Calm Your Mind
Most stress-reduction techniques will help relieve moderate anxiety, says Edmund J. Bourne, Ph.D., a psychologist practicing in Hawaii and California and the author of Natural Relief for Anxiety (New Harbinger Publications, 2004). This can include abdominal breathing, yoga, tai chi, guided visualizations, or even just taking a break two or three times every day to relax, take a walk, or imagine yourself in a peaceful place.  Set your Zen Meditation Timer anyplace or anytime for just 5 minutes a day so that you can calm your mind.

Mindfulness-based meditation, which has proved especially helpful in reducing anxiety, is now being taught in many hospitals and health centers across the country. Studies have found that, among other benefits, it can lower breathing rate, reduce levels of the stress hormone cortisol, and increase activity in the left frontal area of the brain, which is associated with a positive mental state and lowered anxiety levels. In fact, a recent Canadian study of cancer patients who participated in a mindfulness-based stress-reduction program found that levels of cortisol and pro-inflammatory chemicals continued to drop for six months to a year afterward.

Mindfulness practice also helps you notice your thoughts and feelings without judging them. “Mindfulness means accepting whatever you may notice around you and not trying to analyze it,” Duke University’s Brantley says.

After she left New York for North Carolina, Miller discovered the Duke Mindfulness program and found it to be invaluable. She attended group sessions and learned how to practice the meditations. The time she spent paying attention to her breathing or visualizing something peaceful improved her concentration at work and allowed her to reduce her dose of anti-anxiety medication.

The basics of the meditation (listening to your breath or paying specific attention to various parts of your body) are simple and can be learned from books—such as Full Catastrophe Living (Delta, 1990) and Wherever You Go, There You Are: Mindfulness Meditation in Everyday Life (Hyperion, 2005), both by Jon Kabat-Zinn, Ph.D., founding director of the Stress Reduction Clinic at the University of Massachusetts Memorial Medical Center. “The important thing is to make mindful practice a part of your life so you’ll be prepared when a stressful situation arises,” Brantley says.

Our Zen Timepiece’s acoustic 6-inch brass bowl-gong Meditation Timer & Clock is the world’s ultimate alarm clock, practice timer, and “mindfulness bell.”

adapted from Natural Solutions Magazine by Ben Kallen

Now & Zen’s Bowl-Gong Timer Store

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Boulder, CO  80302

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