In the last article, we discussed about the first and foremost easy way of getting rid of stress, ie, under the sub-title ‘mental poverty, reality check and positive reiteration’. For those who have not read it in print, may refer to it on the internet by typing ‘sikta pati — Pioneer Stress — Five Easy Ways of Breaking Free –II.
In this article we discuss the rest four easy stress busters.
Food habits: This may seem a very strange remedy, but it is a fact that food plays a very important role in determining the mental state.
There is a story about a group of mendicants who had gone out of the ashram and were invited to rest on the way by in a dacoit’s house. They had a sumptuous dinner and rested for the night.
Next day, they reached the ashram. After settling down, they immediately broke into fights and demonstrated the behaviour of dacoits. Their guru was astonished at this and tried to find out the reason. He saw that the only thing that had changed was the food
that they had.
It is said food has a vibration and carries an aura of the person who cooks or where it is cooked. Otherwise, why it is a fact that the food cooked by the mother is found to be the best by the children even when they grow up.
Most of the time, men tell their wives that they are not able to cook as good as their mothers and it becomes a bone of contention between the mother-in-law and daughter-in-law.
It is just the vibration going into the food which the son is used to from childhood. Similarly, the food cooked at restaurants and functions has a commercial purpose and usually belongs to the ‘rajasic’ and ‘tamasic’ kinds which are supposed to induce aggression in the individual.
Food cooked at home is usually ‘sattwic’ in nature and induces calmness. Now, the question is what is the link with stressIJ If one eats food heavy in meat, oil, spices which induce aggression and doesn’t burn it up by gymming, jogging, doing housework, etc, it is sure to create stress in the body.
When we eat this kind of food which should be eaten in cold countries and not suitable for hot and humid countries, it is bound to create stress.
Every country has certain food designed for its climate, but now we have a cross culture and eat a lot of food which induces heat in the body if not burnt up.
This ultimately creates stress. We need to have food which has a calming effect on our system and suits our lifestyle. Food comprising wheat, rice, vegetables, curd, fruits and juices very much suit our climate and help calm our nerves.
I can’t be a professor and eat the diet of a warrior. My lifestyle will not accommodate burning up. Rather, if I am in the army and require a lot of physical exercise, I can have the food of a warrior. Stress is the mind speaking through body in the form of symptoms like lifestyle diseases.
Meditation: There are various ways of meditation, but all of them aim at calming the mind and cleansing of negative elements. In today’s world, we are subject to an overdose of mind pollution as we are in contact with a lot of data from the print and audio plus audio visual media.
Besides, the emergence of the individuality vs communal living or rather the Western system of living has brought in its share of stress. Everyone wants to have his or her own way and there is no hierarchy which is being followed; so it creates a feeling of dissatisfaction in the minds of people, be it in the family or in the office as no one agrees to the other.
The individual interest has become supreme. Even a child of three years, or say seven years, is now asserting his rights, and this is seen to be the sign of a developed society. In the context of these developments, we have to have methods to still and cleanse
the mind.
Meditation has proved to be a sure shot mechanism for this purpose and to reduce stress. If carried out regularly with other practices like yoga and gym or any other exercises, it will keep stress under control. Of course, there has to be a time gap between the two, and meditation should be done preferably on an empty stomach.
Speed of body and mind: The yogic system has discovered that the mind and body operate at different speeds and this gives rise to stress. For people with high stress, we find the mind is overactive and the body underactive.
This is the case with professionals having desk jobs where they have to spend hours before a computer. With such people, we need to load the body with activity or physical exercises.
It’s only when the body tires out that the mind will slow down and there will be synchronisation between the two. In other cases with people who engage in physical labour like artisans, factory workers, the speed of body is very high and the mind speed slows down doing repetitive monotonous jobs.
Such people need to increase the speed of the mind by engaging in mental and creative activities so that the mind also relaxes along with the body and both become stress-free. If not followed, though having very healthy bodies, these people will become as susceptible to lifestyle diseases as office employees.
Floating: Earlier, it has been elaborately analysed how stress is created due to the difference between expectations and reality. Acceptance of the moving reality paradigm can reduce stress.
We can keep aside certain hours of the day or certain days of the week when we decide to ‘float’; that means just accept things as they are. Especially at times we feel that reality is very strong and chance of reaching expectations is very weak, we need to adopt this attitude.
This should be internalised without people realising that we are mentally going to another zone. As a start, our response to everything around should be ‘accept’ or ‘yes’, but without damaging our self-interest.
The methods for reducing stress are very user-friendly and can be tried out by people of all ages and will ultimately instil wisdom in the populace.
(sikta_pati@rediffmail.com)