Is your stress level out of control? Do you feel harried and hurried as you move through your daily routine?
If so, there’s a quick and simple technique that can help bring calm and clarity into your day.
I first learned about it while reading the book The 5 Resets: Rewire Your Brain and Body for Less Stress and More Resilience by Aditi Nerurkar, M.D. This book is an excellent guide to managing stress, but one exercise in particular stood out to me. It’s called Stop. Breathe. Be., and it can be surprisingly effective.
Nerurkar used this technique when she was a stressed out medical resident. Before entering the exam room of each patient, she would put her hand on the door knob, stop, take a deep breath and be mindful of the moment.
It only takes a few seconds, she said, but the results are impressive.
And here’s how you do it:
- Stop. Come to a complete stop. Stop whatever you’re doing.
- Breathe. Take a deep breath – or a few breaths – and bring awareness to your breathing.
- Be. Be aware and become grounded, resting in your awareness.
It allows you to, as Nerukar says, “tap into the mind-body connection. You take a break. And then go on.”
The practice rewires your brain to get out of an anxious stress mode and into a state of being grounded.
As the late Thich Nhat Hanh, a Vietnamese Buddhist monk who was known as the “father of mindfulness,” said, “Many of us have been running all our lives. Practice stopping.“
Wise words – and a gentle reminder – that we can all use in navigating the challenges of today’s fast-paced world.
Editor’s note: For those who want to explore mindfulness more deeply, a wonderful free resource is Palouse Mindfulness, which offers a full online Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) course.
