Quote of the week - March (week 4)

Stress is the number one cause of disease in the body yet most of us do nothing to counter its negative effects on our lives. In these difficult times if you or a loved one are suffering from stress, it needs to be addressed, not ignored.

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What is mindfulness and how it can help with these crazy times?

Mindfulness is living in the now. It is essentially about being more aware and awake in every moment of your life.

I discovered Mindfulness more that three years ago when a colleague at work recommended me a Mindfulness course for professional development. At that time I was suffering from high levels of stress and anxiety at work. Mindfulness meditation really helped me to start taking back control of my life by learning to relax and cope with stress even when things looked out of control. 

It took me months of commitment, dedication and daily practice to be able to discover peace, freedom and happiness with mindfulness. It was totally worth it as it has paid off with large dividends. Today I’m an enthusiastic practitioner and I’m very passionate about it. Mindfulness doesn’t eliminate the difficulties of living but it gives us the space to choose how to react. It prevent us from getting lost in stories about things that may or may not happen.

Our state of mind has a very powerful influence on how our body feels. This area of science is called mind-body medicine. As humans we get lost in our thoughts, they consume our attention most of the time. We're creating all sorts of stressors and anxieties about what ifs and maybes in the future or reliving stressors from the past, and that produces an inappropriate activation of the stress response (fight or flight).

The prolonged effect of too much stress produces a wear and tear in our immune system. It's like getting a car and absolutely flogging it to death by the way that we're driving it. So when our immunity system gets compromised, we accelerate the progression of chronic illnesses, heart diseases and accelerate the aging of the brain.

Being relaxed and aware is the mental equivalent of being fit and healthy. Mindfulness can be practiced any where, any time, regardless of what you are doing. The more you practice it the easier it gets. By practicing every single day it helps us to:

• Decrease stress, anxiety, and depression

• Support better regulation of emotional reactions and increases positive psychological states

• Decrease burnout

• Increase immunity to the influenza virus (flu) and coronavirus

• Improve relationships 

• Increase creativity

• Improve skills needed for interpersonal relationships

• Overcome procrastination and improve your productivity

• Improve empathy and compassion

Brain imaging studies also show that regular mindfulness practice produces growth in brain areas associated with learning and memory processes, emotion regulation, self-referential processing, and perspective-taking.

Mindfulness can really help you to keep calm, find happiness and peace of mind even in the midst of dealing with coronavirus. Mindfulness for wellbeing and top performance is one of the key elements of Ray of Light Coaching Programmes.

“I cannot thank Ray enough for the help he has given me. It made such a difference. I was really struggling with anxiety and stress. As a working mum of four children I found it hard to find balance in my life. I didn’t feel I was doing good enough. I felt overwhelmed. Ray helped me to see things differently, to slow down and to focus properly on one thing at a time. Learning Mindfulness meditation gave me the skills to have more control and to function better. I struggled to fall asleep but a quick meditation along breathing techniques has completely solved this problem. I do it every night without fail. I also use this to relax and focus on the next task when I’m really busy. I’m still learning Mindfulness and I try to apply it in different areas of my life on a daily basis. It is an ongoing process but it’s really worth it for the benefits you get.”

— Emma, England

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Ray Deekes is a firestarter. He is passionate about inspiring and empowering others to reach their true potential and to live a fulfilling life.

He brings a mix of stress management acumen and understanding on peak performance, health & wellbeing learnt from his studies in Stress Management, Health & Wellbeing (Centre for Stress Management, London) as well over 20 years of experience in high demanding jobs working with top executives from around the world and over 30 years of sports practice. Ray is also a enthusiastic practitioner of Mindfulness (Monash University) and very passionate about promoting healthy eating (University of Aberdeen).

www.rayoflight.online