Being in the zone is not just for elite athletes
How to reduce stress and find the space to develop great teamwork and leadership skills
Did you know that Meditation masters feel stress?
Yeah, I know that’s mind-blowing. These guys work at levels of awareness and consciousness that are foreign territories to us normal chaps. But here I was, sitting listening to a talk by Ajahn Anando — he was a Buddhist monk in the Thai Forest lineage, an ex-marine helicopter pilot from the Vietnam War — and he was sitting there perfectly calm, telling us ho sometimes when he has to give a talk to a large group of people that he feels stressed. WOW.
But he said the difference between a black-belt meditator and a newbie was that he had trained in tools and techniques that helped him deal with these negative emotions.
Stress is a fact of modern-day life. And living in a world where speed and chaos are twin aspects of change, it isn’t going away any time soon.
So, it would seem logical that training in techniques that help manage stress and increase your self-control of negative emotions and their impact on your life, team, and organization wouldn’t be a bad idea.
You think?
Yup.
So, what to do?
Learn to control stress. Learn tools that can catch the feeling of fear and anxiety has it happens. Before it takes root and bloats the mind. Try doing an experiential learning exercise in front of your peers. We have had senior executives, leaders, and teams freeze with anxiety. Doing everything to avoid action but running out of the door. Stepping out of your comfort zone is uncomfortable. Learning to adapt to change and profit from it is hard. Stress is a debilitating experience. It is an insidious emotion that can take root in your mind and your body, holding your present and future to ransom.
Using the breath as an anchor point.
Why the breath?
The easiest. Well, the breath is the easiest practice from the point of view of choosing an object of concentration.
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