Reduce Stress with Mindfulness Meditation
Video – Vlog #09
Vlog #03 – covers 3 routes for the person who is stressed and anxious.
Referring back to VLog #03 David Logan and Willie Nicol discuss the merit of mindfullness and mediation in reducing stress and anxiety.
Script – Vlog #09
David Logan: Hello and hello, I’m David Logan your IT geek, taking the complexity out of technology for the home worker based here today in Annan, South Scotland, UK. And with me today is Willie Nicol. So Willie where are you and how are you?
Willie Nicol: Thanks, David. First of all, I’m very well thank you. I’m in Troon South Ayrshire in Scotland.
David Logan: Great. Fantastic. So this week’s video we are looking at your expertise. So going back to week three, video log three, you earmarked – highlighted five different area how we could take the stress and anxiety out of people that are concerned right now during lockdown. We’ve talked about exercise. We’ve talked about breathing. This week, if it’s OK with you? I’d like to look at mindfulness and meditation. So how can that help the person that is stressed currently not knowing what’s going to happen, what’s going to happen … medium-to-long term?
Willie Nicol: Yes, David, thank you. We talked about breathing exercises and I mentioned a big long word. Gamma amino, butyric acid or GABA for short. Which is a nuerotransmitter, which can be stimulated by the use of correct breathing techniques, and it helps regulate our anxiety and calms us down. Now these breathing techniques are an integral part of mindfulness and meditation. Which are often lumped together in the one sentence as the same thing but they are not. I’ll talk about mindfulness and meditation although they are related. I’ll talk about them not in isolation, but giving the viewer a better idea hopefully of which one is the other.
David Logan: OK. So – look at meditation. How can we help people with meditation?
Willie Nicol: Well if i may I’ll do the mindfulness first.
David Logan: Yeah, yeah, sure.
Willie Nicol: Mindfulness is simply being present – being in the now. Not concerning yourself with external pressures and that sounds perhaps to be airy fairy, but it’s actually really good because practicing mindfulness can reduce your anxiety. That’s the same with breathing. It’s an integral part of mindfulness. Mindfulness is just sitting in a comfortable place with your eyes open, focus on a particular spot or object. Concentrate on it. Also be aware of the things that are happening left, right, center above us. Use your peripheral vision, but don’t focus on what’s happening. Focus on the spot in front of you and clear your mind. So you are listening to your breathing you are trying not to think too much, and … letting thoughts just pass by. So you’re breathing, as I told you before, should be done through the diaphragm, not the chest. So one suggestion is you do is take a deep breath in using your diaphragm, which you’ve pushed out in one breath, breathe in for four, hold it for six, and breathe out through out your mouth for eight. So the very act of doing that, we are focusing on your breathing tends to ensure that you’re not thinking about anything else. Do that a couple of times clear your head and try not to think of anything. However, if any thoughts do pop in your head, you can acknowledge them and just let them go. And you can maybe do this for four or five minutes. Just sitting there. Not thinking about anything. Doing your breathing clearing your head, stimulating your GABA, and thereby reducing your anxiety. Does that make sense?
David Logan: Yes. That breathing exercise again, can you go through again so they exercise for the breathing?
Willie Nicol: Yes.
Willie Nicol: Deep breathing, there are other breathing exercises. This is a very simple one. Now if you breath in deeply, take it right down to your diaphragm, your tummy, the belly. Right? Hold it for four, sorry breathe in for four, hold it for six, and then have a big exhalation for eight through your mouth.
David Logan: Mouth, not the nose?
Willie Nicol: Or the nose, the mouth.
Willie Nicol: It doesn’t really matter how you breathe in, but probably better through the nose and breathe out through the mouth. So this takes practice and that’s what they call it practicing mindfulness. Practice by meditation. So practice, you can do it anywhere you like as long as you’re somewhere quiet and you’re not gonna be disturbed. Now another tip is, in the first 30 minutes from we waken up in the morning, as we know, made us feel a most suggestible. So it’s a good idea to do this first thing in the morning, take five minutes out – sit down and focus on a spot as I’m doing now. Be aware of what’s in your peripheral vision. Do your breathing and let your mind – if you like go blank. Not what your having for breakfast not even getting ready for work – let your mind go blank. Any thoughts of you popping in your head? Okay, enough. Let them go. So you become inside your head almost like a big empty space, and not overthinking and not let yourself get too tied-up without inner thinking, is itself relaxing. So anytime you have five minute spare – get somewhere quiet and practice doing this. And it does work.
David Logan: Great. Thank you. Does nature have a calming affect? Does this come into the mindfulness nature?
Willie Nicol: Yes. You could do – you could sit outside in the back garden and listen to the birds tweeting. Instead of focussing on your breathing , you would be focused on the birds chirping. But then the whole idea is to stop thinking or stop overthinking. Some scientific study says, 50 percent of humans are constantly living in their head. Thinking in their head, and that is not conducive to reducing your stress or anxiety. So using a technique like mindfulness, which incorporates the breathing then is a good way of clearing your head, if you like, and being in them, being in the moment, being in the now not what happened two minutes ago, what was going to happen five minutes in the future. Now to sit and relax, focus your breathing or focus on the birds, or whatever it is. Clear your head, and this will help you get calmer and less anxious.
David Logan: Great. Thank you.
Willie Nicol: However, follow on from that. A meditation focuses on relaxation and calm, where you’re actually thinking about things, but you’re thinking about relaxation and calm. And it’s a practice. You have to practice it. They say meditation is like a muscle. Meditation is exercise for your mind. The same way as physical exercise build your muscles – the physical muscles, so before we go in too deeply I would urge the viewer. Go online – google mindfulness – google meditation. Google both of them together. And you’ll get a much clearer idea of my very rudimentary explanation. There are apps you can download. There are meditations on YouTube so you can listen to them find one or two or whatever, that you enjoy that work for you. So the meditation there, the people will talk to you. You can go to meditation teachers if you’re struggling to do it yourself. But I would urge everyone not to dismiss out of hand and have a go.
Wilie Nicol: Either of them, because stress and anxiety are not good. And why would you not try something to reduce that, because it’ll make you mentally healthier and physically healthier.
David Logan: Perfect. Thank you.
David Logan: Anything else you want to add or is that you for this week?
Willie Nicol: No that’s me, I’ve spoken enough this week, as I say go online look for yourself, and if you want to reach out to me, I have some documents I could send to you or be shipped to me for further information. But I would do just urge you to give it a go. What have you got to lose?
David Logan: Spot on. Great advice, as always, Willie. Thank you. So today for the viewer, if you want to know what the links are or you want to speak to Willie, approach us via message, messenger or comments down below. Please go to our YouTube channel. Go on to our website. Go onto our Facebook page. We are opening up more channels as we go forward as time allows.
David Logan: For now – that is me for this week. David Logan, the IT Geek computer problems is what I seek. Goodbye and good day.
Willie Nicol: Well done David. This is goodbye from me, Willie, the personal development and life coach and also the Techno Dinosaur collaborating with David. Please reach out to us if you need any information. In the meantime, stay safe. Stay well. Thank you for listening.
