movement Archives - Custom Calm

Posted by Ellen Sichel on December 22, 2011

When you are in a Fight or Flight response, your heart rate and blood pressure increase and blood is shunted away from the digestive system, giving you the ability to react quickly. The adrenalin rush provides strength you never knew you had. This is extremely beneficial when there is danger.

The problem is that you are in a Flight or Flight response when you have a hangnail!

Stress stimulates the fight or flight response and continued stress results in chronic conditions such as high blood pressure, digestive problems and increased heart rate.

Research has been going on for years about this issue and H. Benson had coined a term called the Relaxation Response. There are a multitude of practices using breath, movement, meditation and centering that stimulate this response and when it happens, your anxiety level decreases, impacting all the related systems in the body.

Custom Calm specializes in simple, approachable practices designed to lower stress. All techniques have been researched in major hospitals with powerful results.

Mindful of Mindless Tasks: Step by Step

Posted by Ellen Sichel on October 10, 2011

One of my students told me that the much of his day was spent on boring household tasks such as dusting and vacuuming. We began exploring the possibility of becoming more mindful while performing them.

Our boring chores are as much as part of the day as exciting events, so why not bring the same attention to them?

You might be surprised at how much more you get out of being present and participating, rather than mindlessly getting them over with.

Try this for the next time you clean, dust, iron or sweep:

Take a few breaths.
Look at what needs to be done.
Pick a place to begin.
With each movement, watch the object you are cleaning change.
Notice your body as you are working and if you are uncomfortable shift your alignment.
Continue to notice each step of the process until you finish.
Now, look at the end result while taking a few breaths.
Notice how you feel.

Give this a try and let me know in the comments below if you were able to be mindful of your task. What was your experience of being present when you stayed with the process? If it did not change, what do you think got in the way?

Tags: alignment, breathe, midnful, movement, physical discomfort, presence

Posted in: Technique of the Week

Do You Live in Fight or Flight?

Mindful of Mindless Tasks: Step by Step