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What Is A Stress Response? 

Stress is an emergency response system that evolved to allow our ancestors to thwart attacks on their life, like attacks from a wild animal or other situations encountered when living in the wild unknown. The stress system response evolved to produce excess adrenaline and cortisol during the fight or flight response. When this state is activated, blood and other nutrients are diverted from the organs, and the immune system is lowered to conserve energy for the fight or flight. 

This means either fighting a wild animal or running from it to try to reach safety. Yet, in modern times, we are typically not chased by wild animals in our everyday lives. Instead, we are attacked by modern pressures of work and life, and other responsibilities. 

We may feel like we are under immense pressure all the time and, therefore, cannot get out of the fight or flight mode. When this happens, we often refer to the issue vaguely as “stress.” Stress means that rather than the body being in a mode to rest and digest, it is pumped up and ready to run. Because stress is chronic for most people in modern times, this can cause adverse effects on the mind and body.

Chronic exposure to stress can weaken the immune system and can even change the DNA and cause early aging and health decline. Long-term stress can also lead to inflammation and other symptoms like depression, anxiety, autoimmune disease, hypertension, headaches, and other issues. 

Sometimes, it is evident that chronic stress is the culprit. When someone has been living with high-stress levels for a long time, they may begin to see this as their normal functioning and not even notice how affected they are and which symptoms are related. 

Mindfulness and attention to our health and wellness through guided meditation can allow us to make new connections about our health. They can introduce a framework for creating new and healthier choices in everyday life, leading to lower stress levels and greater fulfillment. 

How to Manage Stress Levels with Guided Meditation  

Guided meditation is a listening meditation that involves a short, guided session that takes us through a series of imaginative scenarios to help us see the past and create a new vision for the future. 

Topics vary for guided mediation and can involve self-confidence, health, reducing stress levels, and reducing anxiety. Stress is not something that is out of control, but rather it is something that, with attention and patience, can become a motivating factor for change in our lives. When we experience high stress or even extreme mental breakdown, we are experiencing a mirror for our actions and lifestyle. These high-stress times allow us to see where we are pushing our limits and how we can best reel back our energies and actions to something that is more manageable and makes us happy. 

Instead of always striving to do more, we can see where we have gone too far and pushed ourselves too hard. We can see where we made compromises and didn’t stay true to our values. Guided meditation allows us to recognize these instances and note them without condemning ourselves or wishing for a different outcome. 

Instead, we can reflect through guided meditation and create a new understanding of our story and how we came to be in our current situation. Only when we see this clearly can we take insightful action towards a new reality. Practicing guided daily meditation daily for the consistency of change to manifest in our lives throughout the seasons.

Meditation and Mantra 

Many people are familiar with the idea or practice of meditation as a silent and contemplative practice. While this is a traditional way to practice meditation, there are also more modern and unique ways to practice meditation. Technology has allowed for new ways to engage with mindfulness practices that can benefit our busy lives. 

Additionally, many people have heard traditional mantra’s, used as a prayer for thousands of years in ancient and spiritual cultures. The practices of guided meditations and affirmations are deeply steeped in traditional experience and practice and have been proven effective over thousands of years to reprogram the subconscious mind.

Modern medicine and research have shown that these practices can be adopted and implemented in new ways to be useful and engaging. It is beneficial to honor traditional healing practices and meditations and make sure these practices are practical for daily life in modern times. Some techniques can be adapted to ensure that these practices are helpful in our fast-paced society. 

The Subconscious Mind 

The subconscious mind is the aspect of our minds that lies below the surface of our awareness. The subconscious mind is in control of various decisions we make even when we are unaware of them. This is helpful because it allows our brains to conserve energy and streamlines decision-making.

Imagine driving with full awareness of the conscious mind at all times. Instead, we rely on the subconscious mind to remember directions and take over a sort of autopilot. Many of us are already deeply ingrained with the understanding and physical practice of driving regularly. Similarly, the subconscious mind can hold onto experiences we have had that were deemed harmful and can use these old ideas as the framework for new decisions. When this happens, it can become detrimental to our creativity and ability to produce a new outcome. 

So, we sometimes get stuck in a cycle of repeating past choices or actions even though we thought we had learned our lesson. In these instances, the subconscious mind strives to protect us from harm and is guiding our decision making without our consent. 

Accessing and reprogramming the subconscious mind is essential for creating a new reality with greater patience, clarity, and success of our true nature and is not forced or faked.

Reprogramming the Mind with Guided Meditation 

When we regularly participate in guided meditation, we can access the subconscious mind and create a new underlying program for our lives. The subconscious mind is responsible for our underlying belief systems and ideologies.

Instead of allowing our subconscious mind to rule our existence, we can start to program our minds with whatever beliefs and ideas we prefer. Utilize affirmations throughout the day to strengthen our mindset and resolve conflicting ideas in the subconscious mind. Affirmations are phrases and statements that we create and repeat to ourselves to establish a new idea. 

When we repeat affirmations to ourselves, our mind begins to believe the new thought, and it can override any old patterns of negative behavior. Changing paradigms does not happen immediately, but we can reprogram the subconscious mind to a different outlook through devoted practice. Affirmations can be done anywhere and anytime. They can be said aloud or can be repeated silently to oneself. 

Affirmations can also be written repeatedly to engage both the mind and the body into a new state of manifestation. Regular use of guided meditation and affirmations will shift the old paradigm to a new useful response.