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Trucking Yoga: How to Use Mindfulness When You Are Stressed Out?

Stress is a card we’re all dealing with these days— from deadlines and personal problems to traffic and unhealthy work-life balances. Here’s the surprise: mindfulness can help. Now, if you’re wondering what mindfulness exactly is, it’s the act of focusing on the present without judgment. This act is taught with many other activities such as trucking, yoga, and meditation and can have lasting effects in helping you de-stress. Let us tell you how to use mindfulness when you are stressed out.

Five best ways to use mindfulness when you are stressed out

You become aware of your thoughts.

Being tuned to what is happening inside your head and thoughts can help you unwind. You can step back and view them instead of taking them quite literally. This way, your stress response is not triggered, and you can take a backseat from being stressed.

Try to focus on what you’re thinking without judging or reacting to those thoughts. Acknowledge their presence and know that your thoughts do not control you, but instead, you control them!

Reaction becomes response

Sometimes, when you’re faced with a stressful situation, you react in its heat. And then comes regret. Mindfulness and trucking yoga make you pause for a moment and use your “wise mind” to assess the situation. Then you’re not just removing yourself from a panicking situation but also making a smart move on your part.

You are sensitive to your body’s needs.

Some forms of mindfulness, such as a body scan, can help you be attentive to your body. Are you asking yourself how that works? 

Here’s the answer: you focus on each of your body parts, focusing on how you feel there without any reactions or judgment. This helps you notice underlying tension in muscles or any pain that might have been brushed off during stressful days. 

Acknowledging an issue is already half the battle won, and you can take measures such as trucking yoga to release yourself from the pain.

You become aware of others’ emotions.

The entire practice of mindfulness is based on high focus; hence your focus; on the emotions of others can also help you contain a stressful environment. You are much more open to caring and understanding other’s emotions behind their responses to you, and once more, you can make smarter decisions with binocular vision.

You focus better

We’ve said this so much already, but we want to emphasize it repeatedly. Mindfulness helps you focus better! Not only is this an essential virtue of problem-solving, but you can understand what is causing you the stress. 

Focus is an important quality to have, especially if your career requires it, and mindfulness can help you get ahead!

Conclusion

Mindfulness, along with other trucking yoga practices, is a crucial tool to use in times of stress and panic. They allow you the space to breathe and calculate fall damage in a third-person POV, so you don’t make abrupt reactions in critical moments. We’ve collected some of the best reasons mindfulness can help, and implementing these will give you the boost you need! Now you know how to use mindfulness when you are stressed out.

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Healthy Habits to Start the New Year off the Right Way

Working as a truck driver has many benefits, but there is no doubt it is a career choice that can impact your health. Truck driving is a high-pressure role that brings a fair amount of stress to deal with during your working day. The pressure to deliver on time when dealing with circumstances outside of your control can pile on the stress, yet the stress truck drivers face often overlooked. Aside from the mental pressure that truck drivers are exposed to, physical health concerns can damage your health. As driving is a sedentary job, the risk factors for certain diseases are elevated, and truck driver health can be a challenge to put first. Diabetes, heart disease, and high blood pressure are all associated with a sedentary lifestyle, so being aware of this and taking action to lower your risk factors is vital. 

Healthy Habits to Start the New Year off the Right Way Mother Trucker Yoga Blog 1

Developing healthy habits to improve truck driver health and then maintaining them is crucial to staying at your best when you are a truck driver. Working as a truck driver does not always make it easy to be healthy, but it can support your physical health and wellbeing. So, if you are keen to make this year your healthiest one yet, and to get it off to a great start, here are some of the ways you can make this happen:

 

Deal With Unhealthy Habits First

 

Developing new positive habits is crucial to ensure you get your health on track in the new year. However, it is also essential to address existing habits that may be harming your health. Being stuck in a cycle of negative behavior can sabotage your attempts at being healthier. This can leave you trapped in a negative cycle of behavior, which makes it more challenging to stick with your new positive habits. So, it is a wise idea to take action and deal with these unhealthy habits from the start of the new year so you can move forward more healthily. Seeking professional help from a center such as Sunshine Behavioral Health is an excellent way to get the help and support needed to break free from negative behavior patterns. With the right help, you should soon enjoy all the benefits of a healthier body and mind.

 

Try Mindfulness and Meditation to Lower Your Stress Levels

 

One of the most frustrating parts of being a truck driver is being stuck in tailbacks. Delivering your job late and being sat in a tailback can send your stress levels rising and put you under intense pressure. These feelings of stress not only feel unpleasant, but they could also be damaging your physical health. People who experience chronic stress may be at an increased risk of suffering a heart attack or stroke and are also more likely to experience feelings of irritability and have trouble sleeping. To reduce the risk of these issues, it is vital to take a proactive approach to managing your stress levels. 

 

Mindfulness and meditation can be a great help if you are trying to reduce your stress levels and are among the most effective methods when focusing on truck driver health. Mindfulness and meditation are beneficial, as they are helpful ways to focus your mind on the present moment and stop your thoughts from running away with you. The great thing about using these methods is that you do not need special equipment. Guided meditations and relaxation can be carried out comfortably in your cab, making them an ideal opportunity to reduce your stress levels and improve your wellbeing.

 

Make Physical Exercise Part of Your Routine

 

Working a sedentary job can be considered bad for your health, and you may become tired of all the advice telling you to make time to exercise during your workday. Getting up to move around every once in a while is not possible when you are sitting behind your truck’s wheel. However, learning how to stretch and move when you are in your cab can help you feel so much better and increase your activity levels. Research shows that being active outside of a sedentary job can help reduce the risks associated with long periods of sitting. So, learning how to exercise when you are in the cab, being active outside of work hours, and using guided meditation to reduce your stress levels could provide many benefits for your physical and mental health. Combining each of these methods will help you begin your journey to better health and get your year off to the very best start.

 

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Truck Driver Health: Guided Meditations for A Happy Mind

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A happy, healthy mind is critical to a driver’s well-being in truck driver health.

The high amount of stress drivers have to deal with day in and day out is often normalized by the industry and never taken seriously. Telling a driver to “exercise” is not a solution and can often lead to more stress, anxiety, and unhealthy practices out on the road.

With the amount of time a driver spends behind the wheel, it only makes sense that they use that time to their advantage.

The entire premise Mother Trucker Yoga is based on is easy three to five-minute moves you can do, strategies you can implement into your day from the cab of your truck. We are the first company to break down fitness and wellness for drivers into bite-size pieces. We have a unique approach to driver wellness because we are not just coming from a fitness, therapy, or exercise background. We are coming from a yoga and functional movement background. Where we focus on the whole person and practical application. And one of those applications is stress relief in the form of guided meditations and relaxation.

Truck Driver Health: Guided Meditations

And while everyone else is compartmentalizing your health, we are integrating it. If you truly want to get healthy, you have to look at the whole self. , Your Body, Your Breath, Your Internal Health, Your External Health, Your Mind, Your Spirit. It would be best if you recognized them all.

The reason yoga played such a big role in my health and wellness journey had nothing to do with a yoga mat and everything to do with what the mat taught me about living and life. And that is what I do with Mother Trucker Yoga.

And when it comes to truck driver health, guided meditation can play a big role in your overall health and happiness.

Because we have to address the mind, or nothing you try to do will ever stick.

We are currently running our 2nd Annual Going the Distance Health Challenge for Truck Drivers and helping support our drivers more during this challenge; I have created several guided breathing, meditation, and relaxation practices to help support the need for mental health mental wellness.

What is Mindfulness?

When you Google the word mindfulness, you get the following:

mind·ful·ness
/ˈmīn(d)f(ə)lnəs/
noun
  1. 1.
    the quality or state of being conscious or aware of something.
    “their mindfulness of the wider cinematic tradition”
  2. 2.
    a mental state achieved by focusing one’s awareness on the present moment while calmly acknowledging and accepting one’s feelings, thoughts, and bodily sensations, used as a therapeutic technique.

 

While driving, there are dozens of distractions, and they all take you away from the present moment of driving. There is a difference between something you need to pay attention to while driving and a distraction. Do you know the difference? Can you tell when you are distracted VS paying attention to something while driving?

Distractions ask you to leave what you are doing and bring your attention elsewhere. They often lead your mind down the rabbit trail of other emotions linked to the past, future, or something outside of what you are doing currently driving.

I created a driving meditation to help support truck driver health. With the time you spend sitting in the driver’s seat, you might as well do something that builds you up, leaves you happy, and supports your health.

A Mindfulness Driving Audio For Truck Drivers

This audio is not meant to distract you or make it more difficult to focus while driving, but the opposite. Give it a try and let us know in the comments what you think.

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10 Quick Ways to Reduce Stress Today

10 Quick Ways to Reduce Stress Today

Living over the road where your home, office, kitchen, and the vehicle is all one can be overwhelming and stressful. Stress can cause headaches, muscle tension, difficulty sleeping, irritability, and negatively affect our immune system. We all know that stress is not suitable for us physically or mentally. However, how do we keep stress from manifesting itself into our daily lives?

 

Life Is About Choices

 

The great American philosopher, Ralph Waldo Emerson, wrote a letter to his daughter who was worried over a mistake she had made. This is what the letter said:

 

“Finish each day and be done with it. You have done what you could. Some blunders, losses, and absurdities no doubt crept in; forget them as soon as you can.

 

Emerson’s quote serves as a reminder that we must give ourselves permission to make a few mistakes, be imperfect, and “fall off the wagon” from time to time. Accept what you were able to accomplish and leave yesterday in the past. Do not let stress and mishaps prevent you from moving forward. 

 

An article that appeared in Medical News Today discusses how “overwhelmed and stress, in common terms, is a feeling people have when they are overloaded and struggling to cope with demands. These demands can be related to finances, work, relationships, and other situations, but anything that poses a real or perceived challenge or threat to a person’s well-being can cause stress.”

 

You may not always be able to control what happens in your daily life, but you can practice healthy habits to manage stress.

Reduce Stress mother trucker yoga blog post

10 Ways You To Reduce Stress and Overwhelm in Your Life:

  1. Get up a few minutes earlier than planned and take some time to be silent, meditate, and visualize how your day is going to be great.
  2. Allow others to help you. If they did not want to help, they shouldn’t have asked. And that my friend is not your concern.
  3. K.M.S. (Keep Mouth Shut). This single piece of advice can prevent an enormous amount of trouble, concern, and pain. Ask yourself: “is what I am about to say helping or hurting”? And go from there.
  4. Eat right. Start with one right choice. An apple. A glass of water. No need to bulldoze your life today. Just add in one new food or drink more water and see where it takes you.
  5. Listen to relaxing music or guided meditations (Check out M.T.Y.’s guided meditations made just for drivers). Choose uplifting or motivating broadcasts or shows. Stay away from music, radios, and entertainment that only causes more pain, confusion, agitation, and anger. You can choose what you listen to.
  6. Laugh—every single day. Laugh. Laugh so hard you cry. And better yet, laugh with a friend. Laughter releases endorphins that you desperately need to stay happy.
  7. Surround yourself with people who lift you rather than tear you down.
  8. Take ONE DEEP BREATH before you say or do anything more.
  9. Be kind to unkind people. Kindness matters. Being kind doesn’t mean you agree with them or even want to be their best friend. But if you won’t be helpful, then who will be?
  10. Meditate, pray, practice yoga. When is the last time you unplugged with something that will plug you back into life? Ensure you check out Mother Trucker Yoga’s Online Membership site as drivers just like you can come together and get fit inside and outright from the cab of your truck. 
  11. 11. Look After Your Back. Getting regular massages and looking after your spine and back muscles will make it a lot easier for you to feel at ease, especially if you’re sitting for many hours a day. If you have any pains in your back, you definitely need to see a good chiropractor and let them help you.

 

Finding the best overwhelm and stress relief strategies may take some time. Do not give up if one doesn’t work; move on and try another. However, it is essential to keep looking for the tools that will help you manage life’s ups and downs healthily. Keeping stress at a manageable level is vital for your overall well-being. 

Surround yourself with people that support you in your journey and leave those that do not, behind. You will not regret it. Too many people in today’s world have come to normalize stress. Do not be that person. Identify your stress triggers and then take action to dismantle that stress. It may feel like work in the beginning, but in the end, you will feel the effects of a happier, healthier life.

Don’t be that person that wears their stress like a badge of honor and as a result, you are not only unhappy but stuck in life. When I am feeling stressed, stuck, or overwhelmed I get up and get moving. When I do that, I breathe more deeply, my blood circulates, feel-good chemicals and hormones are pumped to my brain and I FEEL BETTER.

The world tries to complicate our health, but I want to simplify it for you. Today, do one thing that makes you feel good. Do one thing that makes you smile. Do one thing that gets you up and moving. I promise you, that you won’t regret it.

mother trucker yoga audio meditation bundle

Check out Mother Trucker Yoga’s Audio Bundle– so you can de-stress and get back to doing what you need to do, and love to do.

Resources: https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/145855.php

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4 Simple Steps to Mindfulness In A Stressful World

The idea of being “mindful” is now just as common language as “ya all” or “selfie”. What used to be the art of paying attention has morphed into the art of mindfulness. But what exactly is mindfulness? But what does mindful mean? And I know what you are thinking. I’m not about to ask you to wear yoga pants, sit on a yoga mat, and chant the night away (although it might do a few people some good).

Dictionary.com says

mindfulness

[ mahynd-fuhl-nis ]
Is the state or quality of being mindful or aware of something.

Psychology.

  1. a technique in which one focuses one’s full attention only on the present, experiencing thoughts, feelings, and sensations but not judging them: The practice of mindfulness can reduce stress and physical pain.
  2. the mental state maintained by the use of this technique.

This way to mindfulness blog mother trucker yoga

The simple art of paying attention, being alert, present, and aware in a non-judgemental way. In yoga and mediation part of the practice is to observe, notice, and just take in. For most of us, we cannot help but float back into the past and drift off into the future when various things arise. The idea of replaying what happened, or predicting what will all while mixing in our feelings with what is.

To me, mindfulness is the practice of separating from all of that. Not to be dull and lacking in life. But the opposite. The art of seeing, feeling, and being a part of what actually is. I believe that nearly all frustration comes the moment we step out of them now. Mindfulness says stay with me, breathe and take it one breath at a time.

Mindfulness also asks us to be kind. To be kind to ourselves, to others, and to the world. [Check out The Daily Meditation and what Hope had to say about Gratitude…]

One of the best ways to practice mindfulness is to apply this idea to the little things. Because it’s the little things that add up to big things over time. If you don’t want cavities when you are older, focus on brushing your teeth today, and when brushing your teeth, do just that. Treat your teeth, the action of brushing with the utmost reverence and importance. And notice how you feel afterward.

4 Simple Steps to Mindfulness

1. Start now. Start simple.

Many people decide to step into mindfulness and create this elaborate plan of how they are going to meditate 20 minutes twice a day, and go for long nature walks, and do an hour of yoga daily. Adapting all those things has never done any of them, even in the slightest is a recipe for failure. Most won’t even get out of the gate and decide that it’s too much. I prefer to focus on keeping things KISS: Keep It Simple Stupid. Now I’m not insulting your intelligence, but rather suggesting we start simple.

Instead of starting to apply the practices of mindfulness when you are the most stressed, the most overwhelmed, the most distracted. Start when it’s easy, when and where you don’t have to change much of anything. When you brush your teeth, only brush your teeth. When you go to the bathroom, just go to the bathroom (I know crazy right). When you are cooking, or eating just do that one thing. Pay attention to every aspect of it. Be present. You may be surprised by how you feel after. Taking an everyday task you already to and turning it into a mindful one.

 2. Approach With An Open Mind.

We as humans like to predict. We like to know all the answers… Well most of us do. And I want to challenge you to approach one situation each day for a week with a completely open mind. Notice if you start to predict how the situation will play out in your head before it’s over. Take note if your mind has already predicted the future before anything has even happened.

Take inventory of your feelings before, during, and after and how do you feel? For me, the practice of mindfulness is not sitting on a cushion in a dark quiet room. Mindfulness is me being more present, more alert, more aware, and more engaged in what I am doing, how I am feeling, and despite all of that continuing. Mindfulness has given me more confidence in hard situations, ones I would normally avoid otherwise.

3. FOR Peace Breathing.

Pause F.O.R. Peace Breathing was introduced to me when I first started on my yoga journey. It wasn’t fancy, it wasn’t complicated, and it didn’t require any equipment. All it needed was you and your willingness to step back and breathe.

When you stop and take a breath in a stressful situation, you stop the hormones released by the sympathetic nervous system (fight or flight response) and start to live again. It is a simple tool that you can use every single day to prevent and release stress when it starts to bubble up.

Steps of F.O.R. Peace Breathing

Pause F.O.R. Peace Breathing un-complicates what our minds often make complicated. It makes you STOP and use the tool you were born with to deal with stress in your life.

What Does “F.O.R.” in Peace Breathing Stand For?

1. FOCUS

Focus on one, long, deep breath. Inhale deeply, feeling your diaphragm and belly expand (not your chest). Exhale through your nose or mouth for the same count, or longer. Be fully conscious of this breath.

2. OBSERVE

Observe your mind. Does it wander during this breath? Where does it go? Can you try again to be right here, right now?

3. REFOCUS 

Refocus if you need to. Bring your mind back to your breath. If your mind wanders, return to one deep breath.

4 Ground yourself physically.

Sounds silly, but we are all a part of something greater than ourselves. And science has already proved that we are all made up of energy. And when we are in nature our bodies have a way of restoring that energy within us with the positive energy around us. Ever been around someone who you felt like just zapped the life right out of you? Have you ever gone into a building, or slept somewhere were you just felt drained the next morning. Or the opposite. You are around someone who just lifts you up. Or slept somewhere and said that was the best night’s sleep ever. That might not be a coincidence.

Today, take inventory of who and what you surround yourself with. If all you do is spend time in a concert jungle, it might be time to step out into nature. Pull off at an oasis with a small park or grassy hill. Layout in the sun, or take a bit of time and reconsider who you surround yourself with. Being mindful asks you to do things with a purpose. And that purpose may be for you to take better care of you.

Take the Mindfulness Challenge!

Do you want more practical tips for being more mindful and peaceful in a stressful world? Join our 5-day Mindfulness Virtual Challenge September 7-11, 2020! Click HERE to sign up to join us!

 

What does mindfulness mean mother trucker yoga blog

Continue down the mindfulness path to a happier and healthier you with some of Mother Trucker Yoga’s other great content!

14 Ways to Reduce Stress and Overwhelm Blog

10 Tips for a Functional Body Blog

10 Steps to Goal Setting as a Truck Driver

 

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Leave us a comment on what you thought. Or ways you work to stay more mindful.

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