Permission to Relax
Things Are Crazy
I can’t remember if I’ve already
said this or not and that happens rather consistently with me. However, whether
I have or haven’t, over this summer I am taking classes. Six weeks ago the
first 4 credit class started, last week the second 4 credit class started, and
this coming Monday the 3 credit class starts. Respectively, they are Teaching
Students with Disabilities (I’ll call it by its department acronym Spled),
Anatomy and Physiology (A&P), and Technical Writing (Engl). I won’t pretend
this isn’t a lot of work, especially since the first A&P exam, which was
today, had over 200 terms to memorize and was 100 questions long. Because I was
stressed about this exam, I woke up worrying that my alarm hadn’t gone off and
that I would be late only to realize that it was 5:22 and not 6. I went back to
sleep to wake up, worry again, and it was 5:45. At this point, I gave up and
stayed awake, took my exam, came back home and studied for Spled the rest of
the day until 5pm.
Rest Is Needed
All of this to say that I’m very
tired. As it has taken me a while to
realize, rest is important. More specifically, I’ve started convincing my brain
that resting and taking breaks is an important part of life. Counter-intuitively,
people who take breaks are more productive. (1) Sleepiness itself leads to
lower concentration and lessens our abilities to make sound decisions. (2) So
it’s difficult for me to tell if my head hurts because it is so taxed, my hair
is pulled back too tightly, or I actually have a headache. Or is it because I
didn’t drink enough water, or am I hungry, stressed, or just tired? It sounds so simple. Just slow down. However,
as my yoga practice ends and the voice from my computer says, “Let’s make our
way into savasana,” lying on my back and attempting to let my mind be still; I
can’t. Suddenly, I realize that during my practice my brain was
uncharacteristically quiet. A single bump makes my brain come up with seven
different ideas of what could have caused that bump, why the presumed door was
shut like that, who shut it, did I shut my bedroom door? Feeling the urge to
open my eyes, I remember I’m supposed to just listen to what’s around me and
focus on my breath, not think.
Shhhh Brain...
Despite my inability to keep my mind
quiet, I find it important to continue my attempts not because I enjoy failing,
but because my brain needs a break from the constant thinking. I would say that
this is backed up by science. However, I’m not sure if this method counts as
meditation. One group of researchers defined mindfulness meditation, a type
that has many scientific studies backing its benefits, as “A kind of nonelaborative, nonjudgmental,
present-centered awareness in which each thought, feeling, or sensation that
arises in the attentional field is acknowledged and accepted as it is,” (3).
According to that definition and using the instructions that the youtube yoga
instructor gives, I guess that the savasana is mindfulness meditation.
Therefore, according to research, it can help reduce stress and depression, as
well as improve sleep quality, among other things (4). As a generally anxious
individual, those things all sound great.
As I continue to attempt to juggle what I have
to do with what I want to do, and what I’ve scheduled myself to do, it’s nice
to know that they are scientifically backed. Compared to my argument that I
want a break, it’s much more difficult for my brain to refute research that
breaks and mindfulness meditation are beneficial. So we not only have
permission to relax, but are recommended to relax and relax often. Speaking of
I should go do that…
Sources:
Image Credit: "meditation" by Hans-Peter
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