4 Ways to Zen Out

Ohmmm…

Can you feel the vibe?

Ever since researching Adrenal Fatigue and its relationship with the spleen, which affects menstrual cycle(I have amenorrhea due to emotional stress), I have decided for myself that I need to find peace within myself and just Zen out. It’s hard, given the circumstances I live in, such as the busy city, schoolwork and pressure from parents to do things, but life is all in perspective. I’m going to share 4 top ways I like to find my inner zen to you because, well, everyone can use a little Ohm! The yin to balance the yang. The dip to balance out the veggies.
BWUAHAHA! Forget that, I could just eat the dip straight out from the jar with a spoon.

Like I do with peanut butter sometimes

  • Spa and Bath(used to take a bath before drawing before I got fitness)
  • Zen Room
  • Running
  • Ambiance

Spa and Bath

When I was in grade five, I spent my weekends reading books on diseases and other health-science related stuff. I loved learning about that kind of stuff! I spent most of my days sedentary and somehow entertaining myself. One Saturday afternoon, I decided I would dedicate all my Saturday afternoons to drawing anime covers for a made-up anime magazine called “Animerequiem”. I loved to draw anime at that time and spent countless hours reading manga and self-teaching how to sketch. I even started my own little manga that I sketched over 40 pages of! It was called “Cidkoutis” (and eventually, about two years later, I gave up on it). My inspiration came from sitting in the bathtub with hot water, then getting out to feel refreshed, then listening to Avril Lavigne’s “When You’re Gone” and drawing. It just felt good, and I think I have never worked so hard on one drawing in my life! Moral of the story? A good bath and spa cleans out the bad and makes you all philosophical and calm.

Zen Rooms

A beautiful Zen room

A beautiful Zen room

A beautiful Zen room in what seems to be in the middle of a forest in a shrine with bamboo flooring…wow. I can only imagine what it’s like to wake up every morning to see the bright sunshine here, to smell the smell of rain and touch the flappy, wet leaves of the trees and to do yoga by candlelight. And maybe…have my first kiss here.

Wow, my head is spinning with thoughts and my imagination’s going wild! Maybe I’ve said too much.

Yoga

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Yoga brings me tremendous calamity. I did a detox practice and finished with 15 minutes of meditation.

Bend. Stretch. Flow. Invert. Twist. And fold. Yoga brings blood flow to the extremities of the body. Fingertips and toe tips, for example. Ever had those practices that left you feeling like a noodle at the end? Ahh. Now that’s a good practice.

Running

Sometimes I get off the bus a stop before just to walk an extra minute or two to enjoy the wind and nature.

Sometimes I get off the bus a stop before just to walk an extra minute or two to enjoy the wind and nature.

Running brings so much freedom. Running is like a metaphor for me; putting myself away from my emotional problems into physical form. In a way, it’s like running away from my problems just for a little while. During some of my good runs I think about things and make decisions and double check the agenda for the week ahead. It clears my mind and brings me peace. Walks do the same. Sometimes, if I like the weather outside, I would get off the bus a stop early to walk an extra two minutes home. I don’t mind doing it at all.

 

Ambiance

Ambiance app

There’s an app I have on my crapPod  iPod that I consider an essential. It’s called Ambiance.

And it’s so…ambiance-ful…

This is my #1 meditation app. It’s great for meditating, yoga-ing, studying, and sleeping(although I can never sleep with headphones on). I think it’s really cool that they also have binomial sounds where one sound is played for one ear and is quickly echoed in the other and usually it sounds like this:

Chhhhhhhhh…..

It’s the same sound you get when your foot goes numb and feels like pins and needles.  Apparently Binomial sounds fire specific neurotransmitters in the brain to help it calm down or something, depending on what you use it for there are different sounds. I have a classmate who swears that he listened to a lucid dream-inducing binomial that worked on youtube.

This little app has such a variety of sounds! From ocean to french cafe(ooh la la!), to zen music to winter blizzard. Sometimes, as an actress, I would use this to “drop in” to the setting or character I play. This is probably the best thing I’ve ever purchased in the apple store(it’s just $1!) and I only wish I could transfer that purchase to my Android so I can use it on a more functional device.

Anyway!

So those are my 4 ways to zen out. Hopefully it helps.

What do you do to ground yourself?