Mindful Stress Management Strategies for Coping with COVID

Posted by Joe Brady on July 8, 2020July 8, 2020

“What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger” comes from an aphorism of the 19th century German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche. Scientists have shown that this idea is indeed built right into our biology. When you stress a bicep muscle by exercising it and then let it rest it grows stronger. Stress a bone properly and it grows stronger. Each time in our lives that we face a difficult challenge and overcome that challenge we grow into stronger more complex people. Stress and anxiety are inescapable right now the coronavirus has disrupted our lives in ways undreamt of even a few months ago. In addition to the disruption to our society, we have legitimate concerns about our own health and the health of loved ones. When stress becomes overwhelming, a great first step to calming the body and mind is to reconnect with the breath. Ancient warrior cultures like the martial arts masters in China and the Samurai in Japan discovered that practicing meditation when you’re feeling overwhelmed can help you get centered, grounded, and so settled you react better to stress from a position of strength, rather than out of anxiety and fear. Read on, for a series of video lectures from Harvard Medical School, Osher Institute for Integrative Medicine, and Ted Talks. We have to live through the pandemic anyway so we might as well use it to grow healthier minds and bodies.

Research in recent years in positive psychology has shown that there are specific techniques that can be used to aide the process of adapting to difficult and stressful situations. The following list is from the health experts at Harvard Medical School who have created the all-new Positive Psychology Course — the exclusive interactive resource that helps you apply the same tools that are widely used by mental health professionals to help treat a variety of condition, from stress, anxiety, and anger to coping with grief and loss.

Mindfulness meditation is a powerful, easy-to-learn technique to help relieve anxiety or depression. Find out how focusing your attention on the present moment has been found to be the key element to happiness and a healthier mind and body.
Pursue “flow” activities — that happy zone where you’re super engaged and absorbed…where time flies happily by…and where toxic thoughts are banished from your mind. You’ll discover effective ways to cultivate that happy flow and transform “have to” tasks into “want to” pleasures.
Identify and build on your personal happiness-boosting inner strengths and make them even stronger. These eye-opening strategies can help you feel more energetic and perform better. In fact, a recent study showed that people who identified their key strengths and used it in a new way each week significantly increased happiness and reduced depression.
Magnify the happiness impact of gratitude. Discover the powerful gratitude secrets to help you better deal with adversity and build strong relationships with friends and family. You’ll see how to develop an attitude of gratitude of your past and present plus a spirit of unbridled optimism for your future.
Enhance your ability to recognize and celebrate the simple pleasures in your day as they occur — plus how to shape abundant pleasures in your future! You’ll also discover the #1 roadblock to savoring life’s pleasures and how to avoid it at all costs.

For more about the course, you can take from Harvard Medical School see https://www.health.harvard.edu/promotions/harvard-health-publications/positive-psychology-ecourse-apr2020-test?utm_source=delivra&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=EL20200630-PosPsych&utm_id=2272230&dlv-emuid=ab88f6c5-7d77-43ee-9a20-62259f13a759&dlv-mlid=2272230

Make Stress Your Friend and Other Great Talks from Ted

More from TED to help you manage stress https://www.ted.com/playlists/315/talks_to_help_you_manage_stres

Learn how to meditate from the Experts at Harvard Medical School and the Osher Center for Integrative Medicine,

Learn to meditate from experts like Eckhart Tolle, Jon Kabat Zinn, Max Strom and others with this series of videos starting with a basic introduction from one of the researchers at Harvard.

Christina Luberto, PhD, a licensed clinical psychologist, mindfulness teacher, and mind-body researcher. She is an Assistant Professor of Psychology at Harvard Medical School and Staff Psychologist at MGH. She teaches mindfulness stress management courses to employees at BWH and patients at the Osher Center for Integrative Medicine, where she is a graduate of the Osher T32 Fellowship. She offered her expertise on how to stay centered and connected while dealing with the current global health crisis.

Watch the Video

Osher Center for Integrative Medicine

3 Minute Breathing Space Introduction

[Audio] 3 Min Breathing Space