STRESS-RELIEF MEDITATION TOOLKITmbtproducts.s3.amazonaws.com/srmt/SRMInstructionBooklet.pdf · Tips...

STRESS-RELIEF

MEDITATION

TOOLKIT

©Kevin Schoeninger

ISBN: 978-0-9658256-6-5

Available from The Power Of Practice, LLC

http://www.thepowerofpractice.com

http://www.thepowerofpractice.com/

©Kevin Schoeninger 2

STRESS-RELIEF MEDITATION TOOLKIT

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Session One: Activating Your Body’s Natural Relaxation Response . . . 3

Stress is an Inside Job

Dr. Herbert Benson Discovers “The Relaxation Response”

Four Meditation Cues

The 3Rs of Meditation

Meditation Guidelines

Guided Meditation #1: “The Relaxing Breath”

Session Two: Witnessing Your Responses to Stress . . . 9

How Stress Affects Your Body and Mind

The 3 Stages of Stress Identified by Dr. Hans Selye

Tips for Becoming Stress-Hardy

Guided Meditation #2: “Relaxing Down Three Lines”

Session Three: Transforming Your Health, Energy, and Emotions . . . 16

Your Body as a Multi-layered, Intelligent, Information System

Self-Generating a Positive Inner State

Guided Meditation #3: “Inner Smiling”

Session Four: Using Your Skills in the Moments You Need Them . . . 23

3 Steps from Stress to Empowerment

Guided Meditation #4: “3 Steps from Stress to Empowerment”

Conclusion: The Four Phases of Practice . . . 28

Frequently Asked Questions

Bibliography, Suggested Reading, and Image credits



“Through daily meditation practice you’ll grow your ability

to focus your attention, calmly observe your experiences,

release stress, and connect to a Core part of you

that knows what to do.

You’ll discover that you can choose to relax deeply and

return to calm clarity whenever you need.”

(from the included “Stress-Relief Meditation” mp3s)

SESSION ONE:

Activating Your Body’s Natural Relaxation Response

Stress is An Inside Job

If you’re like most of us, you probably relate the stress you feel to all the demands in your life. You’ve got

work and family responsibilities, endless To-Do lists, countless emails, texts, and social media invitations

to respond to, as well as a constant bombardment of information, noise, and expectations of others all

day long. If you are trying to counter this with a little self-care, by meditating, exercising, eating well, and

giving attention to your spiritual life, these might feel like additional burdens on top of everything else

you have to do.

No doubt, life these days is moving at warp speed and intensity—and it takes a strong committed effort

to manage your time, energy, and resources, so you don’t get overwhelmed and swallowed up by it all.

However, did you know there’s one key factor that is creating the stress that you feel? Learning to master

this one simple thing will release you from the mountain of pressures that are weighing down on you.

Here’s a psychological definition of stress that helps us understand what this one thing is:

“Stress is the perception of a threat combined with

the perception of your inability to handle that threat.”

I originally heard this definition in a talk given by psycho-neuro-immunologist, Dr. Myrin Borysenko.

Basically, what it means is that the stress you feel is an “inside job.” The stress you feel is not so much

about what is happening “out there” in the world around you as it is about how you are relating to all of

that, how you are perceiving what is happening. The thoughts, feelings, and behaviors that you are

caught up in at any given moment determine the amount of stress that you feel.

For example, if you perceive something as a threat to your health, well-being, and success and you doubt

if you have the time, energy, skill, or resources to handle that, you’ll feel stress.

If you are looking at what you’re facing as a “should” or “have to,” you’ll feel more stress about it.

If you are looking at events, other people, or yourself and thinking that those events, people, or you

“should be different,” you’ll feel stress.



And, if you look at the challenges you’re facing and think that you have to do it all on your own, all by

yourself, you’ll feel more stress.

In contrast, when you look at the challenges you’re facing and think “I have what it takes to handle that,”

“I can’t wait to get to it,” “Everything is set up perfectly for what needs to happen,” and “I have abundant

resources to handle this,” you’ll feel relaxed, positive, energized, and empowered about tackling those

challenges.

So, the bottom line is this: How you are thinking about the demands you are facing makes all the

difference! If you can look at what is happening in your life from a relaxed perspective, you immediately

shift how everything feels. You are instantly able to think more clearly, be more productive, and enjoy

your life more!

In 1975, Dr. Herbert Benson, M.D. released his groundbreaking book, The Relaxation Response. He

defined the relaxation response as a physical state of deep rest that changes your physical and emotional

responses to stress. He also described the steps you can take to consciously initiate your body’s natural

relaxation response (Source: http://www.relaxationresponse.org/steps):

Steps to Elicit the Relaxation Response:

1. Sit quietly in a comfortable position.

2. Close your eyes.

3. Deeply relax all your muscles, beginning at your feet and progressing up to your face. Keep them

relaxed.

4. Breathe through your nose. Become aware of your breathing. As you breathe out, say the word,

“one” (or any soothing mellifluous sound, preferable with no meaning or association, to avoid

stimulation of thoughts), silently to yourself. For example, breathe in . . . out, “one,” in . . . out, “one,”

etc. Breathe easily and naturally.

5. Continue for 10-20 minutes. You may open your eyes to check the time, but do not use an alarm.

When you finish, sit quietly for several minutes, at first with your eyes closed and later with your eyes

opened. Do not stand up for a few minutes.

6. Do not worry about whether you are successful in achieving a deep level of relaxation. Maintain a

passive attitude and permit relaxation to occur at its own pace. When distracting thoughts occur, try to

ignore them by not dwelling upon them and return to repeating “one.” With practice, the response

should come with little effort. Practice the technique once or twice daily, but not within two hours after

any meal, since the digestive processes seem to interfere with the elicitation of the Relaxation Response.

Sounds pretty simple, doesn’t it?

Well, it is simple, but that doesn’t mean it’s easy. For many people, the simple process of sitting still and

quiet, while focusing on breathing with “one” in mind, quickly becomes very challenging.

At first, most people notice just how busy and distracted their minds are. It seems impossible to ignore

distracting thoughts and they find themselves just sitting there worrying and/or wondering how this is

http://www.relaxationresponse.org/steps

http://www.relaxationresponse.org/steps



supposed to be relaxing, calming, and quieting for their mind. Many people give up on meditation before

they get far into it, thinking that they just aren’t good at it or that it’s just not for them.

In teaching meditation for the past 25 years, I’ve discovered that this is quite a common experience.

Because of that, I’ve found that most people do best following guided meditations, especially at first. In

a guided meditation, you follow along with audio instructions, which helps you stay on track through your

practice session. There are four guided meditations in this program.

I’ve also found that it’s important to understand a bit more about the process of meditation before

beginning. In essence, meditation is a practice of consciously guiding your attention. In the meditations

in this program, I will guide your attention through a series of four cues that help you relax your body,

calm your emotions, and quiet your mind.

Four Meditation Cues:

1. Sit comfortably upright in a relaxed aligned posture. In all four meditations in this program, I guide you

through a repeated sequence of posture and relaxation cues.

2. Smile inside. I guide you to put a subtle smile of appreciation and gratitude on your lips and to feel the

sensation of smiling in your body. This further relaxes your body, calms your emotions, and stimulates

the release of good-feeling neurochemicals, called “endorphins,” that place you in a positive state.

3. Breathe consciously. As you focus on taking slow, deep, conscious breaths your heart-rate and

brainwaves slow down, allowing you to enter into a deeper meditative state.

4. Feel the space inside your body. As you focus into the sensations of space inside your body, this

activates the part of your brain associated with inner sensations (a process called “Interoception”). As

your attention becomes absorbed in feeling inner sensations, your analytical mind, your obsessively-

thinking and constantly-associating mind quiets down.

As you listen to my voice and follow these cues, you’ll easily find yourself becoming more and more

relaxed. You may also notice that your mind periodically “wanders.” When this happens, I want you to

do three simple things.

Whenever a thought, image, memory, feeling, or physical sensation captures your attention and “takes

you away” from your meditative focus, I will ask you to practice the 3Rs of Meditation. Here’s what that

means:

The 3Rs of Meditation:

1. Recognize: whenever your mind is drawn away from your meditative focus by a thought, image,

memory, feeling, physical sensation, or anything at all, first, simply recognize and accept that. See if you

can observe that without judgment. See if you can just notice what captured your attention. Noticing

whatever happens during meditation is part of the process of meditation.

All kinds of thoughts, feelings, and sensations are part of meditation. You don’t have to try to stop them—

it won’t work. Part of your mind is involved in non-stop associating. By practicing meditation, you’ll



discover that you can notice that without becoming all wrapped up in it. At the same time, you’ll be

activating other parts of your mind—ones that aren’t “thinking.” By doing that, the thinking part of your

mind will gradually fade into the background.

Many people find it helpful to label whatever captures their attention with a simple word or phrase, such

as: thinking, remembering, feeling sad, being hard on myself, doubting, thinking about what I’ll have for

lunch, back pain, and so on. . .

Once you’ve recognized where your mind went and perhaps labeled it, move on to step two:

2. Release whatever captured your attention. Let it go. If it’s important to think about, it will come back

to you when you need to think about it later. For now, let it go, so you can move on to step three:

3. Return to your meditation cues. Gently guide your attention back to the sound of my voice and to what

I am asking you to focus on at that moment.

Follow these 3Rs as often as you find your mind wandering. If that’s multiple times each minute, that’s

O.K. Remember, just noticing whatever happens during meditation is part of the practice of meditation.

Having a gentle, easy-going, accepting attitude toward yourself will help you move into the deeper states

of meditative experience. So, accept whatever happens. . .

Now, before we get into our first meditation experience, here are some other helpful guidelines:

Meditation Guidelines:

1. Set aside a specific time each day dedicated to your daily practice. Choose a time that works best for

you—at the beginning of the day, mid-day, or end of the day. You can also use these meditations anytime

you feel overwhelmed or stressed out.

For most people, the most consistent and beneficial times to meditate are first thing in the morning to

start the day from a relaxed, centered place or last thing at night to unwind, let go of the day, and get

ready for rest. Take a moment now to decide when you will commit to your daily meditation practice.

Then, schedule it in your weekly planner.

2. Start small and be consistent. Meditating every day for a short time is more beneficial than once a

week for an hour. The meditations in this course are generally 15-20 minutes to help you be consistent.

3. Choose a quiet private environment with a comfortable seat that puts your hips

level with or slightly above your knees as you sit with the soles of your feet flat on the

floor and parallel to each other.

4. Let others know that you are taking some quiet time, so they won’t interrupt you.

5. It is best not to practice soon after eating a big meal, drinking lots of coffee, or

drinking alcohol.

6. Keep a Log of your meditation sessions to help you integrate your experience and

monitor your progress. As part of the package for this program, you received a Daily

Practice Log to use for that. On this Log, you can keep track of the Date/Time you



meditated, the Form (the specific guided meditation mp3) you followed, and a Brief Description of your

experience. Those who use this Log generally get the most out of their practice.

With these basic insights and tips in mind, let’s move into our first meditation practice session. I call it

“The Relaxing Breath.” You can listen along to the guided mp3 with that title. The script for this

meditation is included below for your reference. I suggest you practice “The Relaxing Breath” at least

once, and up to seven days, and record your experience on your Daily Practice Log, before moving on to

our next guided meditation in Session Two.

After your first practice session, you may have questions. You might wonder if what you experienced is

normal or if you are doing it right. I’ve included a Frequently Asked Questions section at the end of the

text, right after the Conclusion, as a helpful reference. You can read these at any time.

Enjoy your practice!

Guided Meditation Script:

“The Relaxing Breath”

Meditation is a way to consciously activate your body’s natural relaxation response. Through daily

practice you’ll grow your ability to focus your attention, calmly observe your experiences, release stress,

and connect to a Core part of you that knows what to do. You’ll discover that you can choose to relax

deeply and return to calm clarity whenever you need.

So, if you will, join me in sitting forward on the front edge of a seat, so your hips are level with or slightly

above your knees and the soles of your feet are flat on the floor and parallel to each other. Sit far enough

forward so you feel some weight in your feet.

Rest your hands, palms down on your thighs. Lightly close your eyes.

Focus your attention down into your feet and notice the sensations there. Notice any tension in the soles

of your feet and your toes. Allow your feet and toes to soften and relax, as if they are melting into the

floor underneath you.

Focus into the sensations in your hands and fingers and notice any tension there. Allow your hands and

fingers to soften and relax, as if they are melting into your legs.

As your hands and fingers relax, allow your arms and shoulders to relax down, releasing any tension in

your shoulders.

Imagine a string attached to the top of your head drawing your spine gently upright, giving you a feeling

of vertical spaciousness up through the center of your body, up through your spine, and through the top

of your head. Notice how you feel when you sit nicely upright. You may feel more purposeful, alert, and

empowered.

Tuck your chin just slightly, releasing any tension in the back of your neck.

Smile—a subtle smile of appreciation and gratitude for this moment to consciously relax and feel good

inside.



Allow the feeling of smiling to relax your jaw, relax your eyes, and release any tension from your eyebrows

and your forehead. Allow the feeling of smiling to wash down through your whole body creating a positive

inner environment, nurturing every cell. What would it feel like if every cell is smiling?

Now, focus into your abdomen and notice the space between your lower ribs and the front of your hips.

Take a nice deep in-breath and allow the space between lower ribs and hips to open up vertically, raising

the front of your rib-cage. This aligns your posture and increases the breathing space in your abdomen.

As you exhale, maintain that increased space. Take a couple more deep in-breaths, allowing this

abdominal space to open up a little more each time you inhale.

Maintain that nice open breathing space throughout this meditation. If you are comfortably able to,

breathe in and out through your nose only as you continue to follow your breathing. . .

Now, as you inhale, imagine your breath filling up your lower abdomen, your upper abdomen, and your

chest all the way up to your collar bones. As you exhale, imagine this same space emptying out from top

to bottom while maintaining your open breathing space and upright posture.

See if it’s possible to stay present in the whole cycle of your breathing, so you notice the moment you

begin to inhale and follow your in-breath all the way through to a natural pause. Then, notice the moment

you begin to exhale and follow your out-breath all the way through to a natural pause.

What would it be like to be absolutely interested in following your breathing as if nothing else matters at

this moment?

If your attention wanders, it’s O.K. Just notice and accept that, let it go, and gently return your attention

to your breath. Each time you exhale, mentally repeat “relax.”

Continue with slow, deep, conscious breathing. Each time you exhale, let go even more, and mentally say

the word “relax.”

Now, as you inhale, imagine and feel as if your whole body is filling up with your breath. As you exhale,

imagine and feel as if your whole body is emptying out. Each time you exhale, mentally say the word

“relax” and allow yourself to let go even more. . .

Allow your breathing to become subtle, quiet, and soft, so you barely notice the sensation . . .

Now, let go of your breathing and feel your body as a whole from the inside. Feel the entire space inside

your skin. Allow a feeling of deep relaxation to spread out evenly and completely through your whole

body. Smile and enjoy this feeling of deep relaxation.

Record the feeling of deep relaxation in every cell of your body, so you can remember and return to this

feeling anywhere, anytime.

Slowly open your eyes and focus on the floor in front of you. Take the feeling of relaxation with you

wherever you go. Whenever you feel stress, remember to pause, breathe, and relax. Well done!



SESSION TWO:

Witnessing Your Responses to Stress

So, how did your first meditation session go? If you relaxed even a little and noticed how busy your mind

can be, that’s par for the course. Learning to consciously activate your body’s relaxation response and

observe the many different events that are happening in your mind and body are the first skills you

develop as you practice meditating.

If you practiced the meditation more than once, you also probably noticed that every day your meditation

session was a little different. Some days you may have felt more relaxed and other days your mind may

have darted from one thought to the next. There may have been a day that a persistent thought nagged

you so doggedly that you aren’t quite sure if you were meditating or not.

No worries, it takes time to establish a new habit like meditation and to feel confident in your practice.

And, even then, you will notice that every day is different. Rest assured that meditation becomes easier,

more relaxing, enlightening, and enjoyable if you practice a little every day.

If you miss a day, don’t sweat it. Remember the attitude of meditation practice is calm self-acceptance

of yourself and of whatever happens. So, if you miss a day, just recommit to your practice the next day.

Now, let’s look a little more deeply into your personal responses to stress. By becoming conscious of your

stress patterns, you can recognize when they are active and take steps to handle them gracefully. You

can learn to achieve a state of balance in which you engage in optimal levels of challenge, novelty, and

change without putting yourself into overwhelm by taking on too much.

How Stress Affects Your Body and Mind

Let’s begin by briefly exploring the physiology of the stress response and then we’ll discuss some common

ways that people cope with stress—some constructive and some, not so much. . .

When you perceive or imagine a potential challenge, demand, or threat, your hypothalamus, your brain’s

main switch for the stress response, signals your sympathetic nervous system to ramp up to meet that

challenge. Your sympathetic nervous system does this by adjusting several physiological functions. Your

heart-rate elevates to pump more blood to your extremities. Your breathing becomes more shallow and

rapid. Your blood pressure increases as blood is shunted away from your internal organs to your arms

and legs.

As long as you perceive that you are facing a demand, danger, difficulty, or pain, your adrenal glands

secrete corticoids (stress hormones) which help you gear up for that threat. At the same time, these

hormones inhibit digestion, reproduction, tissue growth and repair, and immune responses. Your

maintenance and repair functions are shut-down in favor of getting you ready for action.

This is important if you have a real acute danger to deal with. However, if you are imagining a threat or if

you have a hyper-vigilant mindset that always sees life through the eyes of danger, anxiety, and fear, you

may become locked in a chronic stress response. Chronic stress has severe consequences for your health



and well-being as well as for your mind’s ability to make good decisions and stick with your good

intentions. How severe these consequences are depends on which stage of stress you are in.

The Three Stages of Stress Identified by Dr. Hans Selye

In 1936, endocrinologist Dr. Hans Selye (1907-1982) introduced the General Adaptation Syndrome to

describe the three stages of stress response in the body: alarm, resistance, and exhaustion. It’s critically

important that you don’t let yourself get to Stage Three: Exhaustion—because it’s hard to recover from

that. It is absolutely possible to recover, but it will take a real committed effort—a real strong intervention

on your part. (I highly recommend the book Total Recovery by Dr. Gary Kaplan for more information on

how to recover from Stage Three. See the Bibliography for book details.)

Let’s explore these three stages in a little more detail. Understanding them will help you identify where

you are at any given time, so you can take appropriate action.

Stage One: Alarm

When you first perceive a demand as a stressor and wonder if you have the ability to handle that, your

mind and body go into “Alarm mode.” As we’ve touched upon, this initiates a cascade of physiological

effects, including your sympathetic nervous system activating, hormones such as cortisol and adrenaline

releasing into your bloodstream, your heart-rate, respiration, and brainwave frequencies elevating,

muscle and connective tissue tightening, and blood shunting to your limbs for action and away from

digestion and other maintenance processes such as immune response.

In addition, your ability to think at a “higher level” shuts down in favor of “survival” reactions and

oversimplified “black and white thinking.” Emotions such as doubt, self-judgment, fear, paranoia, and

anxiety also tend to ramp up. All this happens immediately and subconsciously and it impairs your ability

to make good decisions and stick with your good intentions. When you are stressed, it’s hard to resist

that big piece of chocolate, bag of chips, or addictive behavior (obsessively exercising, checking your

emails and texts, overworking, drinking, surfing the internet. . .).

If you end up handling the stressful situation effectively, your body returns to homeostasis (natural

balance) as your parasympathetic nervous system takes over, sending a relaxation response throughout

your body. This initiates a series of balancing physiological effects, including the release of good-feeling

neurochemicals such as serotonin, calm coherence returning to your heart-rate, respiration, and

brainwaves, your muscles and connective tissue relaxing, blood returning to your digestive organs, and

your immune response coming back online. Your mind returns to being able to think constructively and

creatively and feelings of confidence, self-esteem, willpower, and trust tend to increase.

This is the normal rhythm of a healthy life: you experience demands, find the resources to handle them,

and then return to relaxation and recovery. An empowered, purposeful, fulfilling life has a nice rhythm

between periods of healthy stress and recovery.



Now, what happens if a situation overwhelms your ability to handle it? What if an experience is so

traumatic that it leaves a lasting mark? Or what if stressors are so persistent and frequent that you cannot

stay on top of it all?

Any situation that goes unresolved gets stored as tension in your body. This tension may go unnoticed as

you move on to other events and experiences, yet it stays with you subtly influencing how you think, feel,

and behave in the future. As a situation remains unresolved and/or unresolved stressors pile up, your

body moves into the next stage of stress response.

Stage Two: Resistance

In the Resistance Stage, your body fights to keep up with what it needs to do to maintain your health and

well-being, while still handling the perceived demands you are facing and coping with the levels of stress

that are stored in your system. Current research is beginning to show how stress that is not handled and

resolved leads to chronic inflammation in your central nervous system that is the precursor to almost all

of our serious and life-threatening illnesses. (p. 96, Total Recovery)

In the Resistance Stage, you may notice yourself being persistently fatigued, more susceptible to nagging

colds, slower to heal from injuries, more emotionally on edge, easier to “fly off the handle,” subject to

periods of “brain fog” in which you find it hard to concentrate, caught up in cravings for salty or sweet

comfort foods, and at risk for addictions to alcohol and narcotics that numb your feelings.

Getting some extra sleep, eating well, exercising, and consciously relaxing through activities such as

meditation, can help you stay afloat in this phase. By doing these activities you can actively manage the

Resistance Stage for quite some time—even for years. Your life won’t feel particularly joyful; it will

probably feel more like a struggle, but you can continue doing what you have to do.

If you are able to make life changes to prioritize your time, energy, and resources, engage in appropriate

self-care steps, and take actions to resolve the perceived stresses you are facing, you can resolve Stage

Two and move back into a state of balance. By handling the stressors you were facing, you become

stronger and more stress-resistant or stress-resilient.

However, if you fail to take adequate self-care and do not resolve stressful situations effectively—and this

happens for a significant period of time—you may crossover into the third stage of the stress response:

Exhaustion.

Stage Three: Exhaustion

If you reach the point of exhaustion, you just cannot keep pushing forward. You’ve become depleted to

the point that you must take serious recuperative measures to regain your strength, energy, vitality,

confidence, and capability. At this point, self-care measures such as exercise, meditation, and eating well

may just feel like too much effort. You may find yourself deeply depressed and unable to muster up

enthusiasm for anything. You may find yourself in the grips of a serious illness, because your immune

response is seriously compromised.



Extreme self-care is now your only option. You absolutely must rest. You must be kind and loving toward

yourself. You must engage in gentle activities which nurture you and heal your body, heart, and mind.

Being open to receiving help and emotional support from others may also be extremely important. It

becomes essential that you overcome the thought that you have to do it all on your own.

This is not a time for intense exercise, getting on top of your work, or trying hard to feel better. It’s a time

for quiet reflection and journaling, easy walks in nature, soothing herbal tea and healthy, easy-to-digest

foods such as soups, steamed vegetables, and protein smoothies—along with lots of pure water. You may

also benefit from supplements to support and heal your exhausted adrenal system.

Now, as with any system of categories, these stages are somewhat fluid. There are not necessarily firm

boundaries by which you can definitively put yourself in one stage or another. However, understanding

the characteristics of these stages is important, so you identify what might be most helpful to you at any

given moment in time. With that knowledge, you can take appropriate self-care steps to return to a

natural balance and healthy flow in your life.

As you observe your own patterns of stress, see if it’s possible to adopt a calm, gentle, self-accepting, self-

nurturing attitude—the kind of attitude we are practicing in meditation. This will help you more

objectively witness your stress responses and more clearly see what you can do to manage your stress

better. Awareness of your own stress patterns is job one.

It’s also important to note that stress is not bad. Life is richer, more inspiring, and exciting when we face

challenges and use them to grow into our full potential. A certain level of stress is positive.

However, it’s vitally important to discover your optimal levels and types of stimulation, see them as

positive challenges, and balance them with rest and recovery. This balance will vary from person to

person. Some people are more geared to handle dramatic situations and spontaneous changes, while

others need a little more ease and structure to feel right with life.

The very idea of balance contrasts with many common methods for handling stress. We live in a society

in which we are encouraged to work harder and faster to get everything done in less time. Many people

then bury their stressful feelings by consuming excessive alcohol, pain-killers, stimulants, anti-

depressants, fast food, TV, and entertainment. These strategies are short-sighted fixes that don’t get to

the root of the problem or begin to solve it. In fact, they make your stress worse.

Tips for Becoming Stress-Hardy

Researchers at the University of Chicago (Kobasa 1985) have found that “stress hardy” individuals have a

different approach. These individuals “view stressors as challenges and chances for new opportunities

and personal growth instead of as threats. They feel in control of their life circumstances, and they

perceive that they have the resources to make choices and influence events around them.” (p. 10, The

Relaxation and Stress Reduction Workbook)

In other words, those who’ve become stress-hardy adopt an empowered mindset and make choices to

have more balance in their lives.



Dr. Herbert Benson (The Wellness Book) finds that stress-hardy individuals, in addition to having a positive

outlook, have good social support systems, engage in purposeful activities, exercise regularly, and eat a

healthy diet. They also have reliable ways they use to de-stress. Which brings us back to our main

subject—meditation.

Our second guided meditation is called “Relaxing Down Three Lines.” This

meditation is a phenomenal way to begin to release layers of tension that are

stored in the cells of your body from accumulated stress. I think you’ll find this

meditation deeply soothing, like the comfort of warming yourself in the sun on

a beautiful summer day.

You can follow along with the included guided audio mp3 titled “Relaxing Down

Three Lines.” The guided meditation script is included below for your reference.

Practice this meditation at least once, and up to seven days, before moving on

to Session Three and our next guided meditation. I highly encourage you to use

the included Daily Practice Log to make notes on your practice.

Enjoy!


“Relaxing Down Three Lines”


practice you’ll grow your ability to guide your attention, calmly observe your experiences, release stress,




above your knees and your feet are firmly on the floor and parallel to each other. Sit far enough forward

so you feel some weight in your feet.


Focus into the sensations in the bottoms of both feet and notice any tension in your feet and your toes.

Allow your feet and toes to soften and relax, as if they are melting into the floor underneath you.


fingers to soften and relax, as if they are melting into your thighs.

As your hands and fingers relax, allow your arms and shoulders to relax down, so they are supported on

your thighs.



of your head. Notice how you feel when you sit nicely upright. You may feel more purposeful, alert, more

empowered.



Tuck your chin just slightly, releasing any tension in the back of your neck. Roll the tip of your tongue up

to touch the roof of your mouth and smile—a gentle, easy, subtle smile of appreciation and gratitude for

this moment to consciously relax and feel good inside.


and your forehead. Allow the feeling of smiling to wash down through your whole body creating a positive

inner environment, nurturing every cell. Imagine every cell is smiling.

Now, focus into your right shoulder. Allow a feeling of warmth, heaviness, and relaxation to fill your right

shoulder. Imagine this feeling like a warm thick liquid slowly moving down through your upper arm, down

through your right elbow, into your right forearm, through your right wrist, into the palm of your right

hand, and out through your fingers. Feel your right arm as a whole, from your shoulder through your

fingers, warm, heavy, and completely relaxed.

Now, focus into your right hip. Feel the contact with the seat underneath you and then allow a feeling of

warmth, heaviness, and relaxation to fill your right hip. Imagine this feeling like a warm thick liquid slowly

filling your right thigh and moving through your right knee, and down, down through your shin and calf,

down through your right ankle, your right heel, through the arch of your right foot, the ball of your foot,

and out through your toes. Feel your right leg as a whole from your hip through your toes, warm, heavy,

and completely relaxed.

Now, compare your right side with your left side and feel the difference.

Now, focus into your left shoulder. Allow a feeling of warmth, heaviness, and relaxation to fill your left

shoulder. Imagine this feeling like a warm thick liquid slowly moving down through your upper arm, down

through your left elbow, into your left forearm, through your left wrist, into the palm of your left hand,

and out through your fingers. Feel your left arm as a whole, from your shoulder through your fingers,

warm, heavy, and completely relaxed.

Now, focus into your left hip. Feel the contact with the seat underneath you and then allow a feeling of

warmth, heaviness, and relaxation to fill your left hip. Imagine this feeling like a warm thick liquid slowly

filling your left thigh and moving through your left knee, and down, down through your shin and calf,

down through your left ankle, your left heel, through the arch of your left foot, the ball of your foot, and

out through your toes. Feel your left leg as a whole from your hip through your toes, warm, heavy, and

completely relaxed.

Now feel both sides of your body at once, and allow that warm relaxed feeling to spread out evenly and

completely through both sides of your body.

Now, focus to the top of your head and imagine a warm, slow-moving waterfall pouring down the back of

your head, down the back of your neck, down between your shoulder blades, down through your lower

back, down through the base of your spine, and down into the ground. Feel that whole waterfall at once,

from the top of your head, down your spine, and down into the ground, relaxing and releasing any tension

along your spine and washing it down into the ground.

Now, feel your body as a whole from the inside. Feel the entire space inside your skin. And allow the

warm relaxed feeling to spread out evenly and completely through your whole body. Enjoy this warm



relaxed feeling in your whole body. Record the feeling of relaxation in every cell, so you can remember

and return to this feeling anywhere, any time.

Slowly open your eyes and take in the space around you. Feel warmth and relaxation inside your body

with your eyes open, so you bring this feeling into your outer experience. Take this feeling of relaxation

with you into your life. Well done!



SESSION THREE:

Transforming Your Health, Energy, and Emotions

Now that you’ve had an opportunity to try two different meditations and had a bit more practice, what

have you noticed? Have you found one meditation easier or more effective for you than the other? Have

you found a time and place that works well for you to meditate? I encourage you to think of your

meditation practice as an ongoing experiment in which you cultivate your ability to calmly observe

yourself and discover more about who you are and what works well for you.

Many people come to meditation to learn how to de-stress, consciously relax, and unwind. Meditation is

a highly-effective tool to help you activate your body’s natural relaxation response. It’s a proven method

to cultivate inner peace. It’s also a powerful way to become more aware and accepting of yourself, others,

and life in general. Yet, what if it could act on an even deeper level to transform the very structure of

your body and mind?

What if it were possible to consciously program your genes, setting which genetic potentials were

switched on and which ones were switched off? For example, what if you could switch on your genetic

potential to kill cancer cells and stimulate your immunity against any disease or virus? What if you could

elevate your metabolism and increase your body’s ability to burn fat and maintain a healthy weight? What

if you could improve your brain function and start using more of your genetic potential?

I’m not talking about gene splicing or genetic engineering in a lab. I’m not talking about manipulations of

genetic code that lead to unimagined and unintended side-effects. What I’m talking about is optimizing

your genetic code by activating and supporting the incomparable intelligence within your body.

Your Body as a Multi-Layered, Intelligent, Information System

Think of your body as an infinitely complex, masterfully balanced,

multi-layered, information system. Three primary types of

information are transmitted through this system: nerve signals, bio-

chemical signals, and bio-mechanical signals. Nerve signals are

conducted through your brain, spine, and nervous system, chemical

signals through your endocrine, digestive, lymphatic, and

circulatory systems, and bio-mechanical pressures are transmitted

through your muscles, bones, connective tissue, and respiratory

system.

Normally, all this happens beneath your conscious awareness. You just experience the surface effects of

energy and feelings that sum up what’s happening subconsciously. However, did you know that you have

a powerful impact on all this signaling activity by the thoughts and feelings you focus on, the food and

drinks you consume, and the behaviors you engage in? Have you considered the deep implications of

your conscious participation or your lack of conscious participation in these processes?



Let’s explore the positive role you can play in a little more detail. Then, you’ll practice consciously signaling

your body for optimum health and mental-emotional empowerment using our third meditation.

In his ground-breaking book, The Biology of Belief, epigenetic researcher Dr. Bruce Lipton describes a

fascinating discovery he made with some simple cells in a petri dish. When Lipton introduced toxins into

the petri dish, the cells would change their genetic expression into a “protective mode,” walling

themselves off from the environment around them and limiting their interactions with each other. When

he introduced a nutritional substance into the petri dish, the cells opened up, changing their genetic

structure to a “growth mode” to absorb nutrients and engage in more cooperative interactions with each

other.

He goes on to describe how, in the human system, thoughts, feelings, beliefs, and behaviors alter the

entire cellular environment determining if our cells are in “growth mode” or “protection mode,” and, as

a result, if you feel relaxed, positive, empowered, and expansive or stressed, fearful, anxious, negative,

limited, and contracted.

For example, the simple thought “I’m no good at this” signals your body to slump forward. This leaves

you less space to take a full breath, so your breathing becomes shallow and restricted and you take in less

oxygen. Your abdominal space becomes cramped, which inhibits your digestion and absorption of

nutrients. Your spinal muscles become lax, so lose your “backbone,” your willpower, and your ability to

stand up for who you are and what you desire. As a result of all of this, your energy and mood dip

downward and you start thinking of ways to “survive” rather than to “thrive.”

If this thought becomes a persistent pattern, that posture chronically alters your breathing, digestion, and

willpower. You lose your confidence and find it harder to be proactive with exercise, eating well, and

getting the rest you need. This further compromises your energy and immunity, setting yourself up for

illness and addictive behaviors to compensate for your poor mood and energy. All of this makes it hard

to think clearly, make good decisions, and stick with your good intentions. And, it all started with a self-

critical thought.

Further research into the phenomenon of how your mind affects your body has shown that thoughts and

feelings quickly signal all the way down to the DNA level. This signaling immediately affects which of your

genetic potentials are “up-regulated” or activated and which ones are “down-regulated” or turned off.

When you consider that, at any given point in time, you are expressing only 1.5% of the genetic potentials

stored in your DNA library, there is a tremendous opportunity for you to consciously select different

genetic expressions.

You have much more power than you know.

The bottom line is that something as simple as a thought can change how your body functions, how you

feel, and the results that you’re getting in all areas of your life. Hence, the power of focusing on a positive

thought versus a negative or limiting thought. That’s what’s behind the practice of positive affirmations.

Yet what if there was something even more powerful and deeply effective than affirmations?



Self-Generating a Positive Inner State

Over the past thirty years as a practitioner and teacher of mind-body practices, I’ve found it even more

powerful to send positive signals not just through your mind, but through your whole body. You can

consciously focus on your posture, breathing, emotion, and inner sensation to create a wave of relaxation

and good feeling that affects your whole body on a deep cellular level. When you practice this

consistently, you can create a baseline state of relaxed, positive, calm clarity that you can live from and

return to whenever you need.

That’s not to say that you will always feel the same—that you’ll always feel relaxed and positive. That’s

not the way life works. We are made to have a variety of experiences and feelings. Life is always changing

and requires many different responses. Yet, underneath it all, you can practice having a relaxed, positive,

calm, clear, and accepting attitude that enables you to “go with the flow” and thrive in the midst of

whatever life brings your way.

With that in mind, our next meditation is called “Inner Smiling.” The basis of Inner Smiling is actively self-

generating a positive feeling of appreciation and gratitude in your body. It begins by putting a subtle smile

on your lips and then allowing the feeling of smiling to expand throughout your body.

Inner Smiling can almost instantly lower your blood pressure, calm your nervous system, balance your

hormones, and improve your brain function, while giving you a positive feeling of well-being. Generating

an inner smile brings your parasympathetic nervous system online, which is your repair and recovery

mode or your natural relaxation response. When your relaxation response is active, your levels of muscle

tension decrease, you breathe more deeply, your digestive system receives more blood for absorbing

nutrients and releasing toxins, and your immune system gets the energy it needs to function at a peak

level.

These effects begin by bringing your heart rhythms into calm coherence. This, in turn, facilitates coherent

brainwaves and integrated whole brain function. As your higher-level brain functions come online, you

will naturally find yourself better able to calmly observe what is happening inside and around you, make

good decisions, and stick with your good intentions.

Pretty exciting stuff!

So, how do you practice Inner Smiling?

Here are four simple steps to practice Inner Smiling anytime,

anywhere:

1. Close your eyes and take several slow deep breaths.

2. Imagine that you are breathing in and out through your heart to

focus your attention there.

3. Put a subtle smile of appreciation and gratitude on your lips and

imagine smiling into your heart.

4. Imagine and feel your Inner Smile expanding from your heart to infuse every cell in your body.



To help you generate Inner Smiling in your heart and then your body as a whole, you can bring to mind

someone whom you care for unconditionally, such as a parent, spouse, child, or pet. Or recall something

that you love to do or someone who makes you smile. Bring your appreciation and gratitude for those

people, pets, or events, into your heart and then send that feeling outward into your whole body.

If you find this challenging at first, you might spend a little extra time focusing on breathing deeply in and

out through your heart, while allowing any feelings of tension or irritation to dissolve in your breath. Then,

imagine someone or something you effortlessly appreciate.

You might also see if it’s possible to let go of “trying” to do anything, and appreciate having a few moments

of “just being.” Be grateful for a few moments without striving. The bottom line is to allow the feeling of

smiling to come easily, effortlessly, by putting a subtle smile on your lips and allowing the feeling

appreciation and gratitude to spread throughout your body.

In the following Inner Smiling meditation, we’ll practice allowing the feeling of Inner Smiling to travel along

three paths through all your internal organs and spine. This is an amazingly powerful meditation for your

health and it just feels so good, too. It’s a great way to become more kind and loving toward yourself and

others. In China, this meditation is prescribed by Traditional Chinese Medicine doctors to boost immune

function and even cure disease.

I recommend that you practice the “Inner Smiling” meditation at least once, and up to seven times, and

make notes on your practice in your Daily Practice Log, before moving on to Session Four and the final

meditation in this program. As usual, the guided meditation script is included below for your reference.

For this meditation, I’ve also included some diagrams on the next page to help with visualization.




First Path: Eyes, Heart, Lungs, Liver (green) Kidneys

Spleen & Pancreas (yellow), Lower abdomen

Second Path: Eyes, Mouth, Throat, Third Path: Forehead & Eyes,

Stomach, Sm. Intestine (yellow), Lg. Intestine (orange) Center of Brain, Down Spine




“Inner Smiling”


practice you’ll grow your ability to guide your attention, calmly observe your experiences, release stress,




above your knees and your feet are firmly on the floor and parallel to each other. Sit far enough forward

so you feel some weight in your feet.


Focus into the sensations in bottoms of both feet and notice any tension in your feet and your toes. Allow

your feet and toes to soften and relax, as if they are melting into the floor underneath you.


fingers to soften and relax, as if they are melting into your thighs.

As your hands and fingers relax, allow your arms and shoulders to relax down, so they are supported on

your thighs.



of your head.

Tuck your chin just slightly, releasing any tension in the back of your neck.

Roll the tip of your tongue up to touch the roof of your mouth and smile—a gentle, easy, subtle smile of

appreciation and gratitude for this moment to consciously relax and feel good inside.


and your forehead.

Imagine a radiant sun shining down on your face, warming and relaxing your face, and combining with the

feeling of smiling.

Allow the warm, smiling feeling to wash down your face, down the front of your throat, and down into

your heart. Smile into your heart. Allow the feeling of smiling to combine with the color ruby red, a

radiant ruby red, in your heart. Smile into your heart.

Allow the warm, smiling energy to flow out to the left and the right into your lungs. Smile into your lungs.

Combine the feeling of smiling with the color pearl white, a pure pearl white, in your lungs. Smile into

your lungs.



Allow the warm smiling energy to flow downwards on your right side, just beneath your ribs into your

liver. Smile into your liver. Combine the feeling of smiling with the color emerald green, a glowing

emerald green, in your liver. Smile into your liver.

Allow the warm smiling energy to flow around your ribs on the right side to your back, on both sides of

your spine, just under your ribs, into your kidneys. Smile into your kidneys. Combine the feeling of smiling

with the color sapphire blue, a shimmering sapphire blue in your kidneys. Smile into your kidneys.

Allow the warm smiling energy to flow around your left side, returning to the front of your body, just to

the left and behind your stomach, into your spleen and pancreas. Smile into your spleen and pancreas.

Combine the feeling of smiling with the color solar yellow, a shining solar yellow. Smile into your spleen

and pancreas.

Allow the warm smiling energy to flow downward and collect at your navel and then flow into your lower

abdomen.

Now return your attention to your face, your forehead and your eyes. Imagine and feel that sun shining

down on your face. Allow the warm smiling energy to flow down into your mouth. Take a deep swallow.

Imagine and feel the warm smiling energy flowing down your throat into your stomach. Smile into your

stomach. Combine the feeling of smiling with the color citrus orange, a soothing citrus orange. Smile into

your stomach.

Allow some of the warm smiling energy to flow from your stomach out to the right, just beneath your ribs

and liver. Then follow it as it folds back from right to left across your upper abdomen. Then back from

left to right behind your navel. Back from right to left just below your navel. And back from left to right

across the lowest part of your abdomen toward your right hip. Follow the warm smiling energy as it turns

and flows upward on your right side to just underneath your liver, and then turns from right to left across

your upper abdomen, then down your left side and out of your body at your anus.

Feel your whole digestive system as a whole from your mouth, down your throat, to your stomach and

through your intestines, filled with warm smiling energy.

Now, focus again to your forehead and your eyes and imagine the sun shining down on your face. Allow

the warm smiling energy to flow in through your forehead and your eyes, into the center of your brain,

and through to the top of your spine. Allow the warm smiling energy to flow down your spine, down

through your neck, down between your shoulder blades, down through your lower back, down through

your sacrum, and down into the ground. Feel that whole path at once, from your forehead, through the

center of your brain, to the top of your spine, and down through your spine into the ground. Allow the

flow of warm smiling energy to wash any tension down through your spine and down into the ground.

Now, feel your body as a whole from the inside. Feel the entire space inside your skin. Allow the warm

smiling energy to fill your whole body, spreading out evenly and completely through every cell.

Smile as your appreciate and enjoy this relaxed positive feeling in your whole body. Record the feeling of

warm smiling energy in every cell so you can remember and return to this feeling+ at any time.

Slowly open your eyes and take in the space around you. Feel the sensation of warm smiling energy in

every cell with your eyes open, so you bring that inner sensation into your outer experience. Take this

warm smiling energy with you into your day. Well done!



SESSION FOUR:

Using Your Skills in the Moments You Need Them

So, how did you enjoy Inner Smiling? Many people find the pathways, colors, and feeling of that

meditation are particularly attractive to the mind, so they become deeply absorbed in it. One of the

purposes of having a guided meditation is to give your mind something to follow, something to focus on,

so your attention becomes concentrated. The more you become absorbed in inner sensations, the more

your analytical, incessantly thinking mind fades to the background. You find yourself relaxing deeply into

present-moment awareness.

That degree of relaxation, besides feeling good and being good for your body, is a state in which you can

do some powerful inner work. From a state of deep relaxation, you can begin to reprogram how you

respond to stress. When you are deeply relaxed, your higher brain functions come online. This gives you

access to a Core part of you that knows what to do. You can tap into this deeper intuitive knowing for

guidance in everyday situations that are causing you stress.

In this program, you’ve discovered that your experience of stress is the result of how you are thinking

about the demands you’re facing. In general, you’ll feel more stress if you think that the challenges in

front of you are big and your resources are small. Most of us tend to do this to some extent.

We tend to exaggerate the magnitude of our challenges and underestimate our own resources.

For example, you’ll feel lots of financial stress if you are constantly thinking that you “never have enough

money.” You’ll tend to get sick if you think the world is a toxic place teaming with unhealthy germs and

underestimate the power of your immune system to handle it all—and, as a result, not empower your

immune system with the support it needs to do its job.

You’ll feel more stress if you’re always thinking about the countless things you have to do, instead of

focusing on the one thing that is in front of you to do right now—that you can handle. And, maybe most

pervasively, if you have a habit of putting yourself down or thinking you are “never enough,” your life will

be a constant struggle against overwhelming demands that you never seem to overcome.

Thoughts are powerful. The thoughts you entertain and focus on are

critical to your health, happiness, and success. Therefore, how you work

with your thoughts is one of the most important keys to mastering the

stress you feel. In our final meditation, we’ll practice three inner skills

you can use to work with your thoughts effectively and transform any

stressful situation into an empowering opportunity.

Here are those skills in three simple steps. You can practice these steps in

order whenever you feel stress, anger, frustration, overwhelm, or any

tension or discomfort.



3 Steps from Stress to Empowerment

Step 1: Pause and Observe your thoughts without being caught up in them. Notice the chain reaction

that starts with how you’re perceiving the situation you’re in. If you can insert a mental pause in your

moment of stress, you can interrupt the chain reaction of thinking, feeling, and behavior, so you can make

conscious choices that will support your good intentions instead of what you may feel reactively

compelled to do.

So, when you feel stress rising up, notice the words in your head. Then, notice how you feel when you

think that way. And then, notice what you feel compelled to do when you are thinking and feeling that

way.

Practice witnessing your thoughts with calm acceptance, as if you are a curious observer looking on from

the outside. See if you can observe what you are thinking, feeling, and doing without judging it as “good”

or “bad”—simply notice it with a gentle curiosity. If your inner critic rises up, just notice that, too.

“Hmmm, that’s interesting. I see that.”

This observer’s perspective, this gentle acceptance of yourself and of “what is,” takes your stress down a

notch and gives you a little mental space to witness your automatic reactions without feeling compelled

to follow them. As you allow yourself to gently accept “what is,” it becomes easier to allow experiences

to come and go naturally. It becomes easier to “rest in what is” and allow yourself to trust and let go.

You may be surprised at how well this works, especially when you follow it with Step Two.

Step 2: Consciously Relax your body. After inserting a mental pause and calmly observing your thoughts,

feelings, and behaviors, you can use the relaxation cues you’ve practiced in our meditations to take your

stress down another couple notches. You can sit upright, relax your feet and hands, breathe consciously,

smile inside, and feel inner-body sensations of open, clear, still, spaciousness. Once you are deeply

relaxed, you can move on to Step 3.

Step 3: From a relaxed perspective, ask Inner Guidance how to move forward toward what you truly

desire, toward what is really most important to you. There’s a Core part of you that knows what to do.

When you are deeply relaxed, you are better able to hear and choose a Core response, instead of the

automatic reaction you felt compelled to do before initiating these three steps.

Once you’ve paused your automatic reaction and created some mental space by observing it with

detachment and acceptance in Step One and deeply relaxed your body in Step Two, you are in a whole

different place from which you can much more easily and naturally tap into Inner Guidance. From that

relaxed centered place, you’ll most likely find it much easier to discover the “opportunity” that is available

in the “challenge” you’re facing.

Let’s discover just how well this can work, right now. I’d like you to practice these three steps using a

recent stressful moment. By practicing on a moment of stress that you remember, you will grow your

skills, so you can use these steps in the heat of stressful moments, when you really need them.

So, if you will, I’d like you to call to mind one stressful experience from this past week. Think of one

moment that put you on edge and challenged you. It could be a moment in traffic, a deadline you faced,

being late for an appointment, an argument or interpersonal conflict. . .



Once you have one event in mind, you can follow along with the meditation mp3 entitled “3 Steps from

Stress to Empowerment.” Notice how following these steps shifts your perspective and your experience.

As you get good at these three steps, you can begin to use them proactively, before upcoming potentially

stressful situations, to shift how you approach that situation before you even get there. To do that, simply

imagine a potentially-stressful future situation and follow the guided meditation. Imagine the stress that

you anticipate feeling and follow the three steps.

The guided meditation script is below for your reference. I encourage you to practice this meditation at

least once and up to seven days and record your experience on your Daily Practice Log. Then, come back

and read the Conclusion, in which I share some essential insights to take your practice to the next level!

I also suggest reviewing the Frequently Asked Questions section at the end of the text. Now that you’ve

had more experiences with meditation, you’ll probably relate to a lot of what I share with you there.



“3 Steps From Stress to Empowerment”

In this audio, I’ll guide you through three inner steps to transform an experience of stress into

empowerment. By following along, you’ll grow your inner skills of Self-Observation, Conscious Relaxation,

and Inner Guidance, so you can tap into them more easily anytime you need.

So, if you will, call to mind one stressful experience from this past week. Think of one moment that put

you on edge and challenged you. It could be a moment in traffic, a deadline you faced, being late for an

appointment, an argument or interpersonal conflict . . . any moment of tension or discomfort . . . Go ahead

and choose one to work with now . . .

Now, I’ll guide you to witness some important details of this experience from a calm observer’s point of

view. In other words, I am not asking you to relive this experience or go through the experience of it

again, but to notice some details about this experience as if you are a curious scientific observer. See if

it’s possible to make note of what happened without judging it as good or bad, just noticing “what is” and

accepting whatever you notice with a gentle, easy-going attitude.

So, if you will, call to mind where you were when this event took place. Notice any important details of

the environment . . . Recall who you were with and what happened . . . Notice any thoughts that went

through your mind . . . Notice how you felt when you thought those things . . . Notice what you felt pulled

to do when you were thinking and feeling that way. . . Notice anything that arises as you recall this

experience . . . See if it’s possible to accept what you thought, felt, and did, and what others said and did

without judging yourself or them as good or bad—just noticing what happened and letting it be O.K.

Is it possible that everyone, including you, was doing the best they could given what they knew, what had

happened to them in the past, and what was happening at the moment? Notice how you feel when you

think this way. . .

Notice if you are hanging onto any judgments toward yourself or others about what happened . . . Just

notice and accept whatever comes up for you—and, as best as you can, allow it to all to be O.K. . . .



If you feel tension about any of this, just notice that. Allow whatever you feel to be O.K.

If you feel a desire to forgive yourself or others for anything related to this experience, feel free to do that

now.

If you feel a desire to let go of anything you’re hanging onto about this experience, notice that, and feel

free to let it all go right now, if you’d like to.

Now, I’ll guide you to consciously relax your body.

So, if you will, feel the bottoms of both feet and your toes. Allow the bottoms of your feet and your toes

to soften and relax, consciously letting go of any tension . . . Feel the palms of both hands and your fingers.

Allow the palms of both hands and your fingers to soften and relax. As your hands and fingers relax, allow

that soft easy feeling to spread through your arms and shoulders and allow them to relax down.

Now, focus to the top of your head. Imagine a string attached to the top of your head and allow that

string to draw your spine into a nice alignment, feeling a sense of spaciousness up through your spine and

through the top of your head.

Tuck your chin just slightly to release any tension in the back of your neck.

Smile, a gentle, easy smile of acceptance and gratitude for this moment to consciously relax and let go.

Allow that feeling of smiling to relax your jaw and your eyes . . . Release any tension from your eyebrows

and your forehead. Allow that feeling of smiling to wash down through your whole body, creating a

relaxed positive inner environment, nurturing every cell.

Take a few slow deep breaths. As you inhale, imagine and feel as if your whole body is filling up with your

breath. As you exhale, imagine and feel as if your whole body is emptying out and allow yourself to relax

even deeper. Each time you exhale, allow yourself to let go even more. . .

Now, feel your body as a whole from the inside. Feel the entire space inside your skin. Imagine and feel

your whole inner space as open, clear, still, and spacious.

Now, in the center of your inner space, focus into your heart, the Core of your Being. Smile and breathe

into your heart and enjoy the sensation there.

In a few moments, I’ll guide you to ask your heart this question: “What do I feel inspired to do about this

situation in which I felt stressed or about similar situations in the future? What will take me toward what

is most important to me in this situation?”

Float that question in the space of your heart, in the Core of your Being, and just notice anything that

arises. See if it’s possible not to try to have an answer. Trust that answers are always available—and that

you’ll find them in just the right way at just the right time. There’s a Core part of you that knows what to

do. It’s just a matter of paying attention and noticing what comes up. Guidance may arise as a thought,

feeling, image, or inspiration. You may notice something now, later today, or in the days ahead. If you

notice resistance, frustration, or anything else, just notice and accept that, too.

So, now, ask your heart, the Core of your Being:

“What do I feel inspired to do, what will take me toward what is most important to me in this situation?”



Continue to smile and breathe through your heart and pay attention to anything that arises. Just noticing,

accepting, and paying attention to anything that arises. . .

Now, slowly open your eyes and feel the space around you. Feel your relaxed inner presence within the

space around you. Take this relaxed present awareness with you into your life and follow your Core

inspiration. Well done!



CONCLUSION:

The Four Stages of Practice

In this program, we’ve explored how to use meditation to master the stress you feel. You’ve discovered

that the stress you feel is the result of how you are thinking about the demands you are facing. You’ve

also learned about:

the three stages of your stress response,

how to consciously initiate your body’s natural relaxation response,

how to become stress-hardy,

how to send healthy positive signals to all your cells, and

three steps to turn stressful situations into empowering ones.

You’ve practiced four different meditations in this program. Going forward, you now have four meditative

tools in your meditation toolkit. The first three meditations, “The Relaxing Breath,” “Relaxing Down Three

Lines,” and “Inner Smiling” are great daily practices. You can use any one that you like best or cycle

through all three of them as part of your daily meditation routine.

The fourth meditation, “3 Steps from Stress to Empowerment,” is a powerful practice to use in a moment

of stress or to change a chronic pattern of stress in a particular type of situation. Use it any time you want

to change how you are approaching a specific area of your life or when you are looking for Inner Guidance

with a personal challenge.

I strongly recommend that you continue to keep a Daily Practice Log of your meditation sessions to help

you integrate your experiences and track your progress. At the end of each month, you can review your

practice by asking the two questions at the bottom of your Daily Practice Log form:

What changes did you notice in your practice this month?

What would you do differently next month to enhance your practice?

In my years of teaching meditation, I’ve discovered that there are different stages that students pass

through on the way to making meditation practice a powerful, positive, long-term habit. To better

understand these stages, it’s helpful to know how your brain grows and changes.

In his book, Rewire Your Brain, neuro-psychologist Dr. John B. Arden, Ph.D. describes four stages of any

positive change you want to make in your life. These stages apply to forming any new habit such as

meditation. These stages are based on the theory of “neuroplasticity.” So, let’s briefly take a look at what

that means.

What is Neuroplasticity and Why Is It Important?

Neuroplasticity basically means that the structure and function of your brain is not set in stone. It is not determined by genetics. You can make positive changes to the way your brain works throughout the course of your life. For example, you can change how your brain responds to stress. While your genetics



define a wide range of possibilities, your lifestyle habits and focused attention can turn specific genetic possibilities “on” and others “off” to shape the experiences that you actually have.

Remember the stress you feel is more about how you are relating to what is happening than it is about what is going on outside you. You can learn to adopt a new perspective in stressful situations that turns them into empowering opportunities. You can learn to be more peaceful in any situation.

If you repeat your empowered peaceful perspective often enough, it will become your new norm. You can learn to live from inner peace and empowerment as your dominant baseline experience of life.

To take full advantage of neuro-plasticity, Arden has identified the following four stages you’ll naturally move through on your way to creating lasting positive change in your brain. His acronym for these four stages is F.E.E.D. You can remember this by thinking of FEEDing your brain.

Stage 1 in Creating Lasting Positive Change is Focus

To learn a new skill, develop a positive habit, or break out of an old rut, you first need to direct strong attention to what you are doing. Think of attention as energy. If you feed any new behavior with strong attention, it will grow. Meditation is really all about learning to consciously focus your attention.

Whatever you focus on increases. This applies to positive experiences as well as negative ones—whether you are learning to be more peaceful or perpetuating stress-escalating thinking, feeling, and behavior. Learning to guide your attention in a healthy way is essential to manage your stress well. It’s in your power whether a situation makes you feel stress or empowerment, and it’s all a matter of learning to guide your attention. Let’s see how this works in your brain.

Strongly focusing your attention activates the Pre-Frontal Cortex (PFC), the frontal lobes of your brain, which is your “Mission Control Center.” The PFC coordinates the functioning of the rest of your brain, so that everything works together. Your PFC brings the various capacities of your brain together on the task at hand and creates a neural network from the various brain regions, pathways, and neural connections that are involved.

Strongly focusing your attention is qualitatively different from “just going through the motions.” It is being fully engaged in what you are doing right now. Paying attention in this way requires that you are interested and giving undivided energy to what you are doing. When you are fully present in what you are doing, you initiate the strong neural encoding of whatever you’re focused on. Remember, whatever you focus on increases. If you want to feel more peaceful, you need to apply your attention to thinking peaceful thoughts, feeling peaceful feelings, and engaging in peace-producing behaviors.

So, strongly focusing your attention into the thought, feeling, or behavior that you want to grow is Stage One. By doing this you create new neural pathways which pave the way for the experiences you truly desire. You are a focusing apparatus and what you focus on matters. You can consciously choose where you direct your attention and what you focus on. That’s what meditation is all about.



Stage 2 in Creating Lasting Positive Change Is Effort

To create more inner peace in your life you need sustained Effort in that direction. This may be the biggest stumbling block in our limited-attention-span society. We are trained for brief and superficial attention. Whether we’re responding to texts, Tweets, 8-second sound and video bites, or the pressure to multi-task and get things done yesterday, we are trained to shift focus at light speed between many different points of interest.

Because of that, we are less-practiced at sustaining attention and effort. We are trained to go with what is quick and easy versus what takes effort, detail, and depth. Yet, sustained effort, attention to detail, and pursuing what we want in great depth creates a different kind of neural functioning. It pulls together many parts of your brain and encodes what you are doing in a way that is life-changing.

If you want to grow peacefulness in your life, you need to learn to think, feel, and act peacefully. You won’t change things by engaging in the same old stress-filled thoughts, feelings, and behaviors. You need to make an effort to engage in new thoughts, feelings, and behaviors that create peacefulness—such as those you cultivate in meditation. Then repeat that effort. Focus, effort, and daily repetition grow strong neural pathways that become easier and easier to repeat.

This is one great reason to do meditation first thing each day. By starting your day with meditation, you remind yourself of your intention to be more peaceful in your life and you practice creating those peaceful pathways in your body and brain. This not only feels good to do, it also makes it easier and easier to return to that peaceful feeling whenever you need it during the day.

Now, it’s also important to be patient with yourself and self-accepting during the process of growing a new way of being. It's important to acknowledge the challenge and initial discomfort of creating something new. Allow yourself some time to build-up your new pattern. Pile up little efforts every day to build momentum. Repeated small efforts build great things.

So, if you’re starting a new meditation routine to help you feel more peaceful, realize that you’ve got to get over the initial hump of inertia and make those first challenging efforts. Even a few minutes a day will make a big difference over time. I hope you’re beginning to experience that already through the meditations you’ve practiced in this program.

If you miss a day of practice or have an uncomfortable practice session and you feel it’s hopeless, it’s not working, or you’re not capable, know that living from a more peaceful perspective is a process. It takes consistent effort for a period of time to create a reliable feeling of inner peace that you can go to whenever you need.

Stage 3 in Creating Lasting Positive Change is Effortlessness

Once you’ve begun your efforts with meditation, you'll want to see results as fast as possible. You might not believe in your ability to feel more peace and experience less stress until you see some proof that it could work. So, how long does that take? The answer is it takes as long as you need until the Effort becomes Effortless.



Like all of us, you are a creature of habit and will generally follow the path of least resistance. The ways you’ve been doing things are well-worn paths in your body and brain. They are well-grooved neural networks and easy paradigms to follow without even knowing it. It’s easy to keep falling into the groove of doing things the same old way, even if that doesn't give you the results you desire.

As we talked about in Stage 2, you’re going to have to make repeated little efforts to create a new mind and a new way of being. Inertia is a strong force. Part of you loves your habitual “comfort zone”—even if it’s uncomfortable! Most of us are accustomed to worrying, feeling stress, and engaging in the thoughts, feelings, and behaviors that perpetuate the feeling of struggle.

However, as you make repeated efforts of guiding your attention in a peaceful way in meditation, you’ll reach a “tipping point” where you’ll have grooved that new habit. It will become a path of ease. This is the crossover into Effortlessness. Your new practice will then have momentum and a life of its own.

In the Chinese meditative art of Qigong, it’s said that, if you practice every day for 100 days, you’ll reach that crossover point. This meditative way of being is then a part of your life and continued practice is easy to maintain. At this point, you can shift your focus to deepening the quality, subtlety, and enjoyment in your practice.

So, if you’re in the midst of “making efforts to meditate every day,” hang in there. Stick with it. Your practice will become easier and more and more enjoyable. Soon, it may become one of the true highlights of your day!

Once you've arrived at Effortlessness in your meditation practice, you may think you’ve arrived where you want to be. That's a great feeling. However, there’s one more important step to make meditation a lasting part of your life.

Stage 4 in Creating Lasting Positive Change is Determination

Determination means that, once your desired result, state of being, or habit becomes effortless, you need

to be determined to keep it going. “Use it or lose it” applies here. Once you’ve grooved your new

meditation habit, it does become easier to continue, but don’t be fooled into thinking that you can

completely relax your intention. Instead, shift into a long-term approach. Think of meditation as a daily

practice, as part of a healthy, positive, purposeful lifestyle—just like eating well, exercising, brushing your

teeth. . .

When I was learning Qigong Meditation, I was told that you are a beginner for the first 20 years of your

practice. Now, there’s a long-term mind-set. The idea is that you will do best by keeping the mind-set of

a beginner, so you stay open to learning and growing. That’s why I prefer to call the “D” in the F.E.E.D.

model “daily practice.”

Daily practice is the consistent repetition of intentional action

to sustain and grow what you truly desire.

No matter what you want to grow in your life, you’ll move most effectively in that direction by taking at

least one action every day to build that. Taking action every 24 hours is crucial if you want to make



something an integral part of your life. Your body operates on several 24 hour cycles. Anything you do

every 24 hours will become a dominant part of your baseline experience. It will become a reliable,

positive, reference point that’s easy to return to.

For example, if you meditate every 24 hours, you'll have a reliable reference point of relaxed, positive,

clear, and peaceful energy that you can more easily live from and come back to whenever you

need. When you meditate once every 24 hours it is easier to return to it and continue to expand from

where you left off. You’ll also notice that your daily meditation practice positively affects all other areas

of your life. Your daily meditation practice will support you in being more peaceful in everything you

do.


--- --- ---

For more guidance, I highly recommend that you refer to the Frequently Asked Questions section below.

If you would you like ongoing support for your practice, you can subscribe to my free, monthly, online

newsletter, “Inner Peace Monthly,” on the homepage of The Power of Practice website:

http://www.thepowerofpractice.com

On that website, you can also email me with any questions and share experiences you’ve had with these

meditations. I’d love to hear from you!

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

I have back pain when I sit upright in an unsupported posture to meditate. Do I have to sit this way? Another related question: Why do you sit in a chair to meditate? I’ve always seen meditators sitting cross-legged on the floor.

First, it is common to experience back pain when you initially sit in an upright posture without back support. This is because of chronic tension, tightness in the hip flexors and hamstrings, spinal misalignment, and weak spinal muscles. My suggestion is to begin by sitting forward in an unsupported posture for a minute or two and then move back in your seat, against the seat back, for the remainder of your meditation session. Gradually expand the amount of time that you sit forward without back support.

If, because of physical limitations, it is not possible for you to sit up, you can meditate with back support or lying down.

If you are able to practice sitting upright without back support, you will strengthen your back muscles, release chronic tension, and bring your spine into alignment. This is great for your physical and psychological health, for energy flow and nerve conductivity through your spine, and for spiritual

http://www.thepowerofpractice.com/



development. Living a purposeful, self-responsible, conscious, intentional life relates to having an upright, relaxed, aligned spine.

Why do I suggest sitting in a chair instead of cross-legged on the floor or on a cushion?

First, when the soles of your feet are flat on the ground, you are energetically “grounded.” You feel more relaxed, present, stable, safe, and secure. Secondly, this posture encourages circulation and energy flow through your legs and into your lower abdominal energy center, the center of physical vitality. Third, having your feet aligned with your knees and hips is biomechanically healthier for the joints. Your feet, ankles, knees, hips, and lower back will thank you. As a case in point, I once had a client who was a world-renowned yogi who suffered lower back and joint pain because of prolonged sitting in the cross-legged seated position.

Remember these cues to ease back pain and improve your posture:

*Sit forward on the front edge of your seat. A good seat height puts your hips level with or slightly above your knees. Sit far enough forward that you feel some weight in your feet.

*Imagine a string attached to the top of your head drawing your spine gently upright. This will bring you into a nice vertical alignment, engage the appropriate muscles along your spine, and release tension from muscles that are strained in poor posture.

I can’t seem to practice regularly. What can I do?

My first suggestion is to find a meditation form that interests your mind the most. There are four meditation forms in this program and countless others you can try. I have ten “Mini Meditations for Relaxation,” (which are 4-10 minutes long), available on I-Tunes and Amazon.com for download.

Second, you might begin with shorter practice sessions. If a few minutes is all you can manage at the start, begin there. It can be as simple as closing your eyes and taking ten deep breaths whenever you need a few moments to de-stress during the day.

Focus into feeling the sensations of breathing inside your body. As it feels good to do this, you may naturally want to lengthen your practice because you’re enjoying it. You might then add one of the guided meditations, once or twice a week, perhaps on the weekends, to expand your practice.

Meditation just doesn’t seem to work for me. When I sit to meditative, it seems like my mind races more than ever. Otherwise, I just get really tired and want to fall asleep. How can I overcome these things?

Meditation is a learned set of inner skills. It is a natural ability, but it needs to be cultivated. When you begin to meditate, you may feel as if your mind is racing more than ever. What is happening is that you are just becoming more aware of how part of your mind is always non-stop associating.



Meditation brings awareness and it gives you a new way to relate to your thoughts, feelings, and sensations—you “have” them, but you are not “defined” by them. You discover that you can “witness” them without being caught up in them. You can choose to follow them or not. In fact, you have a choice in how you relate to whatever is happening inside and around you.

So, whenever anything other than your meditation cues arises in meditation, practice the 3Rs:

1. Recognize and accept it,

2. Release it, and

3. Return to your meditation cues.

If you have many wandering thoughts as you meditate, you are not failing. You are becoming aware of how your mind works. See if it’s possible to recognize the activity of your mind without judgment, without being caught up in it and without following it. See if it’s possible to let go of thoughts, feelings, and sensations as they arise.

As you practice this again and again, your thoughts, feelings, and sensations will pull at your attention less and less. You will gain a different relationship with all aspects of your experience. You begin to experience yourself as a conscious presence that is underneath and beyond thoughts, feelings, and sensations. You have thoughts, feelings, sensations, and experiences—and you are more than any of the experiences you have.

If you get frustrated in your meditation, see if you can simply note that frustration, accept it, let it go, and return to your meditation cues. If you feel back pain, see if you can simply note that pain, accept it, let it go, and return to your meditation cues. If you feel scared or overwhelmed by feelings, see if you can simply note those feelings, accept them, let them go, and return to your meditation cues . . .

When you are new to meditation, or if you are beginning to process deep subconscious feelings or traumas, it is common to get sleepy while meditating. When this happens, you may want to take a few deep breaths or several deep yawns to re-energize your attention. If, after that, you are still too tired to meditate, it may be better to take a short nap on that day instead of pushing yourself to practice.

When I am meditating, I don’t feel the sensations you are describing inside my body. For instance, I don’t feel warmth, open space, or any sensation in my torso. Why can’t I feel anything? Inner sensing is a skill. The technical name for it is “interoception.” Depending on your background, you may not have practiced this skill much up to this point. I first came upon this skill when I was learning weight training and was told to feel each muscle that I was working. In my early twenties, I learned this skill on a more subtle level during T’ai Chi, as I was told to feel the inner space of my body and sense my “qi” or life energy in the soles of my feet, my lower abdomen, my palms, and the top of my head.



Gradually, over time, my inner senses “woke up.” I began to feel tingling at the top of my head, in my palms, in the soles of my feet, in my lower abdomen, in the center of my brain, and in my heart, as my inner senses awakened.

To feel your inner body, use movement, feeling, breathing, and imagination together. For instance, you may imagine breathing into any area of your body and feel the increase in pressure as your breath expands. Just placing your attention into a specific area of your body, or on feeling your body as a whole, will begin to wake up inner sensations. This is a powerful cue for meditation because the part of your mind that feels sensations does not have thoughts. Feeling inner sensations is a great way to quiet your mind.

Feeling may be shut down in a certain area because of chronic tension or past trauma that is stored in those cells or the energy field around that space. It can be helpful and therapeutic to rest a gentle attention in these spaces for a period of time and listen for what they have to tell you. Accept whatever arises. Just be present there with a curious, nurturing attention.

You might also spend some extra time outside of your meditation practice focusing your attention into these areas, breathing into them, and listening to what they have to tell you. Over time, your body will release stored tensions and traumas naturally.

What is the difference between brainwave entrainment technology (BET) and meditation?

With the rise of Brainwave Entrainment (BET) programs that claim to help you “meditate like a monk” or say they are “a lazy man’s way to meditate” this is an important question to answer.

First, let’s be clear on one point, BET is not meditation. In the most well-known BET programs, you put on stereo headphones to be passively stimulated by binaural beats to put you into a specific, predetermined, brainwave frequency.

The effects of this can include: deep relaxation, increased synchronization of the two hemispheres of your brain, increased creativity, memory, and brain function, among other things. This is all good stuff. I am not necessarily against it. It has helped a lot of people. However, it is not meditation. It has many similar effects and some different ones, as well.

Meditation is an active process of consciously guiding your attention for a period of time. In contrast with BET which is passive stimulation, meditation is an active process and a set of skills that you can develop. The basic technique of meditation is a four-part skill. Because it is a skill, it is something that you get better at through consistent practice over time. The four steps are these: Focus and the 3Rs (recognize, release, and return).

1. Focus on your meditation cue(s).

2. Recognize when your mind has wandered from its focus.

3. Release the thoughts, emotions, images, or sensations that grabbed your attention.



4. Return to focus.

By following these four steps you develop the following internal skills of being able to:

release tension and consciously activate your body’s natural relaxation response,

feel inner sensations,

calm your emotions,

release negative thoughts and emotions,

generate positive feelings,

observe your thoughts, feelings, and behaviors without judgment,

focus, quiet, and clear your mind,

experience “Awareness itself,”

realize the freedom of “pure consciousness,” and

choose your responses to events and circumstances in your life.

You develop these inner skills in a natural and holistic way, as your body, heart, mind, and spirit are ready and able. Because you are using your natural abilities and focusing on cues in your own being, the process unfolds as your system is ready to expand. Because of this, the process proceeds safely at the right pace and timing.

You release subconscious tensions, heal wounds, and expand your awareness as you are ready and able. This whole process is guided by a deeper wisdom. Meditation develops your discernment of this inner guidance and your ability to allow it to work through you.

Like any set of skills, meditation does take time, practice, and effort. It also gives you rewards and benefits that you cannot get without those efforts and the development of those skills.

When you cultivate the skills of meditation, it is empowering. You know that you can relax yourself at any time, because you’ve learned how to shift your state. You have gained a level of mastery in the physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual aspects of your being. You can take these skills and apply them to anything that you desire to express, grow, and create in your life.

So, while BET and meditation have some similar effects, the process is different. If you choose to do both, I suggest that you do them separately, so they do not compete. Because of your inner state and developmental needs on a particular day, your brain may be doing one thing during meditation while it is being entrained in a different way by a BET program.

How do I know if I’m meditating correctly?

First of all, if you are following the four-part meditation process above, you are meditating. Simply focus on your meditation cues, recognize and accept when your mind wanders, release your wandering thoughts, and return to your meditation cues.



Mind wandering is part of meditation. It doesn’t matter how many times your mind wanders. Just apply the 3Rs when it does.

In essence, meditation is about consciously guiding your attention. It’s about focusing on specific cues

that help you relax and be present and aware, noticing how your mind wanders, and coming back to being

relaxed, present, and aware—again and again. Though you may initially feel agitated when meditating, if

you follow this meditation process over time, your body will relax, your emotions will calm, your mind will

become quiet, and you will feel more peaceful and centered.

Meditation practice has many phases. Initially, you focus on a sequence of posture, breathing, inner

smiling, and inner sensation cues to relax and become absorbed in concentration. At a certain point in

your meditation sessions, you may notice a shift into what you might call a “meditative state.” You find

yourself in a state of present awareness and ease in which you do not feel pulled by thoughts, feelings, or

sensations. You simply rest in present moment awareness.

This feeling may come and go during your practice. Over time, it will be a more frequent and enduring experience. During these moments, you may feel the tingle of energy flow, or a sense of complete inner freedom, spaciousness, silence, and stillness.

At this point, you can go even deeper by becoming aware of “Awareness Itself.” You can become aware of “the one who is observing” or the “event of observation itself.” As that happens, you rest in the unlimited freedom of “pure consciousness.” This state has also been described as “Nothing,” “Just sitting,” and “Choice-less Attention.”

Don’t worry about trying to “figure out” what this means. Instead, see if you can allow this deeper experience to unfold naturally. It’s not something that comes with trying harder, but with letting go more.

Cues that naturally lead you into this state are the sensations of “space, silence, and stillness.” To cultivate the experience of pure consciousness, you might spend some time resting in spacious, still, silence after the guided part of your meditation has finished.

Another simple direct way to experience “pure consciousness” is to ask yourself this question:

“Who is observing?”

Notice how your mind becomes quiet for a moment in the face of that question. Interesting, isn’t it? The experience of “pure consciousness” can be very freeing. It’s the ultimate stress reliever.

Over time, through consistent meditation practice, you will release layers of subconscious stress and tension. Over the years, I’ve noticed the release of successive layers of my life history. Old hurts, injuries, and emotional traumas have healed and resolved. After meditating for three decades, I find that most of what I let go of now is pretty immediate stuff from the past 24 hours since I last practiced.

Meditation is a progressive journey. You begin by learning to consciously activate your body’s natural relaxation response and observe whatever happens as you follow your meditation cues. You progress by practicing being gentle, kind, and accepting of yourself during meditation. See if it’s possible not to be in



a hurry to get anywhere. Stay open, curious, and allow yourself to be present with whatever is happening. This peaceful ease will carry over into everything that you do. . . Enjoy your practice!

Bibliography and Suggested Reading:

John B. Arden, Ph.D., Rewire Your Brain, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 2010.

Herbert Benson, M.D., The Relaxation Response, Harper Collins, Inc., 1975.

Herbert Benson, M.D., The Wellness Book, Scribner, 1993.

Martha Davis, Ph.D., Elizabeth Robbins Eschelman, MSW, Matthew McKay, Ph.D., The Relaxation and

Stress Reduction Workbook, New Harbinger Publications, Inc., 2008.

Dr. Gary Kaplan, D.O., Total Recovery, Rodale, 2014.

Bruce Lipton, Ph.D., The Biology of Belief, Mountain of Love, 205.

Image Credits:

Cover image: Stockfresh.com #1877390 “Open Door To Nature” by Carpathian Prince

Session One: “Seated Meditation” by Kevin Schoeninger

Session Two: “Cat in Window” by Kevin Schoeninger

Session Three: Stockfresh.com #2653668 “3D Rendering Illustration of Neurons” by Leonardi

Session Three: Stockfresh.com # 2828028 “Indian Girl in Meditation” by ziprashantzi

Session Four: Stockfresh.com #2166858 “Brain Energy Pulse” by idesign

STRESS-RELIEF MEDITATION TOOLKITmbtproducts.s3.amazonaws.com/srmt/SRMInstructionBooklet.pdf · Tips...

Documents

Transcript of STRESS-RELIEF MEDITATION TOOLKITmbtproducts.s3.amazonaws.com/srmt/SRMInstructionBooklet.pdf · Tips...