Be the Master of your Destiny by Managing your Inner Environment

Currently, we are in Boston, USA with our daughter and son-in-law. It is winter and though it has not started snowing as yet, the temperature fluctuates between max 3 degrees to min -8 degrees. It is very difficult to step out of the house and if you want to do so, then you need to wear at least 3 layers of clothes, gloves and a cap.

The trees which had beautiful leaves sometime back are completely barren now and you can see only the branches as the leaves have fallen off. It starts to become dark by about 3.30 to 4 pm and by 5 pm it is pitch dark, as if it was mid-night. By 7 or 7.30 am, it starts to become brighter and by 8 am it is completely bright. At times, the sun rises but there is no change in the temperature outside.

Inside the house, it is a completely different scenario. The temperature is set to around 22-24 degree Celsius. We wear just our usual jeans and t-shirt and its completely fine. You do not feel cold at all, and life goes on as usual. Of course, as we cannot go for a walk, we do indoor exercise but otherwise, if we are in the house, we do not realize that it is winter in Boston. So rather than being bothered about the cold weather outside, we manage the inner environment within the house which make living here in winter also very comfortable for us

What if we were to follow a similar pattern in our lives? What if we were to focus on our inner environment and manage the same? After all, whatever happens externally is not in our control, while our inner environment is definitely under our control.

How can we bring our inner environment under our control? By focusing on the way in which we breath. By practicing deep breathing.

Why deep breathing??Research shows that deep breathing can have a direct effect on the overall activity level of the brain. What this means is that slow, deep breathing stimulates the vagus nerve which runs from the brain to the abdomen and is in charge of turning off our fight or flight response in stressful situations. The vagus nerve uses the neurotransmitter acetylcholine, which activates the relaxation response of our parasympathetic nervous system and helps us remain calm in situations which may be overwhelming for us. Having managed our inner environment, we increase our ability to manage any external situation coming up in front of us.

These external situations may be smaller impact situations like an unexpected traffic jam, delay in the completion of an important project, a missed flight or maybe even losing your wallet to bigger impact situations like a financial loss, toxic environment at the workplace, relationship issues or loss of someone close to you. ?

All of the above situations are not under our control and have already happened. Rather than experiencing stress and negative emotions, if we are able to manage our inner environment by regulating our breath, we remain calm and we can think clearly – fine, now that this has already happened, what can I do so that I am able to manage the situation well.?

In addition to deep breathing, we can also do various other breathing exercises like Box breathing, 4-7-8 breathing and Pranayama. Start small, just around 5 mins, once a day and then gradually increase the duration to about 20-30 mins spread over the day. ?

Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev calls this as Inner Engineering. He says, “When pain, misery, or anger happen, it is time to look within you, not around you.”

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Micro-Practice: Deep Breathing Exercise for 5 mins everyday

Deep breathing is also referred to as abdominal breathing, diaphragmatic breathing, or belly breathing. Abdominal breathing is a form of exercise that you do for 5 mins every morning and also use any time to help you to calm yourself physically and mentally and in turn, decrease stress. It can be either in the lying down or sitting position. ??

1. Place one hand, palm facing down, on your chest. Place the other hand, palm facing down, on your stomach.

2. Breathe in through your nose to a slow count of 4. Notice the motion of each hand. When you breathe in, the hand on your stomach should go up. ?

3. Now exhale through your nose, again to a slow count of 4. When you breathe out, the hand on your stomach should go down.

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