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Cate
USA
29 Posts |
 Posted - May 21 2015 : 11:58:55 PM
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Pranam All,
I am having what I think has evolved into an issue of chronic mental exhaustion over the last couple of years that I can’t seem to eradicate. It stems from my job which is very stressful. By the time I get home in the evening, and especially by Friday night, I am completely worn out.
I have tried resting, but it’s not enough most of the time. This mental fatigue has impacted my yoga practice to the extent that I don’t have the physical energy or the mental energy to focus, to practice consistently anymore.
I would like to hear from others as to how they handle mental and/or physical exhaustion, and stress, over long periods of time. Can you share what has worked for you to rejuvenate your mental and/or physical energy? Also, if you use any specific practices to help counteract the depletion of mental and physical energy on a daily basis from a stressful job?
Thank you for any advice!
Namasté,
Cate
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Toto
Norway
20 Posts |
Posted - May 22 2015 : 04:16:31 AM
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Hi Cate.
Here is some ideas.
Since you cal it mental and not physically, then it could be something you resist, or fear or both. Have you done any wrong you don't won't to admit. Have you any secret you don't won't to look at. Are u holding into something . Have you commit into something you really can't deliver. Are you trying to do something that it's not possible? Let someone look at all u are into to. Maybe u are trying something that's is not possible and u need to let go. Maybe you need to admit a defeat. Is there any dramas?
Maybe u find a way to continue u same practice. Maybe not in optimal environment. On the buss?
It's many way to do practice. Really listen to people. Emty your self, open up and listening. Stay in the body. Feel u body as mutch as u can. Be aware of u body. Make a remark in u your mind , when you find yourself here and now. Like " I am back". Then you gently favor here then then beeing in your thought. Is it some people u can't forgive, maybe u can't forgive yourselves. Is it some people that u can't accept. U can't axept yourselves. You can't axept u limitation. You have got to attached to others life story?
If mentally, it's something u don't won't to deal with.
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Edited by - Toto on May 22 2015 04:44:00 AM |
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kumar ul islam
United Kingdom
791 Posts |
Posted - May 22 2015 : 08:25:36 AM
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prayer |
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Ayiram
88 Posts |
Posted - May 22 2015 : 10:09:49 AM
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Hi Cate,
is your job REALLY stressful or is it that YOU BELIEVE that THOUGHT that is telling you "my job is stressful and it´s depleting me mentally and physically"? can you try to drop that thought just for a few moments and see what happens?
you don t need time to rest, no time in the world will help you to rest if you keep giving your energy to that thought. and if you stop giving it your energy, it will take only a sec and you ll feel rested.
and "the devil" behind this thought is telling you then you don t have the energy for your meditation sessions. of course it´s telling you that, it´s in its best interest you do so, coz otherwise you d see it´s not true what it s been telling you.
you need to create some space between yourself and that thought and the only way to do that is to set meditation as a priority. come back to your meditation routine.
there s also a great book that has been mentioned here many times, it s Byron Katie´s: "the work". it´s about inquiring our thoughts. it may give you some head ups but your meditation should come first. it will give you the inner strength to really detach yourself from your thoughts and it will give you everything else you need.
and yes, I would agree with Toto, try to be in your body as much as you can ("think from the neck below", to quote Adyashanti)and like kumar ul islam says, do some samyama on "rest" or "peace" after meditation or whenever it gets "tough" throughout the day or on whatever else comes up... you could also try to "give your burden away" to the Universe and let it take care of it. :)
all of this did miracles to me, I hope it ll help you as well. or if not, I wish you to find something that will work for you.
wishing you all the best.
 
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BlueRaincoat
United Kingdom
1730 Posts |
Posted - May 22 2015 : 10:39:29 AM
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Hello Cate
Sorry to hear about your difficulties. It sounds pretty serious.
I went through a rough time like that with chronic fatigue and back pain. Do you sleep well at night?
I think the most important thing is that you take yourself to your meditation place every day. It might be difficult getting up in time in the morning, but in the evening, the very fact that you are tired is a good reminder that you need to take some time out. It doesn't matter if you feel you can't concentrate very well. Even if you have to lie down instead of sitting (provided of course that you don't fall asleep), even if all you're aware of is your tiredness, do spend at least 20 minutes turning your attention inwards. When you feel you can focus your attention on the object of meditation, do that. And give yourself plenty of rest afterwards.
I guess that if you had the option to slow down with work you would have done it already?
I hope you feel better soon. |
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Cate
USA
29 Posts |
Posted - May 24 2015 : 01:48:38 AM
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Pranam all, and thank you so much for your advice!!
Toto – You are right, there is fear and resistance at work here. I did not realize it until I read your response and thought about it. The fear is about keeping my job so I stay employed, while continually being tasked with more work to satisfy the management, which is worrisome to me. So I am essentially living in fear every day at work. And yes, I think I am committing to something I cannot deliver, but at the present time I don’t have another option. My work strategy has been Ishvara Pranidhana – surrender and dedication of all my work actions to the Divine. I don’t look for fruits of my work anymore. I just try to concentrate on the task that needs to be done and I do it to the best of my ability and then move on to the next task. But it doesn’t stop the fear.
Dramas? Yes!! Almost all of my co-workers are suffering as I am, and it makes for many disgruntled people who fall prey to a negative attitude. I avoid that as much as possible and try to instill a positive attitude, but that is draining me as well, trying to be the cheerleader.
Kumar ul islam – I agree with you about prayer. It is something I am doing more of lately.
Ayiram – Yes, unfortunately my job is stressful. My co-workers are 10-20 years younger than me, and I have had to call the paramedics because one almost collapsed from the stress, and others are now on prescribed medications for stress, insomnia and anxiety. They are all exhibiting either migraines, IBS, high blood pressure, depression, etc. I do not use any medications. I use yoga as my means of trying to maintain my sanity, and have managed well until the last few months when it just doesn’t seem to be working as well for me as it used to.
You bring up an interesting idea for me. That being, that I have grown accustomed now, to thinking I have a stressful job. This is further reinforced by many of my co-workers daily, who complain or vent about their workloads. The thought itself has become a daily pattern for me and you’re right, I have to change that. I love your idea about letting that thought go, and doing samyama on “rest” or “peace.”
BlueRaincoat – No, I do not sleep well at night. I have no problems falling asleep when I first go to bed because I’m so tired. It’s staying asleep that is the problem. Since I’ve fallen off the wagon with doing consistent daily yoga practice, I get bad lower back pain in the middle of the night from what feels like shards of energy shooting up when I change positions. It’s very prickly, but I get relief once it disperses when I stretch in bed. But in a couple of hours it has built up again and I have to move around to disperse it. It is like this every night, so I am tossing and turning and stretching, trying to relieve the energy build-up. My energy feels quite constipated, for lack of a better term.
One of the reasons I fell out of a consistent daily practice was because I thought if I couldn’t do it well anymore then what is the point of doing it? It’s a waste of effort and time, and maybe in fact I would be doing more harm than good. But after reading your response, I think any practice might be better than no practice at all. I can modify it and do it in smaller doses, or while lying down, or change the routine to make it easier, etc., like you suggested.
Since I have a 3-day weekend with the holiday, I am availing myself of the opportunity to try to re-establish a consistent daily morning and evening yoga routine. I hope this will jump-start me back into a consistent practice and that I will be feeling more rejuvenated.
Thank you all, for your thoughts! I appreciate your advice and am going to give it another go, implementing your ideas!
Namasté __/\__
Cate
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Edited by - Cate on May 24 2015 01:51:05 AM |
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Toto
Norway
20 Posts |
Posted - May 24 2015 : 03:27:10 AM
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Iquote:
Originally posted by Ayiram
Hi Cate,
is your job REALLY stressful or is it that YOU BELIEVE that THOUGHT that is telling you "my job is stressful and it´s depleting me mentally and physically"? can you try to drop that thought just for a few moments and see what happens?
you don t need time to rest, no time in the world will help you to rest if you keep giving your energy to that thought. and if you stop giving it your energy, it will take only a sec and you ll feel
For some time back I found myself in a drama. Many scaring feeling inside. I was a mess. Then a thought come to me and telling me that it is no dramas. In the same second my sanity went back and also my power. How crazy is that.
Maybe sometimes fear can work to manage something, but when fear become a prison.
Where u seems to be going now is that u loose u work because of a mental cause. Not because of u workload. How crazy is that.
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Edited by - Toto on May 24 2015 05:57:55 AM |
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Cate
USA
29 Posts |
Posted - May 25 2015 : 11:09:04 PM
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Pranam Toto,
I can relate to your experience. It is easy to get caught up in dramas, especially fearful ones, and that is precisely what I had been doing, but hadn't realized to what extent until recently. I had gotten to a point where I couldn't see the forest for the trees. This kind of mental involvement made a difficult situation seem worse.
You are so right about how fear can become a prison, and that letting it go dissolves the prison! Instant freedom, how crazy is that? 
Thank you for sharing your thoughts with me. They have been very helpful.
Namasté 
Cate |
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Toto
Norway
20 Posts |
Posted - May 26 2015 : 04:45:04 AM
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quote:
Originally posted by Cate
Pranam Toto,
I can relate to your experience. It is easy to get caught up in dramas, especially fearful ones, and that is precisely what I had been doing, but hadn't realized to what extent until recently. I had gotten to a point where I couldn't see the forest for the trees. This kind of mental involvement made a difficult situation seem worse.
You are so right about how fear can become a prison, and that letting it go dissolves the prison! Instant freedom, how crazy is that?
Thank you for sharing your thoughts with me. They have been very helpful.
Namasté
Cate
Pranam Cate
I was worried about the last sentence I wrote to you. It could been misunderstood in 1000 ways.
You understood it in the only right way. Thank you for showing me your Greatness.
#10084;#65039; |
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Cate
USA
29 Posts |
Posted - May 30 2015 : 12:46:54 AM
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Pranam Toto,
No worries, I saw no misunderstanding in your words. Thank you for sharing
Namasté
Cate |
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BlueRaincoat
United Kingdom
1730 Posts |
Posted - Jun 03 2015 : 09:29:18 AM
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Hi Cate
How are you getting on? have you succeeded in resuming your sitting practices? I am sure that is the right thing to do. Remember what Yogani says - "work with what you have"?
Regarding your sleeping troubles. I had exactly the same think - sleep like a log for about 4 hours, the wake up around 3 am. My kundalini was bottled up with tension during the day, then of course I relaxed during those few hours of deep sleep, and the energy would suddenly rise and keep me awake for some 2 hours. I think the worst thing you can do is to stop meditating. You need the inner silence to carry you through your K awakening. You might find that the right amount of SPB is balancing and you may sleep better for it - worth a try. At least a few breaths. If you don't have much time to spare, meditation is the one practice you should stick to.
Best wishes |
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Cate
USA
29 Posts |
Posted - Jun 28 2015 : 11:12:26 PM
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Hi BlueRaincoat,
My apologies for this late response. I have been away for a while and didn’t see your reply.
Our sleeping troubles do sound the same. I continue to work through it and have made some progress but am still not back to a consistent daily routine yet, but it is getting better. I grab what time I can but my practices are rather sketchy from day to day. Still, I try to do some practice every day, based on the advice I received here, even if it is chaotic. I spent much of this last month being more physical to see if that might have a positive effect, but it has not made one bit of difference. The only methods that seem to provide some measure of temporary relief are pranayama (bastrika and SBP), a lot of gentle stretching with slow deep breathing, and meditation. Oh, also the microcosmic orbit brings some relief as well. I think it helps to get some of that pooled energy moving and dispersed through the system. It just feels so darn constipated most of the time. Just stuck there, clinging to my lower back like a bowling bowl.
Thank you so much for your advice, and to everyone else, too. Based on the advice I received here, I made changes in my work life, home life, relationships, etc., over this last month, and it has been a purging and releasing of so much accumulated stuff which has been freeing. It’s rather a parallel to the accumulation of energy I am dealing with, but I am hopeful that as I iron out my practices more into a consistent daily routine, that true and lasting relief from this problem will finally come.
Namasté
Cate
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Mental Exhaustion -- Remedies??
