The Tuesday night meditation group has started to read and discuss a new book, "Calming Your Anxious Mind," by Jeffrey Brantley, MD.
After reading the introduction, here's what to keep in mind as we dive into the new chapter, Anxiety and the Power of the Mind...the fear reaction is extremely powerful. It happens almost instantaneously. Yet, each of us has the capacity to change how we react. And learning to meditate can give you the power you need to become more responsive and less reactive when fear happens.
In otherwords, when the mind-body connection is at work in the relaxation response, it serves to reverse the activation characteristic of the fight-or-flight response. As Brantley writes, "Human beings have the ability, by directing attention and awareness, to enter extraordinary states of calm and relaxation."