The key is being able to access what the Yoga Sutra 2.46-2.48 refers to as sthira sukham asanam, which emphasizes balancing the polarities of tension and relaxation. Meaning, we’re expending more energy than we are taking in, or giving more than we are receiving. The imbalance occurs when our output is greater than our input. It’s the compound effect of experiencing the same aggravating circumstances over and over again that begins with mild irritation and eventually turn into madness that really wears us down. Not just the big things in life like a career change or a breakup, but the seemingly little everyday stressors that add up over time. Stress is what ultimately spins people out. So how do we do it? How can we be in this world with all of its day-to-day stresses-having a career, commuting long distances, raising children, navigating breakups, struggling with dead-end jobs-and still find it within ourselves to access a state of harmony, live with purpose, and connect to a place of calm, centered awareness? In those ordinary, everyday moments of stress, how can we move from chaos to calm in an instant? This is the world we live in and have come to know so well and yet, there has never been such a need for finding ways to maintain our center in the eye of the storm. In other words, we inadvertently bury it and keep going which perpetuates the very cycles that got us here in the first place. Some choose to pretend that it’s not really that bad or that this is just the way life is and there must be something wrong with us because we’re not able to cope as well as others seem to be coping. We know on some level that we’ve fallen into an abyss and yet we don’t know how to stop the cycle or move out of the state of suffering, so we rationalize it or we blame our work, our boss, our spouse, our parents, or our friends for the events and circumstances of our lives. We wake up, churn and burn through the day, pass out, and repeat. Left unmanaged, stress will slowly build upon itself until we find ourselves spiraling out of control: back-to-back meetings, deadlines, difficult coworkers, irrational bosses, school, projects, walking the dog, errands, social engagements, cooking, cleaning, arguments with spouses, crying babies, colds, flus, planning for the next day, and the never-ending to-do list. The stressors of day-to-day living can be brutally overwhelming. It’s just the way it is … There’s nothing I can do about it … I can’t take a vacation, I’m too busy … I don’t have time to work out … I can’t get sick right now, I have too much to do.
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