Art of Stress-free Living: Eastern and Western Approach

Art of Stress-Free Living:

Eastern and Western Approach

by Dr. Sukhraj S. Dhillon, Ph.D.

Smashwords Edition

Copyright © 2011 by Dr. Sukhraj S. Dhillon

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ISBN: 1413795064 (paperback)

PublishAmerica

Baltimore, MD

© 2006 by Dr. Sukhraj S. Dhillon.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means without the prior written permission of the publishers, except by a reviewer who may quote brief passages in a review to be printed in a newspaper, magazine or journal.

First printing

ISBN: 1-4137-9506-4

PUBLISHED BY PUBLISHAMERICA, LLLP

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Printed in the United States of America

To my good friend and mentor Dr. Graeme P. Berlyn, who nurtured my natural curiosity when I was a graduate student and postdoctoral fellow at Yale University.

To my family, Raj, Ameet and Aman, and all my friends, you know who you are, for your loving trust and inspiration.

Contents

Introduction

1. MIND-BODY CONNECTION

How the Mind Works

Emotional Pain

How the body harms itself during stressful situation

Happy Mind and Happy Heart

Mind and diabetes

Mind to sooth a sensitive gut

Mind-body help for Cancer Patients

Mind and Fertility

Mind over Menopause

Mind Approach and Your Doctor

2. STRESS MANAGEMENT APPROACHES

Life Events that Increase Stress Levels

Determination of Stress Level (The Good and the Bad)

Stress Symptoms

Coping with Routine Stress

Coping with Social Myths and Expectations

Self-talk towards Positive Attitude

Beating Stress in the Heat of Battle

Coping with Failure

Coping with Travel Stress

Coping with Jet Lag

Some Other Tips

Assessing Your Life Style

Specific Stress-Management Approaches

Medical Approaches

Non-Medical Alternatives

Nutritional Approach

Exercise

Sleep

A Change of Routine

Financial Planning

Communication

Relaxation Techniques

3. MENTAL RELAXATION APPROACHES TO STRESS

Helpful Hints for Relaxation/Meditation Techniques

Progressive Relaxation

Autogenic Training

Transcendental Meditation

Faith-Based Meditation Techniques

Zen Meditation Techniques

Meditation by Reciting God’s Name (Naam Jaap)

Prayer and State of Non-Thinking Gap (Naam Japna and Sunn State)

Simplified Faith-Based Meditation Technique for Busy People

Self-Hypnosis/Mental Relaxation

A Simplified Method of Mind Relaxation for Sleep

The Quieting Response

Effectiveness of Meditation in Reducing Stress

4. HOW BREATHING AFFECTS STRESS

Stress and the Oxygen Delivery System

Stress and Its Relationship to Breathing

The Emotional Topography of Our Breath

Restricted Breathing and Self-image

Watching the Breath During Meditation

Complete Breathing and Relaxation

Specific Breathing Exercises

Breathing to Relax

Breathing for Stress and Emotions

Breathing for Concentration

Breathing for Sensation of Calm

Faith-Based Meditation and Breathing

Breathing-Based Meditation to Relieve Stress

How to Test Your Breathing

5. THE VALUE OF SPIRITUAL LIVING

The Spiritual Need

New Consciousness

Calm, Clear Mind- The Buddha Way

Caring Without Clinging

Talking to God

Fear of God

Fear of Death and Disease

Mind Without Fear

Surrender

The Approach to Surrender

Forgiveness

Positive Thinking

Focus of Mind (Dhayana)

6. THE POWER OF NOW- ZEN BUDDHISM APPROACH

Practicing the Power of Now

Freeing Yourself from Your Mind and Reoccurring Thoughts

Enlightenment: Rising above Thought

Emotion: The Body’s Reaction to Your Mind

Entering the Now

Letting Go of Psychological time

Living Life, Not Life Situation

All Problems are Illusions of the Mind Outside the Now

Dissolving the Pain-Body of Present and Past

The Joy of Being in the Present

Die to the Past and Future

Additional Suggestions Based on Zen Buddhism

Stress coping Skills- Self-Evaluation test

Glossary

References

Notes

Back to Contents

Introduction

Diet and exercise alone are like a two-legged stool, says Dr. Redford Williams, director of the Behavioral Medicine Research Center at Duke University. It's more stable with the third leg, stress management.

Dr. Ted*, a surgeon five feet nine, weighs 150 pounds, plays tennis, a slim healthy doctor who maintained his cholesterol, had by pass surgery in 1998 at the age of 57. Dr. Bal*, a scientist, who had less than 200 cholesterol level had by pass surgery in 2002 at the age of 69. While Dr. Amar*, a sociology professor five feet seven, weighs 200 pounds, and Jit* an anthropologist five feet nine, weighs 220 pounds, both in their sixties had no heart problem so far. What is common between Drs. Ted and Bal: the stress of job, no social security pension (because Bal moved to USA very late and had not contributed), family dealings, divorce in a family, all had stressed both of them. Ted retired early at age 60. (*Real names withheld to protect privacy.)

Dr. Amar and Jit had regular university jobs, had happy go lucky attitude and show no signs of stress. Dr. Amar retired as department head with good retirement benefits. Jit continues to work.

The above examples are not to suggest that we should be over-weight and not bother about cholesterol and other common sense health approaches such as good nutrition and exercise, but suggest stress and life attitude cannot be ignored.

Frustration at the work place, niggling issues at home and strained inter-personal relationships have become common in today's lifestyle of most people. A steadily rising workload and an intense competitive ambience have left people with very little time to nurture and cultivate their relationships and for regular introspection. In such a stressful milieu, stress-management techniques from the East and West have gained gradual importance and some of them are proving to be quite effective.

Stress management, which is the foundation of the stress business, is a wide open field. The term encompasses a wide variety of lectures, seminars and other programs offered in physicians' offices, corporate headquarters, spas, schools and centers for elderly people and on cruise ships. Programs typically incorporate biofeedback training, relaxation therapy, mental imagery, behavior modification and exercise, either alone or in combination. Also on the market are books, videotapes, computer programs, vitamins and cosmetics that promise relief from stress.

There is increasing interest in job stress as a major health problem. Many corporations are increasingly under pressure to have stress-management programs because of the tremendous rise in workers' compensation claims for stress-induced illnesses.

Here’s some data on The High Cost of Stress. in terms of wealth as well as health.

1. $200 billion a year is lost to industry from stress related ailments.

George Pfeiffer, Work Care Group

2. 75-90% of employee visits to hospitals are for ailments linked to stress.

American Institute of Stress

3. Chronic pain, hypertension, and headaches account for 54% of all job absences-all stress related ailments.

Alternative Therapies Journal, 1996

4. 30% of adults report high job stress nearly every day. One study reported that more than a third of respondents were considering changing work because of job stress.

Northwestern National Life Insurance, 1991

5. Those who reported a history of workplace stress over the past 10 years developed colon and rectal cancers at 5.5 times the rate of the control group.

Joseph Courtney, UCLA School of Public Health, Epidemiology, September, 1994

6. Stress is more powerful than diet in influencing cholesterol levels. Several studies, including one of medical students around exam time and another of accountants during tax season, have shown significant increases in cholesterol levels during stressful events, when there was little change in diet.

Dr. Paul Rosch, Professor of Medicine, New York Medical College

7. Stress is linked to the following illnesses: hypertension, heart attacks, diabetes, asthma, chronic pain, allergies, headache, backache, various skin disorders, cancer, immune system weakness, and decreases in the number of white blood cells and changes in their function.

Nation's Business, December, 1994

8. High levels of stress cause nerve factor growth, which hinders the ability of diseasefighting cells to ward off infections, suppressing the immune system.

Reported in Psychology Today, January, 1996

9. Four hundred people were intentionally exposed to common-cold viruses. Those who scored highest on a test of stressful life events were more than twice as likely to develop colds after exposure than people who scored lowest.

Dr. Sheldon Cohen, Carnegie Mellon University, National Institute of Health Conference

10. Severe stress is one of the most potent risk factors for stroke--more so than high blood pressure--even 50 years after the initial trauma. In a study of 556 veterans of World War II, the rate of stroke among those who had been prisoners of war was 8 times higher than among those not captured.

Lawrence Brass, M.D. Yale Medical School

11. Those already suffering from high levels of atherosclerotic plaque/coronary heart disease will experience even more constriction of blood vessels when under stress. On average, the most clogged arteries constricted an additional 24% when the subject was experiencing stress, while the healthy vessels (in the same subject) remained unchanged. Healthy vessels can handle the stress, but the damaged ones have lost their capacity to adapt.

Alan Young, M.D. Cardiologist, Harvard Medical

12. Epinephrine, released by adrenal glands in response to stress, triggers blood platelets (the cells responsible for repairing blood vessels) to secrete large amounts of a substance called ATP. In large amounts, ATP can trigger a heart attack or stroke by causing blood vessels to rapidly narrow, thus cutting off the blood flow.

Thomas Pickering, M.D. Cardiologist, New York Hospital, Cornell Medical Center

13. In a study of 100 people with rheumatoid arthritis, levels of prolactin were twice as high among those reporting high degrees of inter personal stress than among those not stressed. Prolactin migrates to joints where it initiates a cascade of events leading to swelling and pain.

Kathleen Matt, M.D., Arizona State University

Stress, tension, and anxiety, however, are part of everyone's lives. Stress is simply the way our body gets ready for action, which is good. But too much stress can harm us physically, emotionally, and socially; all through its effect on our mental state.

One's mental state can have discernible, measurable effects on such physiological processes as blood pressure, body temperature, and respiration. This fact has been recognized for centuries by faith healers and meditators and is now accepted by supporters of behavior medicine. The proponents of behavioral medicine, including Dr. H. Benson of Harvard medical school, estimate that as many as 75 percent of patients who visit doctors have complaints that cannot be treated by traditional western medical techniques. If those patients get better, it is not because of a prescribed drug or a surgical procedure or specific medical therapy, but due to something that happened in the patient's mind. This guide intends to present stress management techniques that have been recognized for centuries by faith healers and meditators, and that are now gaining acceptance by modern medical practitioners.

You don’t need to be a yogi living in a cave far away from the civilized world to practice relaxation techniques of the East. Most of us have homes, mouths to feed, bills to pay--we live in the temporal world. Here’s a temporal metaphor to explain how the daily practices enhance our lives: Our bodies are like a car; they carry our soul around; they're a vehicle for our consciousness. And if you take good care of yourself, your ride becomes less bumpy, your human experience becomes a little more enjoyable, and you avoid many of those stresses that take you down the road to ill-health. You don’t need to go to some ashram in India or expensive yoga and meditation centers either, because the book provides various relaxation techniques. The techniques that you should be able to follow yourself. We devote full chapter to various Breathing Techniques, as well. There is a deep relationship between the pattern of our breathing and our internal emotions. When we are angry, we breathe faster and when we are happy our breath is lighter. The Specific Breathing Techniques open up the locks within the people, which is the source of all emotional and physical disturbances.

What is called Sudarshan Kriya by new age gurus is a cycle of breaths—long, medium and short. Since the mind oscillates wildly between the past and the future, the breath, which is by definition necessarily in the present, is used to rope in the wandering mind. Like Zen masters who teach that the present moment is a chink opening into eternity, Ravi Shankar (who introduced the art of living) also hauls his audience back to the here and now with posers like, Where are you? This guide describes in detail THE POWER OF NOW- ZEN BUDDHISM APPROACH.

The guide combines the various approaches with meditation and teaches how to observe the mind, to live in gratitude and to discard expectations. The guide also provides a value-based framework to life and tools with which to build the superstructure. The benefits of the learning these approaches include stress reduction, increased production, a resurgence of vitality, mental clarity and joy of living. Those who follow various techniques will realize relief in respiratory and spinal disorders, diabetes and heart problems.

This guide also takes into account the positive (pre-distresss) aspects of stress.

"The language of the head is words.

The language of the heart is love.

The language of the soul is silence."

Back to Contents

Chapter 1

MIND-BODY CONNECTION

Modern life is rife with potential stressors, and there is now little question that uncontrolled stress can kill. Harvard physiologist Walter Cannon recognized 90 years ago that when confronted by a threat-physical or emotional, real or imagined--the body responds with a rise in blood pressure, heart rate, muscle tension and breathing rate. We now know that this physiological stress response involves hormones and inflammatory chemicals that, while valuable in measured bursts, can foster everything from headaches to heart attacks in overdose. We now know that chronic stress, though not always fatal, can disrupt the digestive system, worsen symptoms of menopause and interfere with fertility. Indeed, experts now believe that 60 to 90 percent of all doctor visits involve stress-related complaints.

Most people who are ambitious and want to accomplish something, however, live on some stress as a part of regular living. They need it. In other words accomplishment requires work, and regular work, which is an essential part of everyday living itself causes some stress.

Dr. Hans Selye, the acknowledged authority on stress writes that our aim should not be to avoid work but to find the kind of work that suits us the best. Select an environment (wife, husband, boss, social group) in line with your innate preference, and an activity which you like and respect and which is within your talents. Hard workers in almost any field often live to a very advanced age. A common example which supports the above notions is that employed wives are, generally, happier than housewives. Even in evolutionary terms stress has contributed to our development as human beings.

In fact, when we say someone is under stress, we actually mean under excessive stress, just as the statement he is running a temperature refers to an abnormally high temperature, that is fever. Some heat production, which maintains our normal body temperature, is essential to life.

Similarly, no matter what you do or what happens to you, there arises a demand for the necessary energy required to maintain life, to resist aggression and to adapt to constantly changing external influences. Even while fully relaxed and asleep, you are under some stress. Your heart must continue to pump blood, your intestines to digest last night's dinner, and your muscles to move your chest for respiration. Even your brain is not at rest while you are dreaming.

Thus it is probably not a good idea to eliminate stress totally from our lives. Without some stress life would be drab and unstimulating. Too little stress can produce boredom, feelings of isolation, stagnation, and purposelessness.

So there is the kind of stress, which is essential and positive (eustress). However, many times the effects of stress are negative (distress), even though people continue to function without becoming aware of its effects. Stress may contribute to crime, accidents, interpersonal violence, alcoholism, and drug abuse. Excessive exposure to stress over a long time may contribute to serious diseases such as hypertension, heart attacks, ulcers, migraines, backaches, cancer, nervous disorders, sterility, and many undiagnosed diseases that are now associated with stress with recent findings, and can literally kill us. The treatment of stress in such cases is an absolute necessity.

From anger to optimism, our emotions are physiological states. The brain, as the source of those states, offers a potential gateway to other tissues and organs the heart and blood vessels, the gut and even the immune system.

Dr. Herbert Benson of Harvard Medical School and his colleagues state: "Imagine you’re allergic to the oil of the Japanese lacquer tree--so allergic that the brush of a leaf against your skin provokes an angry rash. Strapping a blindfold over your eyes, a scientist tells you she's going to rub your right arm with lacquer leaf and your left arm with the innocuous leaf of a chestnut tree. The rubbing commences, and before long your right arm is covered with burning, itchy welts. Your left side feels fine. No surprise, until you learn that your left arm not the right--is the one that got lacquered. Or imagine that Parkinson's disease has reduced your walk to a shuffle and left your hands too shaky to grasp a pencil. You enroll in a study and receive an experimental surgical treatment, which dramatically