Take deep breath, exhale stress

There are many levels of stress. There is this part in Sundara Kandam in Ramayana, where Hanuman lands in Ravana’s palace and finally spots Sita. Only she is at the point of taking her own life. It would have been very natural for Hanuman, who had searched far and wide, and high and low, to shout at once, “Stop. Don’t die. I am Rama’s emissary.” But he did not do so for a simple reason. As every psychologist will tell you, it takes a special skill to wean a person away from suicide at the critical moment. Had Hanuman given in to his own stress levels of hunting for Sita and shouted, she might have panicked. Instead, he chose to recite the Ramayana. As the words slowly permeated her agitated mind, Sita’s suicidal tendency was curbed. 

Like Hanuman, we too should apply our mind to bring down our stress levels. Our scriptures say if one controls one’s mind then there will be no stress in life. We all get stressed because of our attachment to things, material or otherwise. We are scared of losing someone’s love and affection. We get agitated if our there is any kind of threat to our savings or livelihood. Students get into a pressure point because of their tendency to ‘prepare for exams at the last minute’ and failing to master everything. There are also some students who prepare well for their exams, but when they look at the question paper, their mind goes blank, and they fall into a stressful state of mind. For some women, sending their children to school on time causes stress, while for some men, driving to work through peak hour traffic is unbearably stressful. 

Why, even happiness is known to cause stress. Success brings its own pressure and many high achievers get stressed after their initial victory. A friend shared a research paper done by someone in UK, which showed that only human beings get bogged down by stress. You try and block an ant’s path, it will change direction at once. Christianity says if one door is closed, don’t worry, another will open for you. And yet, despite listening to countless examples or stories from scriptures or parables, people continue to suffer from stress. 

One solution is to literally take a deep breath. Focus your mind on one particular object. Some people get agitated by the action of others and keep thinking of that person and think of avenging themselves. That can only be a negative force. Instead, focus your faculties on something else. For those who believe in work-outs or yoga, breathing exercise is the perfect stress buster. Ashtanga yoga says pranayama is the answer to all ills. One can think of Siva, Vishnu, Jesus, Mary, the sky, the moon, the stars or even a river. Inhale deeply and continue to focus your mind on that one thing. You need to spend ten minutes at least, doing breathing exercises. Or chant a hymn from your favourite scripture. Or your favourite Alwar pasuram. You will soon come out of your stress.