Spiritual Practices for Coping with STRESS

In stressful times, meditation and hatha yoga can help a lot, but in the midst of a terrible crisis, you might still find yourself overwhelmed by anxiety and fear, even if you're a dedicated practitioner. What can you do to remain calm and peaceful even in the worst situations? Q&A series #20.

By taking some time away from your responsibilities to practice yoga and meditation, you can actually accomplish more each day because it removes much of the tension and stress that drain your mental energy and rob you of enthusiasm.

Hatha yoga and meditation help calm your sympathetic nervous system, the system that triggers your fight or flight response. Regular practice reduces your body's production of stress hormones, like adrenaline and cortisol.

But in extremely threatening situations, like in times of crisis, your mental threshold gets exceeded and it's no longer possible to remain calm and clear-headed. You can raise that threshold by practicing even more yoga and meditation, but no matter how much it's raised, that threshold can still be exceeded in extraordinary circumstances.

Yet, there lived many great saints and enlightened masters who were never be disturbed by a crisis, no matter how terrible. Janaka, the enlightened King of Mithila, was once told that his palace had caught fire. Instead of jumping to his feet, Janaka calmly reflected on the situation for a moment.

The enlightened king demonstrated an important principle: don't just do something, sit there! At times of crisis, instead of leaping into action and acting impulsively, it's better to reflect on the situation for a few moments, so that you can choose the best possible course of action.

An enlightened person knows that, "I am atma, pure consciousness, so nothing can threaten me. Nothing can affect me." The teachings of Advaita Vedanta can lead you to realize the profound spiritual truth that nothing in the world can truly threaten you.

Swami Tadatmananda is a traditionally-trained teacher of Advaita Vedanta, meditation, and Sanskrit. For more information, please see: https://www.arshabodha.org/