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"You have to stay in shape. My grandmother, she started walking five miles a day when she was 60. She's 97 today and we don't know where the hell she is."  Ellen Degeneres

 

What happens when we are stressed?

Scientists have discovered how stress — in the form of emotional, mental or physical tension — physically reshapes the brain and causes long-lasting harm to humans and animals.

"Stress causes neurons (brain cells) to shrink or grow," says Bruce McEwen , a neuroscientist at Rockefeller University in New York . "The wear and tear on the body from lots of stress changes the nervous system.''

through the practice of yoga,mediationa and mindfulness, we reduce stress and learn relaxation. The JustBStill bracelet is a tool to transform our yoga practice:

The original yogis sat in stillness and silence to observe, become clear (clear beads) of mind, and live with heartfelt (heart bead) intention ( ) rather than the chatter of the mind. This stillness develops greater clarity (clear beads) of life, and reflects (rainbow hue) back to our heart, the true essence of life – which is to _______(fill in the blank – what’s right for you?)

When you have lost the intention of the present moment, can you Breathe and Be S.T.I.L.L?

Stop, Think, Inquire, Listen, Learn.

To receive my bi-weekly blog, please click "contact" link or email me at: shirley@justbstill.com and include"blog" in the subject line.

by: ---Anonymous
FEAR brings Illusions
Illusions bring Doubts
Doubts bring Confusion
Confusion brings Fear

Thus the cycle of darkness regenerates itself.

PEACE brings Stillness
Stillness brings Knowing
Knowing brings Truth
Truth brings Freedom
Freedom brings Joy
Joy brings Love
Love brings Peace

And so it is that we grow in light.

 

Free yourself from the thinking mind:

True intelligence operates silently. Stillness is where
creativity and solutions to problems are found.
Eckhart Tolle, Stillness Speaks

Adapted from Eckhart Tolle:

Awakening Exercise 1

One way of learning to be mindful is to bring presence to a common activity.

Choose one or two activities you do routinely and bring your attention to them. Here are three examples.

 

Every time you walk up and down the stairs in your house or place of work, pay close attention to every step, every movement…even your breathing. Be totally present.

When you wash your hands, pay attention to all the sensory perceptions associated with the activity: the sound and feel of the water, the movement of your hands, the scent of the soap and so on.

When you get into your car, after you close the door, pause for a few seconds and observe the flow of your breath. Become aware of a silent but powerful sense of presence.

 

Awakening Exercise 2 :

Listen for the Voice in Your Head

 A few times a day, listen quietly for the voice in your head, the stream of continuous self-talk. Then ponder the following questions. Just be with the questions. Don't necessarily try to answer them.

 

Am I the thoughts that are going through my head?

Or, am I the one who is aware that these thoughts are going through my head?

Pay attention to the gap between your thoughts—when one thought subsides and before another arises. In this way, you draw consciousness away from mind activity and create a gap of no-mind in which you are highly alert and aware but not thinking. When these gaps occur, you disidentify from your mind and feel a certain stillness and peace inside you. This is the essence of meditation and the single most vital step on your journey toward enlightenment.

"Emancipate yourself from mental slavery." Bob Marley

The Seven Key Elements to Mindfulness
Taken from About.com, this is the seven key elements needed to achieve a state of Mindfulness. This list may help to explain the process of achieving complete Mindfulness.

The Seven Key Elements to Mindfulness by William Meek:

• Non-Judging: taking the role of an impartial observer to whatever your current experience is.
• Patience: cultivating the understanding that things must develop in their own time.
• Beginner’s Mind: having the willingness to observe the world as if it was your first time doing so. This creates an openness that is essential to being mindful.
• Trust: having trust in yourself, your intuition, and your abilities.
• Non-Striving: the state of not doing anything, just simply accepting that things are happening in the moment just as they are supposed to. For people from the Western countries like the Unites States, this seems to be one of the more difficult components.
• Acceptance: completely accepting the thoughts, feelings, sensations, and beliefs that you have, and understanding that they are simply those things only.
• Non-Attachment: avoidance of attaching meaning to thoughts and feelings, or connecting a given thought to a feeling. Instead, let a thought or feeling come in and pass without connecting it to anything, observing them exactly as they are.