Stage 5 Managing Mental Noise

Managing Mental Noise 

Apart from practicing overall stress management, taking good care of yourself, and having private time to reflect on your life, the best way to manage mental noise is to create a conditioned relaxation response within yourself.
There are many advanced ways of creating a relaxation response within yourself, but I offer here a simple method useful for Empaths. I call this exercise , "empathic breathing."
1. Set aside 10 to 20 minutes a day for empath breathing.
2. Be consistent and do not skip days. Under even the worst conditions you can squeeze in 5 minutes for the exercise.
3. Practice the exercise when you are awake and alert. Do not do it right before going to sleep or within the first fifteen minutes of waking up.
4. Practice the exercise where you feel you have enough privacy and with the least amount of distraction. Do not try this exercise with the television on or where you can hear human voices. Hearing people talking is very distracting.
5. Sit in a comfortable position where you can hold your spine erect. Do not strain or sit stiffly. Make sure pillows support you (or a chair) and that you feel stable before you begin.
6. The exercise is very simple; it involves counting your inhalations and your exhalations. Learning empathic breathing prepares you to learn the focused sitting meditation I mentioned earlier. Your first goal is to be able to do three sets of ten breaths. When you first start this you may not be able to do all of the breaths in perfect order. You will build up to this in time. Do not strain or do anything that makes you feel uncomfortable. Relax and breathe normally between breaths when you need to.
7. Your second goal is to be able to take long slow breaths that start in the diaphragm and fill up to your chest. This inhalation is then held to the count of four and is followed by a long slow exhalation.
8. The first breath begins by inhaling slowly through your nostrils, filling your lungs from the "bottom up." Fill up your lungs without straining. When your lungs are full then hold the breath to the count of four. Exhale slowly by pursing your lips and blowing out a long silent whistle. Empty your lungs as much as possible without straining. When your lungs are empty hold to the count of four again. This counts as one breath.
9. Repeat for up to ten breaths. Controlling and counting the breaths develops the concentration and focus that you need in order to manage mental noise. When you first do this you may only be able to do one set of ten breaths. You may not even be able to do ten breaths, so do what you can. Whatever you do will start to work for you. It is important that you do not do anything that will make you uncomfortable. The idea is to relax and work with your breathing. Your breathing becomes something you are creating and refining. Each time you sit you work on improving your breathing and learning to relax into the experience.
10. Your eventual goal is to perform three full sets of ten breaths. You can do more sets if it suits your capacity. As you do your sets count your breaths and keep your thoughts focused on the count. Other thoughts and images will come into your mind, simply let them be. Do not try to do anything with those thoughts and images.
11. Sometimes you will find yourself traveling through different states of consciousness while you do this. Other times you will stay in a Beta state throughout the exercise.
Empath breathing is one of the best things you can do for yourself for many reasons. It will help you learn to manage your mental noise and it will help you increase your overall energy level as well. After you have practiced empathic breathing for a period of time, which differs from person to person, you will be able to literally turn down the mental noise in your head by taking ten breaths and counting each one.