Happiness Mindset

In this episode you:

- What the vagus nerve is and why it's so important for wellbing;
- How to easiy activate the vagus nerve by the simple act of humming;
- How to properly hum to ensure you expeince the benefits
- How to discover other stress relieving podcasts and videos for wellbeing;
- How to get more information about the vagus nerve and it's vital role for emotional wellbeing.

Note: This same content is also shared in the "Easy Stress Cures" podcast.
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Resources:

"Vagus Nerve" - Cleveland Clinic. Link: https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/body/22279-vagus-nerve.

KAT NICHOLLS, "8 ways to stimulate your vagus nerve and ease anxiety"; Link: https://happiful.com/8-ways-to-stimulate-your-vagus-nerve-and-ease-anxiety/.
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Host information:

Stephen Carter, Founder of Stress Solutions, LLC and Stress Solutions, USA. Website: https://www.StressReliefRadio.com.
Email: [email protected].
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Technical information:

Recorded and final edits and rendering with Hindenburg Pro. Other edits with Twisted Wave.

Microphone: EV RE320.
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Key Words:

vagus nerve, stress, relax, relaxation, meditation, anxiety, calm, emotional wellbeing,

What role can concentration play in opening the door to mindfulness? Must great effort be used when you concentrate on a given object, situation, person, or anything else? Can concentration be activated by voicing a simple decision to do so?

You and I will explore the role a special form of concentration can play in opening the door to mindfulness and emotional peace.

Note: This episode content is being posted to the "Mindful Way Living" and "Easy Stress Cures" podcasts. The information in this audio is relevant to listeners of both shows.
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How to receive a transcript:

To receive a transcript of this episode, create a blank email with the subject line reading "Concentration Transcript". Send that email to [email protected] and I'll send a transcript by return email.
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Host:

Stephen Carter. Founder of Stress Solutions, LLC and now Stress Solutions USA. Details about my background and other podcasts are available at https://www.StressReliefRadio.com
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Technical information:

Recorded and edited with Hindenburg Pro. Microphone: EV RE320.
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Keywords:

mindfulness, mindful, meditation, mindful awareness, stress, calm, relaxation, relaxed, emotional peace,

What would happen if in a moment of clarity you simply focused on each step as you walk? Rather than allow the mind to wander from one disempowering thought to another, you give the mind an opportunity to experience a deeper sense of present moment awareness so you feel calm and centered.

In this episode you and I explore exactly how you can apply walking meditation throughout the day to experience enhanced present moment awareness and emotional wellbeing.
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Host:

Stephen Carter, founder of Stress Solutions, LLC. Website: https://www.StressReliefRadio.com. Email: [email protected].
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Technical information:

Recorded and edited with Audacity. Microphone: Neat King Bee.
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Keywords: meditation, stress, emotional wellbeing, happiness, calm,
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In this guided meditation you experience the positive physical and emotional effects of a body scan. You also learn how to apply relaxing body scans correctly for rapid stress relief anytime.
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Host:

Stephen Carter. Website: https://www.StressReliefRadio.com. Email anytime with questions: [email protected].
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Technical information:

Recorded with Audio Hijack. Edits and final rendering with Hindenburg Pro.

Microphone: King Bee.
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Keywords:

stress, relaxation, relaxation response, progressive muscle relaxation, stress release, calm, meditation,

Discover how to create calm and emotional peace and balance easily with the Calming Sensory Building Block method.
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Calming Sensory Building Blocks Procedure:

- Sit comfortably in a chair in an upright position with your non-dominant hand supported on the chair's armrest or in your lap. Allow your dominant hand to hang down toward the floor. If you feel any tension, shake the arm gently to release any obvious physical tension.

- Turn attention to your body and assess your beginning stress level using the 0 - 10 Subjective Units of Distress.

- Close your eyes look into your eyelids. You'll notice random arrangements of white, gray, and dark colors and shapes. As you allow your eyes to relax beneath your eyelids, you may experience a sense of going deeper into an ever changing pattern of light and dark. Simply notice whatever is there without judgement.

- After about 30 seconds, bring awareness to your dominant arm and hand dangling toward the floor. Isolate and bring attention to your index finger and notice any sensations. Cycle through the middle, ring, tiny fingers and thumb.

- After allowing your awareness to cycle through your fingertips, return attention to your eyes and notice whatever patterns are there for about 10 to 15 seconds.

- Next, bring attention to the sounds around you. Notice whatever sounds are present. As you continue to listen, you may notice faint sounds you didn't originally detect. Stay present and simply notice.

- After about 30 seconds, bring attention again to your eyes and notice the shifting patterns as you give attention to the visual sensory signals you notice with your eyes closed.

- When you're ready, return to normal awareness as you gently open your eyes and look around the area where you are sitting.

- Finally, give a yawn, sigh, and stretch and a final gentle deep in and our breath. As you exhale, say gently, "Peace".

- Assess your endings Subjective Units of Distress level on the zero to 10 scale.

- Repeat anytime to create a sense of emotional calm and wellbeing.

Resources:

"Introduction to Quantitative EEG and Neurofeedback": https://www.sciencedirect.com/book/9780123745347/introduction-to-quantitative-eeg-and-neurofeedback
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Brainwave information sources:

https://www.researchgate.net/post/What-are-the-differences-in-EEG-brain-rhythms-when-eye-is-closed-and-when-eye-is-opened

"EEG differences between eyes-closed and eyes-open resting conditions": https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/17911042/

Wikipedia: https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berger-Effekt
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Host:

Stephen Carter. Email: [email protected] | Website: https://www.StressReliefRadio.com
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Technical information:

Recorded and first edits with Twisted Wave. Noise reduction with Audacity. Leveled with Levelator. Final edits and rendering with Hindenburg Pro.

Microphone: EV RE320
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Key words:

stress, stress response, relaxation response, relax, relaxation, calm, emotioal balance, meditation, emotional wellbeing,

In this episode you'll discover how to apply a simple, effective technique called "Lose Your Mind and Come to Your Senses".
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Important Notice: The audio and written content in this episode is shared for informational purposes only. Nothing in this description or in the audio is intended to prevent, diagnose, or treat any medical, psychological, emotional, or physical condition. If you choose to read anything in the description or listen to the audio in this episode, you agree to take full, complete, and sole responsibility for your own wellbeing.
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How to Do the "Lose Your Mind" technique:

- Sit up in good posture, hands in lap or on resting on chair arms, keep your head erect, close your eyes and bring attention to your breathing.

- Attend to the in and out of your breathing for about 30 seconds and then scan your body slowly from the top of your head to your feet and notice any areas of tension.

- Release any tension you notice and again do a head to feet scan.
When you don't detect any tension,

- Open your eyes and look around your physical location. You'll be engaging your sense of sight. Allow your attention to fall on one physical object. Really look at that object as if seeing it for the first time and then out loud say what the object is. For example: a book, a pen, a computer, etc.
Repeat this same process four more times.

- Next, you'll engage your sense of touch. Look around your environment and select one object. Physically touch that object and feel it in hand. Move your fingers and thumb on the object and really attend to the felt sense of the object. Repeat this action three more times.

- Next, you'll engage your sense of hearing. Close your eyes and listen to the sounds in your environment. If you're in a room, you'll notice there is a faint sound in the room. In audio recording, we call that room tone. Isolate one sound and simply notice it for about 10 to 15 seconds. Repeat two more times.

- Next, you'll engage your sense of small. Bring attention to your sense of smell, your olfactory sense. Isolate one aroma and bring attention to that aromatic experience for about 10 seconds. Repeat one additional time.

- Next, you'll engage your sense of taste, your gustatory sense.
Bring attention to your tongue and notice there is likely already a faint sense of taste present. It may be the residue of something your drank, something your ate earlier, or something you can't quite identify, but you know it's there. Stay with that sense of taste for about 10 to 15 seconds.

- Next, if your eyes are closed open your eyes and take a final look around your environment. Stretch, yawn, and sigh. Notice how calm and relaxed your feel. Notice your mind is quiet. It's now time to return to whatever activity you choose to pursue with a sense of relaxation and wellbeing.
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What is Gestalt Therapy?

From Wikipedia: "Gestalt therapy is a form of psychotherapy which emphasizes personal responsibility and focuses on the individual's experience in the present moment, the therapist–client relationship, the environmental and social contexts of a person's life, and the self-regulating adjustments people make as a result of their overall situation. It was developed by Fritz Perls, Laura Perls and Paul Goodman in the 1940s and 1950s, and was first described in the 1951 book Gestalt Therapy."
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Host:

Stephen Carter, founder of Stress Solutions, LLC and host for this and other podcasts focused on stress relief. Details about Steve and this and other podcasts are available at www.StressReliefRadio.com. Email Steve at [email protected].
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How to receive the "Lose Your Mind and Come to Your Senses Guide".

Create an email with the subject line "Come to Your Senses". Leave the body of the email blank. Enter the address [email protected] and send it off. You'll receive your free guide by return email.
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Technical information:

Recorded and first edits with Audacity. Leveled with Levelator. Final edits and rendering with Hindenburg Pro.

Microphone: Shure SM58
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Key words: mindful, mindfulness, sensory awareness, Fritz Perls, Gestalt therapy, present moment,

Discover and apply new research about the power of mindfulness to mitigate the experience of feeling cold.
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In a recent study, researchers investigated if listening to a mindful paragraph being read could improve a person’s motor performance and cold tolerance in a low-temperature environment.

The participants were exposed to cold by submerging their hand in 2°C, or about 36 degrees Fahrenheit, cold water while listening to a mindfulness passage read aloud. The control group was not given the reading.

After the training, researchers put each person from each group to the test to see how well they could withstand cold exposure.

In the motor task tests, both groups fared similarly. However, members of the mindfulness group were able to tolerate cold exposure for considerably longer than the other participants.

How can you and I put these findings to use?

First, you’re not likely to read a mindful based paragraph before going out into cold weather. But what you can do is use a simple affirmation such as,

“I choose to maintain Present Moment Awareness during the period I’m out and about in this cold weather.”

This simple affirmation sets your intention to maintain Mindful Present Moment Awareness. And, in do so, you’re not likely to notice the cold or, if you do, you won’t engage in negative self-talk complaining about the cold. That type of self-talk is a story.

When there’s no story about how uncomfortable the cold feels, you’ll proceed with whatever you need to do in greater comfort.

More information about the study: Kaitlin Mugford et al, The effects of mindfulness and repeated cold exposure on cold tolerance and motor skill performance, International Journal of Human Factors and Ergonomics (2021). DOI: 10.1504/IJHFE.2021.119051
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Host:

Stephen Carter, CEO, Stress Solutions, LLC. Email: [email protected]. Websites: https://www.MindfulWayLiving.com and https://www.EFT-MD.com.
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Technical information:

Recorded and first edits with Twisted Wave. Additional edits with Audacity. Final edits and rendering done with Hindenburg Journalist Pro.

Microphone: EV RE320.
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Keywords:

mindful, mindfulness, present moment, present moment awareness, frigid, cold, comfortable, cold weather,

In this episode you discover three easy methods to enjoy and experience mindful awareness. Each technique takes only 1-minute. Your host leads you through each of these 60-second experiences.

Those techniques are:

1. Sit and attend to your breathing;

2. Walking meditation - 1-minute awareness of your movement;

3, Attend to personal hygiene activities such as brushing your teeth.
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Timestamps:

00:00 Episode topic;
00:24 - Show and host info;
00:51 - Purpose of show and who it's for;
01:55 - Technique 1: Sit and attend to your breath;
04:47 - Technique 2: Be aware of your walking;
05:48 - Technique 3: Attend to activities during periods of personal hygiene;
08:25 - What to do if your mind wanders;
08:56 - How to get questions answered or contact host for any reason.

Host: Stephen Carter, CEO, Stress Solutions, LLC. Website: https://www.EFT-MD.com. Email: [email protected].
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Technical information:

Recorded with Hindenburg Journalist Pro. Additional editing done with Audacity. Leveled with Levelator.

Microphone: Audio-Technical AT2005.
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Key words:

mindful, mindfulness, present moment, present moment awareness, meditation, mental health,

What happens when you treat thoughts as simply experiences?

In this episode meditation trainer and stress releasing guide Stephen Carter, CEO, Stress Solutions, LLC, leads you through a simple, easy to do experience of breath awareness leading to thought observation and mind-body calming.

Timestamps:

00:00 - Episode topic;
00:22 - Show and host info;
00:48 - What if we look at thoughts as experiences?;
02:01 - Discover the experience of presence;
06:35 - How to contact host.
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Host:

Stephen Carter, CEO Stress Solutions, LLC. Website: https://www.EFT-MD.com; Email: [email protected].

Technical information:

Recorded with Amadeus Pro. Initial edits with Audacity, leveled with Levelator, with final edits and rendering using Hindenburg Journalist Pro.

Microphone: BY
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Keywords:

mindfulness, relaxation response, present moment, presence, present moment awareness, breath, breath meditation, meditation, thoughts,

In this episode you discover a simple but powerful way to create the relaxation response for a calm mind and body using your fingertips.
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Timestamps:

00:00 - Episode topic;
00:21 - Show and host info;
01:01 - Purpose of show;
01:24 - Intro to fingertip stress release experience;
02:06 - Begin with a yawn, sigh, stretch and then attend to the breath;
03:54 - Focus on the fingertips;
08:14 - Completing the experience;
09:46 - How to contact host with questions.
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For a written guide describing the technique you learn in the episode, email [email protected] and enter “Fingertip Stress Release” in the subject line. You can leave the body of the email blank.
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Host:

Stephen Carter, CEO, Stress Solutions, LLC. Website: https://www.EFT-MD.com.

Questions or comments welcome: email: [email protected].
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Technical information:

Recorded and first edits done with Twisted Wave. Other edits done with Audacity and leveled with Levelator. Final edits and rendering done with Hindenburg Journalist Pro.

Microphone: BY.
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Keywords:

stress, calm, relax, relaxation, relaxation response, stress relief, stress release, meditation, mindful, mindfulness, present moment, present moment awareness,