ARE YOU LIVING ON AUTO-PILOT?

Too often we are swept along by the demands of the world. We are trained from a young age to ‘fit in’ to follow the prescribed formula towards life success- get an education, get a career, get married, get a family, get a high paying job so you can afford what is considered the ‘good things’ in life; money, prestige, material possessions. And there is nothing wrong with that in itself but when it comes at the cost of losing connection to your inner life intelligence, valuing qualities of kindness, compassion, gratitude and self-respect we start to see how the seed of doubt and unrest is planted in us and we struggle to conform to the worlds demands at the same time as we are losing a connection to ourselves- to listening deeply to our needs and observations of the world, losing touch with our instinctual self- the part of us that goes with the biggest yes and listens to the biggest no and takes action from a place o life intelligence. When we are slotted into the robotic ways of the world- we lose touch with this deeper knowing- unless we recognise and take action to find a way to operate in the world while still staying connected to our life intelligence.
 

Increasingly the environment itself is filled with noise and distractions, continuous news and advertising cycles, social media that has an often negative impact on many people who are addicted to it, the external noise of living- traffic, sirens, motorways, aircraft etc we start to get a deeper understanding of what is driving the increasing mental health issues- dominated by stress, anxiety and depression that are rampant today. The nervous system is overwhelmed, the mind and body are in a state of hyper-vigilance constantly looking for or interpreting external and internal signals negatively. The nervous system has defaulted to the fight/flight state 24/7 so that there is never a time of deep restorative rest- even during sleep.

RECOGNISING TRIGGERS

Breathing for Balance offers you an uncomplicated understanding of why it is so important, for many people even urgent, to recognise the triggers that are actively hijacking your nervous system and learn the simple strategies to heal and restore your nervous system back to a state of balance and further, teaches you the simple strategies to maintain mental and emotional equilibrium- even as the inevitable pressures of life pile on top of you. We learn to recognise the moment we start to escalate into the stress response and actively intervene by shifting our awareness from the catastrophising thoughts that are piling up to the body’s sensations. When you are in the senses- you can’t think putting a stop of the escalation of catastrophising…what if’s.
 
Even young children are increasingly showing symptoms of stress and anxiety even panic attacks as the pressure to ‘fit in’ ‘be the best’ is unconsciously loaded onto their undeveloped minds not to mention the secondary stress they pick up from their parents.

THE FIRST STEP TO AVOID BURN-OUT

Without the awareness that it is only ourselves who can be aware of and manage the noise of living, the constant demands on our attention, the time-poor way we live because every available minute is taken up with doing and distraction.

When we finally burnout and have to stop, have to rest, have to break the habitual addictions of devices and news cycles- this is often the only time people are willing to look at where change needs to be made to restore, recover health and wellbeing and balance.
Central to restoring balance is having an understanding of the behaviors and pressures that lead to burnout, stress and anxiety in the first place.
This is why at the core of mindful breathing, one of the first steps is to develop present moment awareness. Why is that? Because too often people are conditioned to be going over the past too much, dreaming off into the future- either fearfully or hopefully and all the time missing the present moment. One of the great secrets of living is, drumroll: There are no problems in the present moment.
Let’s look at that. When we intentionally develop an active relationship to the present, we start to recognise a lot of the stress and anxiety is coming from the endless thoughts and interpretations of events around us- not necessarily true. In fact often not true.
Take for example a negative thought pops into your mind…the what if’s this happens, that happens etc. At the present moment none of these things have happened. The mind is speculating and building stress on an imaginary event. Sure some of these things may very well come to pass but is it helpful weakening your nervous system before the event has even happened? So we have the primary thought and then the thought multiplies, lets say with secondary effects (the brains negative default mode)- more worries multiply leaving you feeling anxious, afraid and drained- yet in reality nothing has happened or changed since you started catastrophising a singular thought that has led to you feel stressed, anxious and afraid of the future.

INTERVENE LEARNED PATTERNS

It’s these secondary thoughts, otherwise known as feeling tones where we can develop a level of attention and presence that when the mind starts to catastrophise with these negative thoughts, stories and feelings. In the Breathing for Balance course we train ourselves to intervene, put a stop to this learned behaviour of fearful thinking, imagining the worst outcomes, and start to ‘reprogram‘ ourselves to a simpler, less stressful way of being.

Fortunately, in recent years, research into the vagus nerve- a central nerve in the parasympathetic branch of the nervous system, has revealed how healing can take place and emotional resilience can be intentionally cultivated. Ongoing stress , anxiety and depression has the effect of impacting negatively on the vagus nerve and reducing resilience and the ability to ‘bounce back’ from the inevitable shocks life throws at us.  Over time, due to continued shocks, stress, perceived and real stress and fears (often self-generated through lack of safety, belonging, self-criticism etc) the vagus nerve learns to  react to stress and anxiety and danger by going into freeze mode and losing the resilience to take life ‘knocks’ and bounce back. When this becomes a chronic state it is hard to relearn and restrengthen the flexibility of this nerve to ‘bounce back’. Through Porges research we now have a series of vagal toning exercises designed to assist the release of stored stress and anxiety patterns and over time healing takes place to restore vagal tone.

SELF-MANAGE THE VAGUS NERVE

In this course we will learn to recognise when we are going into anxious thinking, intervening by shifting our attention to the listening, feeling the physical sensations, intentionally breathing in a steady way. This is a well-known strategy to interrupt, put a stop to catastrophising thinking and reacting. In the Breathing for Balance course we train ourselves to simply be present and allowing (not feeding and making grow bigger) the inevitable negative interpretation of events, people, circumstances and that will eventually heal the nervous system of its learned fearfulness, stress and anxiety patterns. They can be eliminated once recognised and applying age-old strategies that lead to calm, emotional and mental balance and overall wellbeing.

“This course has taught me so much about Mindfulness and the positive benefits that I have experienced from practicing mindfulness daily has forever changed my life. I am able to self-regulate myself and when faced with challenging situations I can take a moment and explore my thoughts and feeling and act more approapotatly. The two-day workshop was exceptional, and Rita is an absolute wealth of knowledge and I thank her for teaching me”.Sarah P.

“I got so much out of this mindfulness course. Thank you Rita for expanding my knowledge of mindfulness. I definitely started this journey at exactly the right time”.Janelle D.

“Thank you Rita for providing such a thorough course in Mindfulness. This has come at exactly the right time for me as I look towards a less cluttered lifestyle, on the physical plane as well as the emotional and spiritual. Thank you once again,

Anne C.

“I’ve really loved this course – both the online component and the two day course, I’m so grateful I’ve learnt these empowering new tools. THANK YOU :-)”
Natalie E. Auckland, NZ

“The 8 week course has allowed me to re connect with the person I used to be and ignite my passion to forge forward, to help others find their passion, peace, connection and love within themselves. So they too, can help others to find their way in life. Thank you for this experience and training”
Sia, Sydney, AUS