Dear prabilicious:

You graduated from college only this last June, three months ago? That is very recent. And it is very difficult to get accepted into the schools you applied for, I understand.

How can you calm down, day in and day out, practice patience in this process of in-between: in between college and graduate school?

There are techniques to relax, from aerobic exercise like brisk walking to swimming, yoga, tai chi, guided sitting meditation and moving meditation… hot baths, hot teas, and so on. What have you tried and what worked so far?

anita

Dear prabilicious:

Since being with friends helped you, do more of that…

Exercise helped you? Do more of that.

Regarding meditation: for many people, sitting meditation is very difficult as anxiety increases, not decreases for many, trying to sit there and breathe deeply. So better do a Moving Meditation/ Mindfulness practice. It is about doing a task which you normally do automatically, doing it while paying attention. It can be anything normally done inattentively.

Let’s take your exercise. Let’s say you lift weights: you can do that slowly, paying attention to every move, how your arms feel picking up the weights, how your feet feel on the floor, how any part of your body feels. Make deliberate movements, pay attention.

If you walk outdoors, pay attention to the feel of the air on your face, or the ground under your feet, the views in your walk, the sounds. When your mind wanders to thinking (and often worrying), gently bring your brain back to the sounds, the sights, the feel…from thinking to sensing.

Yoga- slow yoga is a practice of moving meditation. It should be about noticing how your body feels doing this stretch or that stretch, holding this position or the other. For relaxation purposes, yoga should not be about performance (For people watching to be impressed etc.)

Tai Chi, is another moving meditation practice that slows down the brain and gives you that much needed break from thinking.

anita