To quote John Lennon, “Turn off your mind, relax and float downstream.” Sage advice. While we are awake, our brains are always on, ever vigilant. In fact, the awake brain accounts for 20% of our metabolism. While critical thinking and decision making are important in our daily lives, much of the time our brain is in idle mode, given to random thoughts. This is known as the Default Mode Network.
There is nothing inherently wrong with that other than it can lead to ruminating thoughts and anxiety which increases stress. The reaction to stress is the primitive fight or flight response like our ancestors’ reaction to the saber-toothed tiger. The tigers are gone; but, our reaction to stress remains. It is triggered by the sympathetic nervous system which along with the parasympathetic system comprises the autonomic nervous system. Like Yin and Yang, they have opposite effects on the body. The sympathetic system is our reaction to stress: It increases your heart rate and metabolism so that you can either run away from or fight that tiger. In contrast, the parasympathetic system calms you down.
A goal in wellness is to decrease resting sympathetic tone and increase parasympathetic tone, also called vagal tone. Any calming activity increases vagal tone. The easiest way to do this is through a meditative practice. You can sit in a lotus position while repeating a mantra; but, this is not necessary. Simply sitting or lying in a comfortable position in a quiet, soothing atmosphere is sufficient. At the same time, minimize active thinking by focusing on one thought at a time like counting to a hundred and backwards. Relax with slow, rhythmic breathing. A total of ten minutes or longer each day is ideal and you can break it into smaller segments. As little as 20 seconds at a time is beneficial and a good way of incorporating 4/7/8 breathing into your daily routine.
Like a rheostat, meditation helps us dial down our reaction to stress. It not only has a calming effect; but, long term meditative practice has shown to preserve key brain functions. Go ahead: Turn off your mind and relax.
