Welcome and namaste. So, we're undoubtedly living in a time
of great stress. For our personal health, and in order to be able to be in the right mental state
to make really good decisions in these times, it's really important to learn how to de-stress
and to operate from a place of inner calm. One of the most important, simple things that we can do
to achieve this is the practice of meditation. Meditation means shifting the mind away from what
is termed as worldly preoccupation and focusing it on higher spiritual thought; and one of the
great tools to prepare for meditation is quite simply breathing deeply. We have forgotten how to
breathe, or how to breathe properly. I think many of us have perhaps ourselves stated this or heard
it: usually when you see somebody in a very highly emotional state or somebody that's completely
lost their composure or is fearful or angry or anxious, you hear the term, Take a deep breath,
and that's very sagely advice that we often, ourselves, we don't apply to our own life.
If you notice that when people are very anxious or emotional, they exhibit what we will call
shallow breathing. It generally occurs only in the upper part of the chest and it's almost
like this panting. Deep breathing actually reverses the physiological and mental state
that comes about as a result of great stress. Stress means that the sympathetic nervous system
actually goes into overdrive, and it begins secreting cortisol and adrenaline, which
compromises the immune system, and it produces the famous fight or flight, or fight, flight
or freeze response. In this state you will have actual trouble thinking clearly and unemotionally,
and of course that will have a profound effect on decision making and how to deal with things.
Very deep and full breathing can actually overcome this reaction,
both within the body and within our own mind; and as I previously stated we've literally
almost forgotten how to breathe properly. If you look at a newborn baby, a very young child,
lying down on its back sleeping, one of the things you notice is that as they breathe in,
the belly rises, as they exhale it falls. And so, when we quite often teach just the fundamentals
of deep and proper breathing, we may have a person place the hand on the belly and the other hand on
the upper part of the chest, and we ask them, when they inhale, to feel the belly slightly rising,
because what happens when the belly begins to rise a little it creates more space for the diaphragm.
It reduces the pressure on the diaphragm, and the lungs can breathe more deeply all the way
to the bottom, and it's only once the belly has distended to its full and natural extent that
the top of the lungs then begin to fill, and then as one releases the breath the opposite happens.
So this very deep and slow breathing has been shown to bring about a reduction in inflammatory
markers in the body, and cytokines I mean we're probably hearing this term cytokine storm from
with the Covid 19 thing these cytokines, they bring about inflammation in the body on a
cellular level; and simply by deep breathing it's been shown to have the reverse effect,
so it reduces inflammatory markers. Meditation also stimulates the
parasympathetic nervous system which brings down, as we stated, inflammatory markers,
and some studies have shown that this supports and stimulates the gene response for self-regulation
of the body and for natural healing. Meditation has been practiced in different
forms all over the world for thousands of years. Since the most ancient times it was
used for self-realization, but what I would like to share with you is how effective it can
be to promote your well-being and bring about inner peace, even in the midst of personal or
societal crisis. Meditation will actually reduce stress. It will also help control anxiety. It
promotes emotional health. It enhances more self-awareness, and it supports better sleep.
So today I will share with you a very easy, yet powerful guided meditation that will produce an
immediate result or effect for everyone who tries it. So please click on the link below,
and try it for yourself. Let me guide you through a very simple, and easy to do,
but highly effective meditation. Thank you very much.