressed) also triggers them. (The holiday season has countless triggers—small and large!) Shame and addiction set us up to feel threatened much more easily and frequently. This becomes a cycle to which we unknowingly acclimate. Our brain and body chemistry then promote anxiety, depression, and even food cravings. Getting a handle on how to shift this mind-body reaction empowers us to reduce our vulnerability and increase our resilience.

Why the Breath Is Your Best Intervention

The Fight-Flight-Freeze-Submit patterns are directly associated with particular breathing responses. The fight and flight reactions trigger the secondary respiration muscles—those meant for an actual physical emergency that would require our ability to ward off or run away from a predator. The freeze and submit reactions reduce breathing to shallow sips of air (mimicking death in life-threatening scenarios and encouraging a predator to lose interest).
The good news for yogis? Simple pranayama exercises can act as a direct antidote to these reactions. Shifting our breathing pattern back to diaphragmatic breathing—the breath of the relaxation response—reduces anxiety and calms both mind and body, shutting down the fight-flight-freeze-submit circuitry. By shifting how we breathe, we can regain leadership, confidence, and clarity.

4 Breathing Practices to Outsmart the Stress-Eating Circuitry

If you practice the following pranayama exercises on a daily basis, your body-mind circuitry will be better able to rely on these antidotes. If you only practice when you get triggered, the techniques will still be potent but will require more fervency from you to remember them, do them, and stick with them until the reaction dissolves and the remedy works.

For guided breath, click below and scroll down to the end of the article...
breathing through overeating urges

 

 

 

 

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