How Meditation Can Quiet Your Inner Worrywart

1. How Meditation Can Quiet Your Inner Worrywart For many people, constant worrying is a way of life. As soon as potential conflict arises or a plan veers off course — all hell breaks loose internally.Doubt, anxiety, and fear creep in at the thought of losing control. As it turns out, anxiety disorders are the most common mental illness in both the U.S. and U.K., affecting 18% of adults in the United States1 and almost 15% in the United Kingdom.2 It’s an all-too- prevalent problem. But this kind of perpetual anxiety is highly detrimental to your state of mind — and your physical health. Thoughts, words, and actions have a powerful effect on all aspects of your life, and those that reflect anger, grief, shame, or guilt lead to some seriously negative consequences. Why Do We Worry? Don’t blame yourself for your anxious nature; there’s evidence of a generational predisposition to certain traits, both physical and psychological. It’s called epigenetics — the study of changes in gene expression caused by mechanisms other than changes in the underlying DNA sequence. Jonathan Seckl, a geneticist at the University of Edinburgh, was working on a research project analyzing how the stress on a mother during pregnancy could affect her children. His study showed that a highly anxious pregnant mother gave rise to offspring who had altered stress responses for the rest of their lifespan. Most incredible of all, these effects continued to be carried by babies born several generations in the future! 3 It’s not only the memories of your immediate past that cause your reactions to certain life situations —  you also carry the history of your ancestor’s suffering; it lives in the cells of your body. It’s these factors that may have caused some of the challenges you face today.

2. How Can You Break the Cycle? Blaming your parents and ancestors doesn’t make sense when you realize they were born with some of the same epigenetic coding as you. They, too, could have grown up in an environment where unconscious beliefs (even if well-intended) were implanted. Each person has different emotional content — from generational inheritance and from more recent events imprinted in both the mind and body. The good news is, as these negative energy blocks are released, the tendency to repeat negative behaviors lessens. Releasing the Pain of the Past with SOS The SOS Method heals your mind and body from the lasting effects of trauma and gives you new ways to deal with difficult situations. It immerses you in an enriched meditative environment, releasing the cellular memory of both recent and long past suffering. As you shift the environment within and around you, you experience genuine freedom and happiness. Letting go of the past is the key to a bright future! 4 Resources 1. National Institute of Mental Health. (2005). Any Anxiety Disorder Among Adults. Retrieved from: http://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/statistics/prevalence/any-anxiety-disorder-among- adults.shtml 2. Mental Health Foundation. (2014). Mental Health Statistics: Anxiety. Retrieved from: http://www.mentalhealth.org.uk/help-information/mental-health-statistics/anxiety- statistics 3. Seckl, Jonathan. (2005). The Ghost in Your Genes. BBC: Horizon. 4. Karlin, Marlise. (2015). The Simplicity of Stillness Method: 3 Steps to Rewire the Brain and Access Your Highest Potential. Watkins. p 89.