Three Powerful Practices To Experience More Peace, Joy & Pleasure In Your Life
Each day, with more and more technology, we seem to be able to control more aspects of our lives. With the flick of a switch, we can control the temperature in our home, and we can banish the dark of night. But with that increased control, we seem to be experiencing less control of our stress levels, and if we take a look at the stats, the more out of control we have begun to feel.
Have you ever experienced those moments when you feel out of control - are feeling anxiety or stress, and you just don’t know what to do to move past it? Maybe you have felt overwhelmed; your nervous system is overworking and stressed.
Let’s face it, we all have these moments, and more and more, we as a society are experiencing this at an alarming rate.
As our connections have gotten faster with the internet, cellphones, airplanes… well, you get the picture, so have our minds and our nervous systems. We are living on overdrive. All of these things are wonderful, but they have disconnected us from our bodies, our emotions, Mother Earth, and the present moment.
So in this fast-paced world that we live in, how do we find ways to destress and reconnect?
Today, I’m going to give you three ways that you can bring more life back into your body and even start living a joyful life. Little by little, you will find that you will feel more connected and more in control of your life.
Simply Breathe
Our breath holds the power of life itself.
If you can, think back to a moment when your stress levels were high and you let out a huge sigh. Remember how that felt. Remember the feeling of that sigh in your body... the way that sigh allowed your body to relax, like all of the stress melted away from your body through that exhalation.
When we are in a moment of stress and anxiety, we hold tension in our body, and with that, our breathing becomes contracted, keeping us from taking in our full capacity of air. This may not seem like a huge deal to you, but it definitely is for your body and your mind.
Actually, if I think back to how I used to view breathing… well, honestly, it wasn’t something I thought about. I used to take breathing for granted. It was something that just happened naturally and didn’t need my attention. I never took notice of it until I actually realized that there was a lot of contraction in my chest and my lungs, and I had a lot of anxiety that caused me to be unable to take in full breaths.
I dove into understanding the breath and its effects on the body, and taking time to breathe changed my life in multiple ways.
When our nervous systems are stressed and running on overdrive, our whole body is affected. With chronic stress, our immune system and digestion become compromised, which can lead to future, and often serious, health problems (but I’ll save that for another article). Not only that, but it is difficult to really enjoy life when we are in the bouts of constant high stress.
Stress can be caused by many factors in our lives. Often times, if we really take a look at it, we will find that we are living in the past or worrying too much about the future. When we can bring ourselves back to the present moment, the stress and mental chatter quiet down and we can, if only for a second, see the beauty in that moment.
So what would happen if we were to consistently bring ourselves back to the present moment?
In my experience, it takes us out of our intellectual mind and back into our bodies where we can experience pleasure.
It can begin as a practice of stress relief, but eventually becomes a habit formed that can bring you back to the joy of life, and it is as simple as pausing and focusing on your breath. Breathe in, Breathe out (wax on, wax off for all of you karate kid fans out there).
Breathing and focusing on our breath brings life back into our bodies. It brings health, peace of mind, and energy. When we take the time to feel it moving through our body, it has the ability to bring us instant joy and pleasure. Try it!
Experience Nature
Talk about the present moment, one of the easiest ways that I have found to destress and reconnect to the present moment is to connect with nature. I know you have heard this before, but keep reading as this just might be something that gives you inspiration for your next walk.
Nature has a lot to teach us if we only get quiet enough to listen.
When I went through a bout of depression a few years ago, one of my favorite and much-needed things to do was to take a walk and spend time in nature. I would sometimes just sit down and watch the natural world around me work its magic.
The way the 🍂leaves fell to the ground,
the way the 🌳trees grew to reach the ☀️sun,
the way the waterfall fell from the inner being of the mountainside,
and how the river then found its way around the big rocks and fallen trees not letting anything stand in its way.
I was taught a wonderful lesson by the trees about the yogic tree pose and how we need to ground ourselves and grow roots into mother earth in order to reach the sun. Nature and the elements have a lot to teach us about living life.
Not only does this practice bring us back into the present moment, but if we get quiet and really listen, then it also teaches us how to move through the world at the pace of life and no faster.
A lot of our problems come from trying to go faster than we can actually move. If you look at nature, there is a natural rhythm and pace. Trying to do anything other than that puts more stress on the natural order of life. There is a natural rhythm to the earth that we must trust as we walk our own lives on it.
Faith & Surrender
Having faith and surrendering is sometimes one of the hardest things to do, and it was a hard lesson for me that I still have to remind myself of occasionally.
Have you ever noticed how there is a wisdom in the way a leaf falls to the ground?
They fall one on top of the other, with their backs against the ground, relaxing back into the embrace of Mother Earth who had birthed them to life. As I mentioned, nature trusts the order of life... just as we can trust that we aren’t alone and that we can ask Spirit for help. Spirit is there just waiting for us to ask, but in order for that to happen, we have to have true faith and know in our being that we aren’t alone.
We can depend on Spirit; we just have to surrender trying to control everything and ask for guidance on our path.
Like the leaf that falls so perfectly to the ground resting into the embrace of its mother, so we too can relax into the loving arms of Spirit, knowing that if we only slow down a bit, and walk instead of trying to run and win the race, then the rewards will be life-changing.
Trying to control everything in our life is stressful and depleting of our energy.
We have lost true connection with our bodies, each other, and with Mother Earth.
We have become stressed, depressed, and sometimes even sick because of it.
Our bodies, our families, and nature itself is asking us to change our tune. It is asking us to slow down, to breathe, to walk, to listen, and ultimately to have faith.
I know personally that this isn’t always simple to do, but I also understand and have experienced the benefits of doing just this. It is life-changing not only for ourselves but also for our families.
As we all give more time to this, I do believe that the effects of the internal change will cause rippling effects in the outer world as well.
AUTHOR: Tamar Gail is an OSYL Shamanic Priestess & Teacher of Feminine Embodiment. She uses her studies in Sacred Female Yoga, Shamanic Healing, Tantra, Coaching, Women’s Healing Arts & Feminine Mysteries to help you awaken and integrate the gifts and powers that you already embody. Together you can unravel the beauty and wisdom already within you. She is here to guide you to living a life aligned with your highest potential.
Find out more about Leanne and her services HERE.