Psychology of Meditation and the Nervous System

24 Hours noise, light, advertising, public transport and traffic jams. In the city there are too many stimuli – as a result our nervous system is overloaded and it is a “failure.” What to do?

The sympathetic nervous system is responsible for the activation of the body and the parasympathetic nervous system causes the body a state of relaxation. Ideally, there is a balance between them, which is automatically maintained if you are tired, you want to relax and rest. This mechanism of self-regulation was given to us by nature. Due to the fast pace of city life, balance is disturbed: the balance in the nervous system is lost, we are more often in a state of excitation than relaxation.

Lately you have become distracted, forget about important things: do not send e-mail to the boss. You forgot to congratulate a friend on his birthday. You begin to pay attention to the unpleasant stuff: clock ticking, clicking “mouse.”

The sound of text messages suddenly makes you wince. And if you are accidentally pushed in the subway, you would like to respond in the same way! During the day you are sleeping, dreaming quickly to get to bed, but at night you can’t relax and fall asleep.

Increasingly, friends say that you are irritable. Your family hints you that you have to take a vacation. You suffer of insomnia, hour after hour, you’re tossing and turning, you’re trying to do chores, then go back and in the morning you just can’t get up.

Alcohol helps you to “relieve stress” and relax after work. Or maybe you’re well past midnight watching TV or sitting on the Internet.

If with at least three of the following statements you agree it is time to address the complex exercise of the body-oriented psychotherapy.

Meditation

It is performed by sitting down, takes about 10-15 minutes. You can do it during the day to rest and recover, and in the evening to relax.

Sit down, put the feet stably on the floor, the back quite straight, but without stress – you can lean back in your chair. Put your hands on your stomach. Breathe deeply and slowly. Try to feel very well your body.

Now imagine that the belly under your hands is filled with warm, pour energy – you can imagine its color.

When the stomach is full enough, imagine the energy flow from the stomach to the right foot. Does the color changed? How fast is this happening? Are there any obstacles? (Feeling “obstacles” in the way shows a solid clip in this area – spasm or chronic stress.)

When the right foot is filled with warm energy, transfer the energy to the left foot – even if it is flowing over the floor. Imagine a color temperature of the stream.

When you filled with it the left foot, raise the energy of the left leg back into the stomach.

In this exercise there can’t be “correct” or “wrong” feelings: the energy can be of any color, speed can also vary. So that energy can make a few laps – or just one.

This simple exercise helps to relax, recuperate, it is better to feel your body get rid of the hassle.

“Slow flow”

You can do this exercise, coming home at night, to forget about things, to relieve stress, relax and rejuvenate.

Lay on the floor a mat. Try to sit in the center of the room, make sure you have enough space to move and you don’t touch the furniture. Background can include slow music.

Stand up, close your eyes. Feel your body as a whole. Track – what an impetus to the movement in it is born? Give it to fruition, but only very slowly, smoothly and continuously, as if you were in the underwater kingdom. Thus arbitrarily move for 10-15 minutes. Your movements should be slow and continuous. You can move with eyes open, but closed eyes can better listen to your body.

“FILLING WITH AIR”

This exercise is performed while lying down. It can be done in the evening – it is relaxing and helps with insomnia.

Lie on your right side, put your right hand under your head and pull the left along the body. Try to find a comfortable position. Now imagine that you will breathe only with the left side of the body (right nostril plugging is not necessary, just imagine you are breathing well.)

Imagine that you are breathing only with the left side of the body and you are filled with air to the armpit. Imagine that to the left side of the spine to the beat of you breathing is inflated a ball – and then blown back. What color is it? Is it easy to inflate, or you have to make an effort? Gradually your breath becomes deeper. Imagine that the air comes to the diaphragm, in a few minutes, imagine that your left-hand side of the body is filled with air to the waist, then – the whole torso. Finally – the whole left side of the body to the fingers of your left leg. Do not hurry – this part may take about 10-15 minutes.

Turn on your back, lie down a little. Then lie on your left side, left arm under head, right along the body. Imagine that you breathe only with the right part of the body. And, just step by step, fill it with air up to the armpits, and so on. After this exercise, as a rule, you quickly come to a deep, healthy sleep. If allostasis is greatly disturbed, it may not happen immediately, but do not worry: after a few days of practice this exercise will necessarily have results!