The Hindu Business Line : Live well, praise well Fitness First

Psychotherapy calls this the ‘Freeze Frame technique’. You freeze the negative and activate the positive. The more we pause to praise, the more we help our heart to become strong and flexible.

Bharat Savur

When I listen to people, it strikes me that too many spend their time being angry, dissatisfied and thus head to ‘Illness Country’. I tell them, “Don’t do this to yourself. Appreciate all that you have instead of complaining about the little inconveniences you face.” Think of the people in sickbeds longing to stand straight-spined and talk eye to eye instead of gazing up at visitors.

Self-pity imposes immense stress and causes depression whereas appreciation and gratitude greatly invigorate the mind, body and the spirit. Being dissatisfied is self-destructive. It stimulates the sympathetic nervous system into speeding up the heartbeat and contracts the arteries. If this pattern persists, it could cause a heart attack.

Fortunately, being appreciative and grateful activates the calming parasympathetic nervous system. This pattern protects the heart. The Testament articulates it beautifully: “A flower has opened in my heart…/What flower is this, what flower of spring,/What simple, secret thing? It is the peace that shines apart, /The peace of daybreak skies that bring/ clear song and wild swift wing.”

Why not continually open a flower in our heart instead of perennially embedding it with thorns? Please understand that to live in anger, in dissatisfaction is to live unskilfully, unlovingly; to suffer and make others suffer. To live in appreciation, in gratitude is to live skillfully, lovingly, sensitively and healthily. Researchers have found that amidst an angry bout or stressful situation, pausing to stare entranced at something beautiful or thinking thankfully of somebody wonderful instantly balances the nervous system and lowers blood pressure. Psychotherapy calls this the ‘Freeze Frame technique’. You freeze the negative and activate the positive.

The more often we pause to praise, the more we help our heart to become strong and flexible. At work, in life, we face unexpected setbacks, upsets, disappointments and shocks. And while the heart speeds up at such times, we also need it to safely return to its normal rate. I suggest taking positive little pauses in a working day to balance mind and body:

Gaze tenderly at the pictures of your loved ones on your office table. Thank them for being there for you.

Look at your office colleagues gratefully for making your job easy in a myriad little ways.

If you’re having a tiring day, pay solicitous attention to your body that uncomplainingly moves, speaks, eats and adjusts. With your fingertips, loosen your scalp by rubbing it and moving the skin, then massage face, back of head and neck, shoulders, arms, hands, torso, legs, feet. A massage decongests and gets the pranic energy flowing again.

When you are tense, throw and catch a rubber ball like you did as a kid. Or go out and bounce it until you feel more relaxed. Send a silent thank you to the people who created this simple toy and helped you de-stress.

When you find yourself blaming somebody, stop instantly. Blame and self-pity are two sides of the same depressive coin. Instead, think of somebody you admire and how positively, skilfully, masterfully they would deal with this situation. Now, you act likewise. Later, mentally thank the person you were blaming for spurring you on to increased activity and helping you discover your dormant powers and presence of mind.

When eating, don’t chew mechanically. Be grateful you can taste every morsel, swallow effortlessly. Let gladness swill through you with every sip of cool, fresh water.

After a firing from your senior, don’t let Monsieur Misery push Dissatisfaction and Desolation through your mental doors. Instead, walk in the open outdoors with your true companions: health, intelligence, creativity, willingness to work hard, confidence, love, laughter, family, friends, sunshine, breeze, nature, knowledge. Take long, limber strides of self-esteem. Sign a large flourishing ‘Thank You’ in the skies for having so many things in your corner. As your gladness rises, watch the day brighten.

I also recommend ‘The Tunnel Meditation’. It brings a larger purpose to your life and a sense of coherence, satisfaction and peace.

Sit comfortably on your chair, your bent elbows resting on the arms of the chair, hands raised in blessing, palms facing outwards and eyes closed. Visualise the world as a globe in front of your closed eyes.

Think of yourself as an empty, hollow tunnel.

Inhale fresh oxygen right into your belly. Exhale all toxins. Inhale contentment, peace. Exhale dissatisfaction, anger. Inhale love. Exhale sorrow.

Concentrate on your crown. See it opening to allow the healing cosmic light of love and forgiveness cascade into your entire body.

Visualise this golden liquid light filling your body and the excess pooling in your heart. Now, this golden liquid light overflows from your heart, rises up your arms, hands and radiates through your palms to the world in front of you. Imagine these radiations healing the world and all the people in it, filling everybody with hope, peace and harmony.

Say aloud “All of us are experiencing love, health and happiness” three times.

Open your eyes. Smile hugely.

You will be amazed at how The Tunnel Meditation dissolves impurities like anger, resentment, disgust, bitterness in your system. You feel cleansed and so does your environment. And, yes, a flower opens in your heart.

The writer is co-author of the book ‘Fitness for Life’.

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