Healthy Bite 021 - One Simple Stress Solution!

Super Simple Healthy Podcast

I can’t believe summer is almost at a close again. Just one more week and I’ve already seen Christmas decor in some of the stores! While fall is probably my favorite season, it is also the pre-cursor to the holiday season and the inevitable stress that comes with it. Today, I have with me Greg Schweitzer Director of Stress Reduction Resources who will be talking about one VERY simple solution for keeping stress at bay – ANY time of year! One Simple Stress Solution – Part I Hey Greg! Thanks for being here today! For most people, managing stress is a HUGE issue, so I’m sure this will be a popular episode. But before we continue, can you tell us a little bit about yourself and your background? I feel very fortunate that I found meditation 43 years ago. At the time, I was a stressed out Industrial Engineer working for Kraft Foods in the Lehigh Valley. One evening, a friend invited me to join him at an introductory lecture on Transcendental Meditation®. I liked what I heard at the lecture and decided to give meditation a try. I’ve been meditating every day since – usually 15 – 20 minutes – and it’s changed my life, maybe saved it. Ok, thank you for that. So let’s just jump in here. First, since you teach people how to meditate, can you explain exactly what it means to meditate, and then specifically, how it might impact a person’s stress? There are many styles of meditation. Today, I call what I teach Effortless Meditation™ (EM). During the meditation, your mind begins to settle down, becoming quieter. When the mind gets quiet, the body begins to rest deeply. The deep rest during EM melts stress away, it releases the pressure and tension inside. One of the things I really like about your program is that you make meditation so simple. I know a lot of people have heard about meditation and some have tried it and get discouraged because they can’t seem to “empty their mind”. What do you say to people when they tell you that? We don’t have to try to empty or quiet our mind, because it is already quiet but not on the conscious thinking level (the surface of the mind.) An illustration helps; the ocean is turbulent on the surface – lots of waves especially during a storm but even then, the ocean is quiet and peaceful at its depths. With a good technique and good instruction, you can learn to dive inside the mind and EFFORTLESSLY experience a calm, peaceful mind. That’s what I teach people to do. This meditation practice is effortless – that’s why I call it Effortless Meditation. Everyone is successful with it. In my 40 years of teaching, no one has ever said that it doesn’t work. OK Greg. Unfortunatley, we are running out of time! We only have 5 minutes here, and I’d love for you to share some of your success stories of how meditation has helped in different areas of people’s lives. So I guess what we’re going to do is to split this into two episodes! Be sure to tune in next week to hear all about what meditation can do for you! And in the meantime, if it’s already peaked your interest, please feel free to contact Greg on his website at: www.stressreductionresources.com, on my website: www.supersimplehealthy.com. or you can find him at the Twin Ponds Integrative Health Center right here in the Lehigh Valley! Until next time: Keep it simple. Be Healthy.