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Continuing our conversation on being patient with the process of progress and growth, let us explore the Japanese concept of Kaizen
The word Kaizen translates as ‘continual improvement.’ It is improvement of the very small kind. Small tweaks and what we would call baby steps.

The philosophy of kaizen suggests that great and lasting success is achieved not through huge leaps, but rather by taking small and consistent steps.

These are changes so tiny and steps so small that they dissolve and overcome the mind’s resistance to change.

So think about it. What needs to change in your life? What is the first tiny TINY step that you can take to get on the path of progress?
Can you do one push up? Five jumping jacks? Walk 50 steps more than you normally do?

Sleep 10 minutes earlier?

Get up 10 minutes earlier?

Eat one salad leaf?

Do five minutes of meditation?

If so, please do this today. And once you do, you are officially on the path of progress.

Congratulations. ...

Here is how Don Miguel Ruiz puts it in The Four Agreements: "The first step toward personal freedom is awareness. We need to be aware that we are not free in order to be free. We need to be aware of what the problem is in order to solve the problem."

Self-awareness, however, is not a comfortable feeling, ESPECIALLY before we have had a chance to address and change what we have become aware of.

In North America and Western Europe, the end of October/beginning of November signals the switch back from Daylight Saving Time. The clocks go back and we "gain an hour" on Sunday.

While many of us cringe at the coming of Winter and the shorter, darker days, there is a significant statistic that we need to be aware of:

"In the autumn within the Northern Hemisphere, when the clocks move forward and we gain an hour of sleep opportunity time, rates of heart attacks plummet the day after", writes Mathew Walker inWhy we Sleep.

He explains that the opposite is also true of course. Here is how he puts it:

"When communicating science to the general public in lectures or writing, I’m always wary of bombarding an audience with never-ending mortality and morbidity statistics, lest they themselves lose the will to live in front of me. It is hard not to do so with such compelling masses of studies in the field of sleep deprivation. Often, however, a single astonishing result is all the...

Imagine you are scrolling through your newsfeed and you come across this ad:

"AMAZING BREAKTHROUGH!

Scientists have discovered a revolutionary new treatment that makes you live longer. It enhances your memory and makes you more creative. It makes you look more attractive. It keeps you slim and lowers food cravings (yes, PLEASE!). It protects you from cancer and dementia. It wards off colds and the flu. It lowers your risk of heart attacks and strokes, not to mention diabetes. You’ll even feel happier, less depressed, and less anxious. Are you interested?"

Some of us would keep scrolling down, not believing the hype. Others may be much too curious (or desperate) and may keep reading, noticing that the organization who published it is not big pharma, out to make millions but instead a well-respected organization.

Matthews writes in Why we Sleep about this advertisement: "While it may sound hyperbolic, nothing about this fictitious advertisement would be inaccurate. If this were...

[Daily Wisdom #670] The breathing cheat sheet

As we wrap up our first self-care practice of breathing, let us remind ourselves of what we discussed:

[DW #675] Attend to the basics of self-care

[DW #676] Remember the three golden rules of breathing

[DW #677] Breathe Through Your Nose (all the time!)

[DW #678] Breathe deeply

[DW #679]Exhale for longer

[DW #680] Flip the switch on stress

[DW #681] Slow down

[DW #682] Breathe into your belly

[DW #683] Notice the impatience

[DW #684] Take breathing breaks

[DW #685] Balance your mind

[DW #686] Establish your baseline

[DW #687] Breathe vertically rather than horizontally

[DW #688] Distinguish breath awareness and intentional breathing

[DW #689] Boost your willpower using your breath

As always, I would love to hear from you. How has using these practices impacted your life? Which of these practices do you find the most useful? The most challenging?

Did you know that one of the quickest ways to boost your willpower is to slow down your breathing rate?

Kelly McGonigal is a leading expert on the science of willpower. Here is how she talks about breathing in her seminal work, The Willpower Instinct:"You won’t find many quick fixes in this book, but thereis one way to immediately boost willpower: Slow your breathing down to four to six breaths per minute. That’s ten to fifteen seconds per breath—slower than you normally breathe, but not difficult with a little bit of practice and patience. Slowing the breath down activates the prefrontal cortex and increases heart rate variability, which helps shift the brain and body from a state of stress to self-control mode. A few minutes of this technique will make you feel calm, in control, and capable of handling cravings or challenges."

Pretty cool right? So, the next time you need a boost of willpower, to resist that cookie perhaps, try slowing down your breathing before...

While we have been talking about breathing for a few days now, I realised that I neglected to differentiate between two very important terms. Ooops!

Whenever we are talking about breath work of any kind, it usually refers to either one of the following: Breath awareness or conscious breathing. I will attempt to differentiate the two in the most simple terms.

Breath awareness means exactly what it says—being aware of, or observing the qualities of your breath, whether it is shallow or deep, long or short, easy or laboured, smooth or uneven. Noticing and becoming aware of our breath and following it is one of the first practices of mindfulness meditation. This involves simply noticing how you are breathing and focusing your attention on your breath. Not trying to breathe in a particular way. Simply becoming aware of the breath and training your attention to remain on the breath. This practice has numerous benefits which we will talk about another time inshallah.

What we have...

Are you a vertical breather or a horizontal breather?

Vranich Belisa, whom we discussed yesterday, separates "Vertical Breathers" (whose shoulders rise and fall when they breathe) and "Horizontal Breathers" (whose shoulders stay stable while their belly and lower ribs go in and out when breathing).

If our shoulders rise and fall when we breathe, we are vertical breathers and this means that we breathe high up in our bodies. This is not optimal.

When we breathe horizontally, we will notice that it is our rib cage that expands when we use our diaphragms to breathe properly. This is what we need to aim for.

So go ahead and watch yourself breathe in front of the mirror. Are your shoulders moving when you breathe? If so, gently put your hands on your rib cage and breathe so that your ribcage expands with each in breath and goes in with each outbreath.

Remember to exhale fully —squeezing every last little bit of stale air out of your body.