Good Tuesday, folks! I am Jin with Morning Mindfulness Podcast. Hope you are having a wonderful day! Let’s breathe and smile.

Let’s talk about how we can reduce daily stress

Have you seen people having emotions? Any emotions?
Have you paid attention to how you respond to emotions?
Clenching teeth in frustration, clenching fists in anger, curling your toes in anxiety, making serious face during some serious talk. I’m sure you’ve seen it.

Some of those reactions are very obvious, and they are called body language. Some of them we can feel as butterflies in the stomach, or numbness in the knees, and so on.

Now let me make a bold statement: Every, and I mean every emotion or thought is creating some kind of physiologic response in our body. This is what a famous polygraph test, or lie detector, is based on. Well, the accuracy of this test is very questionable these days, that’s why I’ve heard it cannot be used as a proof in court any more. But the idea is still there: body is responding.

These reactions cause some tension in the body, often on a micro level. Just tiny unnoticed tension in the muscles. And when we keep it tense all day long, it is responsible for creating physical fatigue.

Why good workout helps to release it? Why deep breathing helps to reduce daily stress?

Here’s a very simple mechanism behind that. Oh, did I say easy? No, no, I said simple, but not always that easy to implement. Zen monks spend entire life practicing it.

We cannot get rid of thoughts, so stop even trying. We observe those emotions, and we find what kind of tension it creates in the body. Once we identify it, the tension is released. So’s the emotion that created it.

That’s why deep breathing helps in case you get stress related stomach cramps. We cannot get rid of thoughts, but we can make the diaphragm work. Then the tension and emotion will be released. Does it make sense? We’ll talk more later.

Thanks for tuning in! You can subscribe to my podcast on my site HPLN.org.
Now let’s breathe and smile. I will talk to you next time.

PEACE!
Jin

Listen to other Morning Mindfulness Podcast episodes here