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Areas › Your body › Your nervous system
There are roughly 167 waking hours a week outside an appointment, and that is where a practice either becomes yours or quietly disappears. Elaborate routines rarely survive contact with a normal week. A long out breath, feet pressing into the floor, a hum in the car, cold water at the sink: small, portable, nothing anybody would notice. Two or three of those done often will beat a plan you admire and never begin.
'who remember God standing, sitting, and lying down' (Quran 3:191). Practice is described as fitting into whatever position life happens to have you in.
آل عمران
ٱلَّذِينَ يَذۡكُرُونَ ٱللَّهَ قِيَٰمࣰ ا وَقُعُودࣰ ا وَعَلَىٰ جُنُوبِهِمۡ وَيَتَفَكَّرُونَ فِي خَلۡقِ ٱلسَّمَٰوَٰتِ وَٱلۡأَرۡضِ رَبَّنَا مَا خَلَقۡتَ هَٰذَا بَٰطِلࣰ ا سُبۡحَٰنَكَ فَقِنَا عَذَابَ ٱلنَّارِ
who remember God standing, sitting, and lying down, who reflect on the creation of the heavens and earth: ‘Our Lord! You have not created all this without purpose- You are far above that!- so protect us from the torment of the Fire
Qur’an 3:191read it in the library
Translation: M.A.S. Abdel Haleem, The Qur'an, Oxford University Press, 2004.
A randomised clinical trial with brain imaging found that daily heart rate variability biofeedback practice changed an MRI measure of the brain's main arousal hub in younger adults. Daily practice at home was what produced the change. It was a single trial with one specific practice in one age group, so read it as encouragement for small regular practice rather than a promise about any particular routine.
Bachman SL, Cole S, Yoo HJ, Nashiro K, Min J, Mercer N, Nasseri P, Thayer JF, Lehrer P, Mather M. (2023). Daily heart rate variability biofeedback training decreases locus coeruleus MRI contrast in younger adults in a randomized clinical trial.. International journal of psychophysiology : official journal of the International Organization of Psychophysiology doi
Strength of evidence: one line of research. A single study, or a theoretical account.
Steadiness is built by repetition in ordinary life rather than by intensity once a week.
People carrying long term trauma often show low stress hormone levels rather than high ones. Flat and exhausted is a stress presentation too.
Aim low on purpose. Not the best day of your life. I like my cat. I got here on time.
When someone cannot take in your reassurance while they are frightened, that is the receiver and not their willingness. Wait for the wave to pass and try again.