#Listen Project Meridian is technically over

[pennkquest]

Another day, another need for serotonin. Thinking about making a new rarepair to feed my brain.

Currently? The brain worms are saying James/Asset (+ his spouse). Or maybe James/Asset/Anton but in the bubble that is Project Meridian (maybe AU where neither were married?) Idk, someone throw thoughts at me /lh

[vind3miat0r]

project meridian finale thoughts

yap session warning‼️ also spoilers‼️

kinda sad that it was all a dream bc the concept of it was actually really interesting in and of itself. i also liked PM bc it was a sci-fi storyline amidst all of the modern fantasy and contemporary stories on the channel. not to mention, we know more about the dream versions of every character than we do the waking world versions (also i liked having an android listener :3)

but at the same time, this is (technically speaking) the first new listener we've gotten in over a year. and theyre empowered AND latent!! the first latent character on the channel in four years!!

i have no doubt that Erik is going to make a followup to Project Meridian where we follow waking world!Asset's journey of processing their trauma and learning their powers. Erik isnt the kind of guy who would just drop an hour long audio full of perspective-altering lore and be like "yeah youre never getting these characters again lol." im certain that we're gonna learn more about James, Anton, and Marc too in said followup, and maybe even some new characters will be introduced

also the fucking PARALLEL of Marc being the one who was initially in control of the dream and being the one who was pulling the strings and Marcus having been the one to input the obsession code that gave him power AUGH ERIK WHEN I FUCKING CATCH YOUUUUU

wrapping this up with some confirmed things:

— Asset/Dreamer is a Latent Dreamwalker

— Marc (Marcus) is also a Dreamwalker

— James confirmed to be humanborn (imp!James was humanborn)

— Anton confirmed to be a Wolf Shifter (fool!Anton was a wolf shifter)

— the entirety of PM takes place in Asset's mind, while Asset's body was in McKinley (a cornerstone city im assuming is in a state near California)

— implied that Quinn attacked Asset and their sister shortly before he was caught and locked up

— that means this takes place around May/June of 2023

— this subsequently means that Asset is NOT Darlin's unempowered friend (and if i see anyone say they are i will lose my mind) (remember ANTON was the one who saved Asset and their sister, NOT Darlin)

— something about the state of the Meridian being on the news and Asset having read theories about it (state of Meridian made public? possible connection to the Hush + Doc, Carpe Deus, and/or Sovereign State storylines?)

i do have a LOT more to say about this, but my brain isnt braining and i want to listen to the audio again to make sure i didnt miss anything, so this is all ill say for now :)

[gingerbreadmonsters]

dude im so fucking excited for the next project meridian, relistening to it rn and my fucking god its so upsetting (in a great way) no one gives any sort of shit about love, james is such a bastard (WANTING TO USE THE CODE FOR HIS OWN SHIT ARE YOU KIDDING ME YOU ASS) marcus is also a bastard (i get doing some real dumb shit when youre lonely and in denial BUT HOLY SHIT DUDE WHAT, i dont wanna be that empathetic to him cause he was using love even if it did end up hurting him, it was his own fault and he didnt stop it, he makes me feel a lot and i wanna put him in therapy) the other staff resented love as says brian SPEAKING OF he, him being rude and short with love and that still being the only relationship that wasnt deeply toxic for them is heartbreaking, his log was ouch, understanding that love will feel isolated and used (as he says they were) without the code and saying the kinder thing would just be to wipe their memory, and deciding not to cause "we'd lose progress", but him also saying theyre gonna let love chose what happens to marcus, i care him

ALSO marcus making that code is pretty impressive ngl, like it was taking over everything else within lovely, strong shit. sry for ramble im so psyched to see what happens, im glad eriks still making this story

this is an excellent ask and i am SO excited for more project meridian now hehe ✌️

this post does NOT contain spoilers for today's audio (seeing as i haven't listened to it yet), but under the cut anyway bc i rambled lmao

and you're absolutely right - it's REALLY interesting to be placed in this perspective where the listener character is unreliable, where we're not sure how many of our actions and decisions are fueled by this obsession code, where we can't be certain of what we know and what information (like the hidden 'project meridian' data packet) we have inside us. it makes for incredibly compelling storytelling and conceptually i think it's FASCINATING 🤩🤩

and YES we love a bit of moral ambiguity!! inconsistent and flawed morality!! characters who are in conflict with each other and themselves, who are not universally good or even liked!! project meridian to me has always been a series that pushes everything to a logical extreme, if that makes sense - a robot in love who is overwhelmingly obsessed, a sad man who is debilitatingly lonely, a mysterious corporation that is unflinchingly greedy. everything is over the top and spilling over itself, but it's approached in a very realistic and empathetic way, and that makes it far more accessible and less predictable, which i enjoy v much! 🥰✨

tbh i feel similarly about james as i do about vega, especially in his latest audio - it's very clear that we are being manipulated, but it's really interesting to observe from an out-of-universe perspective. it leads to a fun conflict of interest as well: do we want the listener character to turn to the dark side and take them at their word, or resist? what would either of those scenarios look like going forward? how is this going to be resolved? OOH it's so much fun 🤠🤠🤠

(also i agree with marcus' technical skill - it can't have been easy to hide code like that inside an android who is basically being examined at every second of every day! although come to think of it, how well did he hide it...?)

[s4g2world]

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[lady-wildflower]

Been a hell of a fucking while ain’t it?

Bet y’all thought this project was dead. No longer, it rises from the grave of laziness with a new plan.

Okay. So.

Old Story? Whack. The way it didn’t have an antagonist? Whack. The way I used shields? Whack. New story? It’s gonna be tight as fuck.

No, I have not finished the new storyline. Gotta stay on brand somehow. But!

Summary of what I have:

No more shields! Fuck shields, we’re going armour only and that’s the tea.

Ignore my egregious failure to use memes.

Story starts off fairly similarly, with Francis Morgan graduating the Acidalian Naval Academy. She makes friends in Jaime, and hates Thomas Jones, a stuck up cadet who thinks he’s the shit. Totally not a jab at the protagonist of the first long story I finished when I thought I was the shit.

The monarch of the theocratic nation Thetai (oh yeah by the way there are aliens and they’re cool goat people, except for these ones who are Asshole Goat People) dies and is replaced by his jackass of a son. Son goes all Hitler on them, starts persecuting humans. He’s alien space Hitler, don’t question it. And if anyone jumps on this post being a nazi apologist then they’re getting blocked because I ain’t about that bullshit. The nazis were evil. Full stop. Why does anyone think otherwise?

Don’t answer that.

Francis and Jaime get assigned to the A.S.V. Ross 248, a Ross class cruiser on patrol in the Groombridge 34 system, Francis is an engineer. Meanwhile, Francis has a couple of friends called Penelope and Naia. Naia is a Daerak, one of those goat people. Penelope is a human and is very proud of her vulgar space girlfriend. Space lesbians. Gonna use them more since I like them. They live on Meridian, the only planet in the Alpha/Proxima Centauri system, which is tidally locked and as such has like a ring of cities. Good fun. Biggest trade hub in Acidalia.

Oh yeah by the way Francis and Jaime are both girls. I realize they’re both pretty neutral names and it gets confusing.

Okay enough pleasant peace time, let’s get a war going. The Thetai invade, starting with Groombridge 34. Remember how that’s where the Ross 248 and our protagonist are? Yeah that ship? Forget that ship. It’s gone. Escape pod time.

Maybe a survival plot with orbital mechanics, I’m an absolute whore for orbital physics.

They get picked up by the A.S.V. Europa Prime, a little Colonial class destroyer. You know those big carriers, the ones everyone likes and are important for fleet management, Enterprise and Sun Tzu? Forget those ships. They’re gone. Only the Artemis left, baby.

Because Francis did well in the academy in the command course as well as engineering, the C.O. starts giving her some command stuff. Over time, she becomes the first mate of the Europa Prime.

New favourite plotline! The Thetai build a brand new warship. It’s a bastard. Big-ass battleship. Totally not based on the Bismarck. Totally not naming the plotline Sink the Bismarck. Once the proverbial Bismarck is sunk, the C.O. of the Europa Prime is promoted and Francis becomes the captain. Technically a Commander right now but ignore that.

Uncharted territory now, woohoo!

Maybe keep the Wolfpack plot (listen to Sabaton’s Wolfpack, it’s based on the same event I’m basing that on).

During that thing, Francis sacrifices the Europa Prime to save 7,000 people.

“We can’t take those hits!” “Will it save their lives?” “Yes.” “Then we can take the hits.”

Francis is given command of a Democracy class light cruiser, A.S.V. Athens. Meets back up with Jaime, who is a gunnery officer aboard.

Have Meridian fall under Thetai rule. Give the space lesbians a resistance plotline, because who doesn’t want to read about space lesbians beating up an occupying nazi force?

End up with Francis crashing the Athens on Mars to stop the Thetai from nuking Acidalia (oh yeah that’s the capital and also remember Earth? Forget Earth. Earth is gone).

End with Francis being given the brand new escort carrier A.S.V. Phobos to command. Thomas Jones is aboard as a fighter pilot but he’s cleaned up his act.

Random bullshit:

Francis goes through ships doesn’t she? Don’t worry, she doesn’t destroy the Phobos, she gets promoted to admiral and years later she’s Fleet Admiral.

After the war they build some better carriers because the Armstrong is a fucking stupid design I don’t know what I was thinking.

They also build some new small ships, Thomas Jones gets an Elysium class destroyer under Francis’ command from the Phobos. Aggressive little fucker of a ship, gets right up and fucks you up from point blank range.

Francis is asexual. Got it? Cool.

[foreignquarry]

VOICE OVERS

DISCLAIMER:

unfortunately, due to storage limitations and glitches with my computer during the editing process, I lost a lot of the drafts and practice cuts that featured some experimentation. I’ll try to instead describe the different things I tried.

-- voice over --

third person narration -----

the sections of the film that involve third person narrative prose describing scenes at odds with what the viewer sees. initially, i used my own voice for this, in a sort of rough cut just to help with pacing. using this rough cut made me think that using my voice was not the right way forward, just because i wasnt personally happy with the performance i managed.

last year, i did a lot of experimentation with my voice and vocal performance. i developed different techniques to explore the unhuman aspects of communication, especially through a lens of technology. i used a piece of software called Lyrebird to generate a synthetic vocal avatar - an artificial intelligence trained to mimic my own voice. at the time, i used this to distance my physical self and parody my inability to express myself.

SADLY, this software was bought out by some company and is no longer accessible as it was, and no longer for free. it’s hidden behind the facade of this other, new software that im not familiar with and dont care to learn. there are other methods of vocal avatar generation that i may investigate, but this ruled out this option at this stage.

instead, i tried to use some generic text-to-speech programs to generate synthetic voices. i hoped that this would help add to the eeriness of the film, and the feeling of it being abandoned and devoid of humanity. i used a white-sounding male-sounding British-accented posh-sounding voice, to parody this sort of David Attenborough nature/museum documentary. of course, this sort of voice being a voice of God in film, through tradition, speaks to bigotries and patriarchal authoritarianism. like, we need white men to tell us what the things we are seeing are. this was something i was back-of-the-mind-conscious of at the time, but hadn’t fully questioned it. although it’s maybe a conceptually sound idea, it didn’t at all sound good, or right. with this automated voice in particular, the film was lacking a human quality, i felt. there are no humans visually present in the film, and there is a stark absence of humanity in the way the stories are reanimated from the stone. my human arm has been digitally removed, and the traces are all that remain.

--

the next thing i tried was a more intentional and intimate style of performance, modelled after the recent trend of ASMR videos.

Autonomous sensory meridian response (ASMR), sometimes auto sensory meridian response,[2][3][4] is a tingling sensation that typically begins on the scalp and moves down the back of the neck and upper spine. A pleasant form of paresthesia,[5] it has been compared with auditory-tactile synesthesia[6][7] and may overlap with frisson.

ASMR signifies the subjective experience of "low-grade euphoria" characterized by "a combination of positive feelings and a distinct static-like tingling sensation on the skin". It is most commonly triggered by specific auditory or visual stimuli, and less commonly by intentional attention control.[1][8] A genre of videos which intend to stimulate ASMR has emerged, of which over 13 million are published on YouTube.[9]

I’m interested in this form of vocal performance in the way it attempts to target and illicit a specific physical reaction. Ed Atkins has spoken about the way technology develops, seeks to conquer various physical senses, ie, IMAX cameras making screens too large for one person’s eyesight, or sound systems rattling bones. ASMR attempts to create euphoric physical feelings, comparable to orgasm. as such, there is a sort of unspoken sexual quality to a lot of these videos and to a lot of these vocal stylings. often, and indeed usually, the speakers or performers in these videos are attractive women. 

in this episode of the podcast Reasonably Sound, Mike Rugnetta makes the comparison between this sort of work, and the sexist history of the female voice assistant, in early telecoms and switchboard operators, up to the present, female Siri or Google Home. there are, maybe unsuitable or offensive, connections to be made between this sort of outsourced female labour, the sexual qualities of ASMR, and sex work. but, i dont think it’s really my place to touch on it. there’s just some interesting dynamics around service and power in this form.

the episode can be found here: 

http://reasonablysound.com/2014/10/02/whisper-quiet/

anyway, technically, this phenomena doesn’t really exist, scientifically. it does exist in the minds of people who watch this stuff. so, there’s a fun pseudo-science sort of thing here, that compels me too. like a sort of witchcraft to do with audio frequencies.

in this vocal performance, then, i tried to allow my voice to take on these ASMR qualities. i whispered the words into my microphone from a very close distance, to encourage uncomfortable mouth sounds, saliva pops, and microphone peaks. these sounds are ASMR triggers, but also betray the audio recording in a few ways. it’s uncomfortable for the viewer to hear mouth and body sounds so loudly. it reveals the work as an unprofessional one, working with what would be considered to be bad recording practices. it also brings qualities of a human body, and particularly gross qualities at that, to the film, lending it a subjective human presence.

--

i feel mixed about how this has worked overall. i think it totally creates the correct responses in a viewer, but there’s no denying that in being the Voice of God for this film, i am painting myself to be the God of this world. my narration, although at odds with what the viewer sees, speaks to my authorial power, and im not sure this is a power i want to be spoken about!! as a middle class, white man, i think i need to question more thoroughly what it means for me to give myself authority in this context...

this was something Dave Beech mentioned in our crits with him, recently.

this is all in my head as i continue to experiment with the narration and voice over in this film. i dont anticipate i will have brought this any further by the end of the project, but that’s ok. here is a video showing the current way my voice is sounding in this passages:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SzgbVBFhvRc

first person stories ---

now, this is also complicated.

at the beginning of the project it felt very important to me that the stories would only appear visually, as text, and not as audio. in the writing i have gone to lengths to recreate, phonetically and visually, regional accents and period grammar. understanding my limited ability as a voice performer, i felt it would be gross and inappropriate for me to perform these texts myself. that it would be sort of equivalent to cultural appropriation, especially as im not actually from the South West (unless u go some ways back down the tree).

however, this being said, i ended up opting for a sort of version of a performance. i experimented with different styles of delivery, attempting accents and different styles of voice. i also experimented with isolating select frequencies. the OM frequency of the tuning fork is the one i chose to isolate, producing a distant-sounding voice that is hard to identify as mine:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2hQDgEWFRIM&t=41s

for a necessarily female voice, however, this proved to be tricky. immediately in the crit, it seemed people could identify the recording as a poor attempt at an impression on my part, even though i thought i had done quite well with my shakespearean old woman impression. i ended up taking this audio and distorting it even further. the vocal inflections and sentence patterns are still identifiable, and when watching the text it is easy to follow along with the sound, but it is so distorted and modified i dont feel it can be traced back to me anymore. the femininity and the quality of the accent and the age of the caracter are all identifiable as well, i feel. over the course of this video the clip becomes more distorted, as if the stone tape is losing its fidelity on playback:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d2A6jY-C1UA

i find this absolutely successful, especially on the speakers with which i listen to it. although as i continue working i might go back on this idea.

[p10hca]

P10 evaluation

U N R E M E M B E R I N G  -  P10 Evaluation

Not the video I intended to make, but lost in contemplation, running through my original intention one bright blustery Sunday morning, my thought processes were interrupted by an overheard conversation. Bamboo shadows, sunlight and a stiff south easterly were vociferously conversing on the wall in my hall. I filmed it. I then filmed directly back out through the window into the dazzling sunlight piercing and bursting through the bamboo stems overloading the sensors in my camera. The results are what you see.

The influence of photographer Uta Barth is unmistakable.

I've been an admirer of her work for a long time and have used blurred techniques and the oversaturation of light and colour previously in both my photography and moving image. It was this previous experience that enabled me to immediately recognise the potential of the light dancing and playing on my hallway wall that sunny Sunday morning. Interestingly, the sunlight as projected on the wall was shot in sharp  focus - it was already imbued with its own blurred quality. Conversely, the footage then taken pointing directly back out of the window into the sunlight bursting through the bamboo was shot with the camera lens set well out of focus.

Each of the pieces of footage are interesting and engaging in their own right but combining them gave an added ambiguity to the images, the green of the bamboo being the only contextual element involved.

What you hear evolved as an idea from the sound recordings made of the bamboo in the wind. This would act as contextual anchor that was not only recognisable but also extremely atmospheric. Within this sound-scape there appeared a sense of language: the insistent swishing and rustling created between the breeze and the bamboo sounding like indiscernible whispers. A YouTube search offered many examples of whispering to experiment with including some tagged as Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response.

A.S.M.R. describes the subjective experience of “low-grade euphoria” characterized by “a combination of positive feelings and a distinct static-like tingling sensation on the skin”. It is most commonly triggered by specific acoustic stimuli. In simple terms: when someone whispers closely in your ear you get goose-bumps. To utilize this technique would offer me a soundtrack that was equal to the impact of the visual aspects of the piece.

Strangely the most interesting samples I found on Youtube were those not in English but this concentrated my listening on the sounds themselves, the rises and falls, nuances  and inflections. It sounded poetic despite having no understanding of the words in a similar way to Laure Provoust's film 'Swallow'- where she similarly creates an intimate atmosphere, drawing you closely in as if invited to share in a secret. The same applies to the quietly voiced over narration in the opening sequence of Wim Wenders' Wings of Desire where you are simultaneously and irresistibly involved and engaged.

On watching back the explosive and colour filled imagery I was reminded of neurons firing in response to some redolent event - like memories bursting to the fore. But it was the acquiescent dissipation that held me,  so swiftly followed by the next burst - like a process of remembering, forgetting and then, as if anew, a re-remembering.

This was the pivotal moment within the process where everything consolidated into the idea for the film.

Working on the idea of using several languages spoken at the same time, each reading the same poem, I utilised Google Translate to experiment with a few languages looking for commonalities - the idea being that each of the different language when spoken might somehow synchronize around particular words. One of the things I noticed listening to the foreign language samples was how I honed in on odd vaguely recognisable words that somehow anchored me. With the words ‘echo’  and ‘amnesia’ being similar across several languages I composed and constructed the poem 'Unremembering' using these keywords.

Recording Spanish, Romanian, Welsh and English versions of the poem was not as simple as making straightforward translations from English - this gave the film an unanticipated collaborative aspect. Each of my volunteer readers actually worked and discussed word choices and nuances with me in order that each translation read as a poem. I requested that each was read slowly with marked pauses between phrases in order that in editing I could split and space each of the recordings to fit and to complement each other.

On checking the footage, once I had exported, I noticed a glitch near the bottom right hand corner. Initially I thought this was a mark on the wall where I had filmed, but later, when closely studying some photographs recently taken on the same camera, I realised that this was a dust speck on the camera sensor. Took the problem, and the raw footage to Nick Brown who tutored me through the process of removal on Premier Pro. Took that back to my editing suite and replaced the faulty footage.

How to present the finished film has proved problematic. Working with the ingenuity of Nick Brown I have split the audio across four channels and can present an audio installation of sorts, but anything beyond four speakers isn't possible. I am attempting to present the work in the cellars of the CRC building, but due to health and safety regulations, if this happens at all, it will have to happen unofficially under the HCA radar. Multiple projection is also not practicable - synchronisation isn't technically possible and there is no suitable space to achieve the optimum distances for projector throw to use three screens even if there were three screens available.

Taking the piece beyond this module I plan to record many more versions of the poem in as many different languages as possible. Assembled as a piece it will be presented across a bank of various old TV monitors one for each language but each screening the same visual imagery. A visitor to the gallery space will be presented with a cacophony of whispers inviting them in to explore the installation looking for meaning, eventually finding a monitor where the poem would be in a language known to them, offering resolution and where meaning could be found. This invitation to 'interact' with the piece acting as a metaphor for the effort we often have to make to remember.

1 in 6 people over the age of 80 in the UK live with dementia in one form or another. Living in a world of remembering and unremembering, input from the outside often seems like listening to a different language. However, there comes a stage of bitter sweet amnesia when not remembering that they don’t remember  enables some re-enjoyment of the poetry of life - even with no understanding of the words.

[neptunecreek]

5 Self-Care Hacks that Nonprofit Professionals Can Use in a Crisis

Flickr Photo by Evil Erin

Note from Beth:   This week and next week, Aliza Sherman and I will be visiting a few cities on the West and East Coasts, as part of our Happy Healthy Nonprofit book tour.   Please come join us at one of our upcoming events.   One of my themes for the year was to write more consistently about self-care and wellbeing in the nonprofit sector to extend the conversation and learning related to the book, The Happy Healthy Nonprofit.  Before the Christmas break, I had a delightful conversation with colleague  Kate Alexandra, co-founder of Radical Self Care Project based in Sydney, Australia.   At that time, we talked about the usefulness of having some self-care techniques in your back pocket that you could bring out during a crisis to help you calm down.    Given the stress that many of us who work in the nonprofit sector for social justice causes have been feeling lately, Kate’s suggestions are very timely.      I’ve seen a few good articles (here and here) providing tips about how to maintain your mental health and sanity in an age of Trump.   The articles recommend that you:  1) Limit your media consumption by setting some boundaries; 2) Focus on one or two issues close to your heart, there are too many to do all; 3) Make activism fun.   Both articles suggest strongly that you practice self-care and here’s Kate’s tips:

5 Self-Care Hacks that Nonprofit Professionals Can Use in a Crisis by Kate Alexandra

Self-care is both an art and a science, one worth getting intimate with, especially if you are one who’s prone to pushing hard towards what you want out of life.

There are two ways to approach self-care: Preventative and Episodic.

Building a nourishing a daily routine that fuels our health and happiness is part of our long-term burnout prevention plan and could include things like good sleep, healthy food, and regular exercise.

But what if you are approaching a chronic-stress crisis?

Do you have tools ready in your self-care medicine bag, to whip out in an emergency?

Burnout happens when we have too much going on and too few resources to sustain ourselves. The prelude to burnout would typically involve long-term chronic stress: the mind races, the nervous system fires up in ‘fight-flight’ mode and we may experience symptoms such as sleeplessness, extreme fatigue or anxiety.

Understanding chronic stress from the perspective of the nervous system’s in-build ‘emergency response��, helps us to directly impact the physiological needs of our body and bring us back from the edge of burnout.

The 5 techniques I’m sharing below are all about DISRUPTING the stress response. You can think of these techniques as re-routing or snipping the circuit wire that’s fueling your stress. If you can hone in on which techniques most effectively help you snip that circuit wire, you’ll be well equipped to handle peaks of stress and ultimately avoid burnout.

5 Self-Care Hacks to Use in a Crisis

1:  Breathe. When we are consumed by stress, our breath becomes shallow and rapid. Slowing down our breathing is a direct and powerful way to balance an over-stimulated nervous system.

Begin by tuning in to the inhalation and the exhalation, notice what the breath is doing, then gradually slow it down, lengthening (in particular) the exhale breath.

Lengthening the exhale breath soothes the nervous system which in turn affects our state of mind and helps release stress.

Try it: Pause now and take some slow deep breaths, count the inhalation, and the exhalation- notice which is longer. Then focus on lengthening the out breath. Make it as long and smooth as possible (without straining) and try to make it a few counts longer than the inhale breath, working towards a 1:2 ratio (i.e. breath in for 3 counts out for 6 counts).

Breathe in an out through the nose if possible, as this will stimulate the vegus nerve- a cranial nerve, positioned directly behind the nasal passageway, which stimulates the parasympathetic nervous system function of the major organs, slowing heart rate, relaxing blood vessels and reducing feelings associated with stress.

2: Walk Away and Bathe in Nature. When we are talking about disruption techniques for a crisis situation, walking away is a big one. Remove yourself from the stressful situation, get away from the screen and go outside if you can.

Surrounding yourself in nature has a very pacifying effect on humans. The Japanese have a name for it: Shinrin Yoku / Forest Bathing.

Research has found being surrounded by nature even after just 15 minutes, reduces blood pressure while increasing concentration and mental clarity.

And if you can elevate your heart rate while through walking in nature, even better, it will help oxygenate your brain and release endorphins- the happy hormones, which will help disrupt the stress hormones.

3: Emotional Freedom Technique

Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT) also called “Tapping” utilizes a gentle, rapid tapping along major meridian lines identified by Chinese Medicine. It is used to disrupt stuck energy caused by negative emotions. While tapping, we repeat a statement, which allows the mind to identify and clearly name the situation, then we affirm love and acceptance of self.

For example “Even though I am feeling  (Insert your emotion here) right now. I completely love and accept myself.”

To learn more about how this relatively new mind-body healing technique works, watch EFT Founder Gary Craig, share the basic EFT tapping technique. Have a play around and notice how it works for you.

4: Put Your Legs up the Wall.

Acrobatics when we’re approaching burnout? Yes!

Legs up the Wall (Viparitia Karani in Sanskrit) is a simple relaxing posture from Restorative Yoga. It is highly effective for supporting the body during adrenal fatigue and chronic stress.

Stress hormones such as adrenalin, noradrenalin and cortisol are catabolic which means they foster a process that burns energy and breaks down cell structures. To disrupt this activity and recover from excessive stress and exhaustion we need to secrete anabolic hormones, such as the growth hormone. The growth hormone is normally released from the pituitary gland during deep sleep, when the body naturally heals and repairs, but if we are not getting enough sleep this mightn’t be happening as effectively it should.

Putting your legs up the wall activates the parasympathetic nervous system and stimulates baroreceptors (blood pressure sensors) in the neck and upper chest triggering reflexes that reduce nerve input into the adrenal glands, slow the heart rate, slow the brain waves, relax blood vessels, and through secretion of the growth hormone, reduce the amount of noradrenalin circulating in the bloodstream.

Try Legs Up the Wall: Lay on the ground with your legs up against a wall, get your buttocks as close to the wall as possible and pelvis should be elevated on a pillow or some folded blankets (get your pelvis higher than your heart this is important to effectively stimulate the baroreceptors). It can be a little awkward to get in to the first time, but jiggle around until you are comfortable. It’s worth it.

If the legs tire of being straight, bend the knees and cross the legs, with knees near the wall.

Lay here for 15-20 minutes. Think of it as your recovery time. If your mind is excessively busy you could listen to a relaxing piece of music or count your breathing.

5: Yoga Nidra Guided Meditation

Yoga nidra is often referred to as “yoga sleep”. It’s a guided relaxation method designed to induce deep rest, promoting healing and rejuvenation.  Yoga Nidra begins with a body scan; by tuning in to the sensation of body we by-pass thinking and the body begins to relax.

During yoga nidra we move from the active everyday beta brain waves, through the alpha brain waves (which are typically present during mindfulness, daydreaming or creative flow) and finally we drift into theta brain waves, the brain waves of deep sleep, while still technically awake.

Accessing the slow, theta brain waves while conscious has a powerfully pacifying effect on the body-mind, we also become more receptive to insight which can help us become ‘un-stuck’ from our problems.

Studies show that 20 minutes of yoga nidra gives the equivalent rest of 3 hours deep sleep, making it an essential technique to use in times of chronic stress, insomnia or general exhaustion.

Access a FREE yoga nidra meditation here.

Kate Alexandra is a yoga teacher and co-founder of Radical Self Care Project based in Sydney, Australia. She is a passionate advocate for women’s health and empowerment through the practices of self-care, self-study and conscious activism.

  from Beth’s Blog http://ift.tt/2khlTuD