Chronic stress damages brain. Relaxation heals it.

 


 

…chronically stressed rats lost their elastic rat cunning and instead fell back on familiar routines and rote responses, like compulsively pressing a bar for food pellets they had no intention of eating. … regions of the brain associated with executive decision-making and goal-directed behaviors had shriveled, while, conversely, brain sectors linked to habit formation had bloomed.

Nuno SousaBehaviors become habitual faster in stressed animals than in the controls, and worse, the stressed animals can’t shift back to goal-directed behaviors when that would be the better approach.

I call this a vicious circle.

Nuno Sousa, MD PhD
Life and Health Sciences
Research Institute

But with only four weeks’ vacation in a supportive setting free of bullies and Tasers, the formerly stressed rats looked just like the controls, able to innovate, discriminate and lay off the bar. Atrophied synaptic connections in the decisive regions of the prefrontal cortex resprouted, while the overgrown dendritic vines of the habit-prone sensorimotor striatum retreated.

–Brain Is a Co-Conspirator
in a Vicious Stress Loop
NYTimes.com

 


 

The Relaxation Response: Meditation for Managers


 

Herbert Benson

The Relaxation Response

by Herbert Benson, M.D.

with Miriam Z. Klipper

 

Reading and using The Relaxation Response may have saved my life in 1989. It may also have destroyed my life, for it turned out to be the first paving stone on a spiritual path which led away from much of what was accepted and familiar. I left behind the person I had known myself to be and became a person I could not have predicted. The path brought me to most of what I treasure today.

 

I was a thoroughly Western, rational, mechanist, Ayn Rand Objectivist, John-Wayne-style “I’ll do it myself” individualist whose life was thoroughly unsatisfying. Each day I came home from a thankless, stressful job to a cold and chaotic home. I would sit on the couch and feel as though worries and disappointments were (more…)

045 Creating Your Clearing for Breakthrough • PODCAST [Refresh]

045 Creating Your Clearing for Breakthrough • PODCAST [Refresh]


Today’s podcast, “Creating Your Clearing for Breakthrough” is the audio from a webinar presented by Tony Mayo, The Business Owner’s Executive Coach. Listen to this recording and then join us for Tuesdays with Tony at Twelve, a weekly, free webinar where you can explore powerful executive coaching tools and ask Tony about applying them in your life and career.

Tony continues last week’s discussion by reviewing the meaning of breakthrough, how to manage yourself and your environment to increase your chances of experiencing breakthroughs.

Today’s distinctions include:
• Interpretation: the thick, distorting filter between us and reality

• The Foundational Practice for Breakthrough
1. I am interpreting events.
2. I can be responsible for my interpretation.

• Historical Discourse
• Always-Already Filter

Video, handouts, and other resources from this and other webinars are available for free at:
https://TonyMayo.com/Tuesdays/

(more…)

045 Creating Your Clearing for Breakthrough • PODCAST [Refresh]

043 Clearing for Breakthrough • PODCAST [Refresh]


Today’s podcast, “Clearing for Breakthrough” is the audio from a webinar presented by Tony Mayo, The Business Owner’s Executive Coach. Listen to this recording and then join us for Tuesdays with Tony at Twelve, a weekly, free webinar where you can explore powerful executive coaching tools and ask Tony about applying them in your life and career.

Tony explains the meaning of a breakthrough and discusses how to use the insights available from a breakthrough to dramatically accelerate your performance.

Video, handouts, and other resources from this and other webinars are available for free at:
https://TonyMayo.com/Tuesdays/

(more…)

045 Creating Your Clearing for Breakthrough • PODCAST [Refresh]

040 Tough Talk Conversations That Make A Difference • PODCAST [Refresh]


Today’s podcast, “Tough Talk: Conversations That Make A Difference” is the audio from a webinar presented by Tony Mayo, The Business Owner’s Executive Coach. Listen to this recording and then join us for Tuesdays with Tony at Twelve, a weekly, free webinar where you can explore powerful executive coaching tools and ask Tony about applying them in your life and career.

This program teaches Tony’s 12 Step program for engaging with people on difficult topics, simple tools for resolving contentious issues, and a powerful approach to work and personal conversations that will bring you better results and stronger relationships.

Video, handouts, and other resources from this and other webinars are available for free at:
https://TonyMayo.com/Tuesdays/

(more…)

038 The One Experience That Proves You Are an Entrepreneur • PODCAST [Refresh]

038 The One Experience That Proves You Are an Entrepreneur • PODCAST [Refresh]

 


 

Click here for Tony Mayo's podcastIf you haven’t done this, don’t claim you are an entrepreneur. If you have, let’s get together.

Just click here to listen now or subscribe on your device using Apple’s Tunes, Android, and other podcatchers to have this and all new episodes placed on your device as they become available.

———————————————-
Thanks to MusicOpen for providing public domain recordings of Beethoven.


TRANSCRIPT:
(more…)

033 Are You Busy? • DeskVideo • PODCAST [Refresh]

033 Are You Busy? • DeskVideo • PODCAST [Refresh]

 


 

Click here for Tony Mayo's podcastBeing busy is no badge of honor. Choose a better way to be.

Just click here to listen now or subscribe on your device using Apple’s Tunes, Android, and other podcatchers to have this and all new episodes placed on your device as they become available.


Also available on YouTube.

———————————————-
Thanks to MusicOpen for providing public domain recordings of Beethoven.


TRANSCRIPT: (more…)

023 The Values of Anger • DeskVideo • PODCAST [Refresh]

023 The Values of Anger • DeskVideo • PODCAST [Refresh]

 


Click here for Tony Mayo's podcastA quick message from an executive coach on how to get value from your anger.

Just click here to listen now or subscribe on your device using Apple’s Tunes, Android, and other podcatchers to have this and all new episodes placed on your device as they become available.


Thanks to MusicOpen for providing public domain recordings of Beethoven.

TRANSCRIPT:
(more…)

Executive Coaching by Email for Business Owners


The Business Owner’s Executive Coach, Tony Mayo has shared a great deal of practical information with business people since re-launching his free e-mail newsletter in 2008.
Here is a list of topics covered. Newsletter sample from Tony MayoJust click on any title to read more.

009 A conversation with executive coaching client Ron Dimon. Part 4 • PODCAST [Refresh]


 

Click here for Tony Mayo's podcastThis latest podcast is part four of a funny and useful conversation between top executive coach Tony Mayo and his longtime client Ron Dimon. Ron is an expert on the use of information by executives of large organizations. Listen as two experienced business people play with useful ideas in this episode including;

  • Low stress mindset for high performance on a variety of unstructured and unpredictable tasks
  • Meditation & centering for executives
  • Transforming overwhelm into flow
  • Procrastination
  • Creating vs. fixing
    • “Something’s wrong, & it’s me!”

Just click here to listen now or subscribe on your device using Apple’s Tunes, Android, and other podcatchers to have this and all new episodes placed on your device as they become available.

 


 

See free, easy Meditation Instructions on this blog.

 


Meditation for Managers video