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Having 'one of those days'?
By Angela Bixby — Written on Jan 28, 2023
The benefits of meditation and its effects on our bodies, psyche, and life are irrefutable.
We know its value as a ‘go-to’ for stillness. And we know that bringing ourselves to a calmer state will bring us into balance in what feels like an imbalanced world.
The ‘goal’ of meditation is to come out of the beta (faster) brainwave state and to be more in the alpha (slower) brainwave state. This helps our hard drive or central nervous system to regulate better, defragment itself, and to help us as human beings to run more smoothly.
Consider our life paces, the variability in our day-to-day, and all of the people and things that are vying for our attention at any given moment.
Simply moving through a human day can feel overwhelming and exhausting. And with a mile-long to-do list – who has time to meditate in the middle of a marathon day?
There are myriad spiritual & energetic practices that can elicit stillness in us and for us. Micro-processes of this sort are clever alternatives to meditation that will induce stillness within you.
Here are seven spiritual hacks for finding stillness when meditation won't work:
1. Close your eyes.
When we close our eyes, we reduce the visual stimuli that can be contributing to our need for stillness. When we close our eyes we put ourselves near immediately into the alpha brainwave state — simply by reducing visual stimuli.
2. Take a quick walk.
This can be around the office, outside, around the neighborhood, or down the hall.
Taking yourself away from where you were feeling the need for stillness will shift your energy and perspective. Our physical body is the best divining rod that we have.
When we choose micro-processes that get us in our bodies and moving, we naturally come out of our busy minds.
3. Consciously drink a glass of water.
Begin by intending that the stillness is IN the water. Intentionality is a powerful spiritual hack as highlighted in the work of Lynne McTaggart, The Intention Experiment.
Then as you drink the water, bring your focus and awareness to the water as it moves through your body. Acknowledge it in your mouth, witness the way it feels as it makes its way through your upper GI tract and feel it as it sits in your stomach.
Anytime that we bring our mental focus to a physical process such as this — it calms and stills our mind.
4. Breathe.
Pranayama (from Hindu yoga) is the regulation of the breath through certain techniques and exercises.
Focusing on our breath and moving through different breath exercises will induce stillness and calm in our mind and body. Start with what is called ‘box breathing.' Inhale to the count of four, hold for the count of four, exhale to a count of four and hold the exhale for a count of four.
Do a few rounds of this and you’ll be ready to jump back into life with a bit more stillness.
5. Visioning.
We are all more still when we find ourselves in our ‘happy places.' Create a happy place in your mind. It may be the beach, sitting atop a mountain, being enveloped in the sights and scents of a garden, or experiencing fireflies on a summer night.
Spend 30-90 seconds imagining yourself in your happy place.
6. Gratitude list.
List or state aloud five things that you are grateful for. Feel into each of these as you list them and allow your body and feelings to get involved.
Focusing on joys instead of worries in this fashion will induce calm in you.
7. Call in support.
We all have spiritual guidance teams that are waiting for a demonstration from us, and we’d like their help!
Either think, write or state aloud that you are calling on your divine support team to wrap you in a blanket of stillness. Stay with this task and close your eyes for a moment as you feel yourself blanketed in warmth and calm.
When a need for calm next hits — call on these seven hacks to leave you feeling as though you've just spent a half hour in mediation!
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Angela Bixby is a certified Psychic-Medium, Reiki master, and Core Shamanic Studies practitioner. She helps connect people to their consciousness and their intuition.