Swami Vivekananda, Socrates, Chanakya, Einstein, Plato, Sri Aurobindo: these are some of the few greatest thinkers we’ve ever known. They proved that the path to a better world is born in a clear mind. But when the same mind becomes clouded with endless thoughts, we can get dragged into anxiety, depression, confusion, and delusion. Thanks to overthinking, the mind that could liberate us becomes a prison.
And you can’t escape a prison that lives in your own head, can you? Here’s the good news. If you’re struggling with overthinking, you don’t have to fight your thoughts or run away from them anymore. Because we’re going to share 3 simple yogic hacks to help you overcome overthinking.
1. Decluttering the spaces where you spend the most time
A powerful mind can influence the shape of our environment. But our environment too holds the power to shape our mind. Yogis knew this secret and embraced Aparigraha (non-attachment to possessions). That’s why they often chose to live minimally without owning too many possessions. Does that mean you have to renounce all that you own? No! You just need to cut the clutter and organize it a little better.
Are you living in a mess?
Whenever we live in a hotel, we all know how good it feels to come back to a clean fragrant room after room service finishes its work. So why don’t we make that effort for our own home or workplace? Probably because we’ve gathered too much stuff that occupies too much space, and now we have too little time to organize it daily. You don’t know where to start even if you want to organize it. But remember, the more cluttered your environment is, the more overthinking will trouble you.
So where do you even begin? Don’t worry. We’ve made a simple checklist to help you easily declutter any place you want – your cupboard, kitchen, bedroom, work desk, or garage.
i. Make clear categories of the items in the space.
Let’s say you want to declutter your bedroom. Observe which items occupy the most space in your room. Now mark them as the first in your decluttering priority list. For instance, clothes first, then books, pots, posters, decorative pieces, etc. You can even make subcategories if needed to fine-tune your room decluttering. Your clothes could be neatly divided into tops, bottoms, underwear, socks, bags, and accessories.
iI. Only keep that which you really value.
How do I really know if it’s worth discarding or not? That’s one question most of us get stuck with when we try to get rid of old things. We can’t know what you really need. It’s not the price tag of the item that can answer this either. You need to answer it yourself.
Even Mother Nature declutters to make room for new life.
So what can you do? Just ask yourself these 2 simple questions when you pick up each item –
- Does it spark joy or inspire positivity within me?
- How often have I used it in the past 6 months?
If it does spark joy and you still actively use it, then keep it and treasure it. Such items will always help positively impact your mind.
III. Organize your space thoroughly after discarding what you don’t need.
The last step may have left your room even messier than before. But don’t worry! The hardest part is over. Now you just need to decide what the best place to store them again is.
Want to save yourself from overthinking about where to find what you need? Then it’s best if you can store all items of the same type in the same place instead of scattering them around. Each storage space should have a clear purpose and should be easily accessible for you.
IV. Finish it all at once.
Want a dramatic shift in your mindset? Then make sure you have enough time to finish your decluttering project at one go.
Doing it bit by bit may sound easy, but it means staying in the middle of a pile of even more clutter for a long time. Your mind will keep getting bombarded by uncertainty about the objects you need to keep or give away. That will make this whole project much more mentally exhausting.
A quote by minimalism practitioner Marie Kondo.
2. AUM chanting to make overthinking disappear
A mantra is more than just words with special meaning. They are powerful sounds that resonate with certain energy centers, which can be activated when we chant them. In the yogic culture, everything manifests as a certain vibration. So the whole universe is nothing but a web of sounds.
AUM is the mother of all sounds. It is the combination of 3 root sounds – “Aa”, “Oo” and “Mm”, uttered together as “AUM”. You literally can’t create any thought, word, or object without these root vibrations. This mantra can also be recognized as “AMEN” in Christian scriptures and “AMIN” in Islamic scriptures.
The power of AUM as explained by Swami Vivekananda.
So how does it help solve your overthinking problem? Today, several research studies have proved that AUM chanting can soothe those parts of the brain that are hyperactivated in people with depression and anxiety. It helps synchronize the left and right hemispheres of your brain, which improves both your logical and intuitive intelligence.
Whether you’re preparing for exams, multi-tasking in your kitchen, or making a presentation for work, AUM chanting is perfect for lifting the burden off your mind. You can chant it anytime of the day, wherever you are, for however long you wish. No problem! Just make sure you know how to chant it correctly. You can learn how to do it in this video below.
3. Doing Trataka on a flame
You’ve heard of candle light dinners to share an intimate evening with your partner. But have you heard of candle light meditations that help you get in touch with yourself more intimately? That’s exactly what Trataka kriya is.
How do you do it? You gaze at a candle keeping your eyes open without blinking for as long as you can.
Keep the candle at your eye level when you do Trataka kriya.
According to the Hatha Yoga Pradipika, Trataka greatly improves concentration and memory. We’re a generation whose attention span is now competing with the attention span of a goldfish. It’s our failure to hold our attention that keeps multiplying our thoughts. Apart from getting rid of overthinking, it can get rid of all eye diseases, fatigue, and laziness as well. If eyes are the windows to the soul, think of Trataka like a window cleaner.
You can follow the instructions in this video for a step-by-step guide to do Trataka kriya at home. Tell us in the comments below what tools have you used to achieve a clear and focused mind.
may always have something or the other, which is going against their wish, which is outside their control, and thus it can cause stress. Whether it is a funding issue, or profitability, or just the projector that stops working during an important presentation. No matter how much they try, their work will always throw ‘stress creating situations’ at them, and the only way to come out unaffected is by working on themselves. How does that happen? Subah Saraf and Harshvardhan Saraf believe what they have been able to create at
The genesis
Why is stress management an essential skill for entrepreneurs?
Entrepreneurs manage stress in their daily lives. Apart from the things we manage in our everyday life, such as our family, our relationships, our finances, our work and so on; entrepreneurs have to manage a business entity, its growth, sales, profit, employees and their wellbeing, etc. It’s a lot of responsibility on one person, and they may not always have a team to do it for them, at least in the early days of their new venture. Being affected by the stress in their love is something that they should remove.
“Stress is an undesirable situation, and it is unfortunate that most millennials today are talking about managing stress. There is no need to manage it. It is like saying ‘depression management’ or ‘unhealthy diet management’. The objective should be to seek a healthy and balanced lifestyle, which will ensure that our mind is strong enough to remain unaffected by stressors,” says Subah Saraf.
Harshvardhan Saraf and Subah Saraf , co-founders, Satvic Movement.
The answers
The founder duo has some easy tips and techniques for stress management for all entrepreneurs- current and aspiring:
Allocate time for themselves
Entrepreneurs must set aside some time each day to focus on building themselves. Their focus must be on the 3 M’s – movement for the physical body, meditation for spiritual peace, and mastery for skills and knowledge. They should prepare themselves in such a way that even if external stress comes their way, they are prepared to handle it. The ideal time for such activities is in the morning.
Reducing stimulants
Modern urban lifestyle revolves around stimulants. They are available everywhere and in excess. Glorified by media and popular culture, a huge chunk of the population is hooked on stimulants: tea, coffee, nicotine, energy drinks. It’s not surprising that they are stressed! These are all overly stimulating for our nervous system and over time, their mind loses its own ability and starts depending on external stimulants for short term boosts. This makes them vulnerable to stress, making it amply clear that entrepreneurs must work towards reducing such stimulants from their lives.
Sticking to a regular sleeping and meal schedule
Erratic sleep cycles and erratic meal times are one of the prime reasons for stress and anxiety. A disciplined personal routine is a key foundation to a stress-free life.
Avoiding mindless social media scrolling
Mindless scrolling constantly feeds our brains with information that we’re compulsively consuming, but the brain still processes it and our emotions still react. Avoiding this especially before going to bed, or the first thing after waking up, improves sleep quality and leaves them refreshed and ready to take on challenges with new vigour at the start of their day. If an entrepreneur is spending over 30 minutes on social media each day, it should raise a red flag. If this is not checked, over time, it is bound to reduce productivity and create unwanted stress.
Productivity
Most stress comes when entrepreneurs spend the majority of their day doing urgent last-minute work. Harshvardhan recommends planning for an entire week instead of making day to-do lists. He emphasized, “This helps in doing things which are the most important and firefighting less each day. Not planning the coming week and showing up on the desk without a clear plan is a sure shot formula for stress for any entrepreneur,” he says.
How does a stress-free life benefit an entrepreneur?
Entrepreneurs do not get bogged down by routine ups and downs of life. Stress is a natural reaction of the body meant for their survival, and it just remains so. A stress-free body is vibrant, full of life and composed, unlike a stressed-out body that is always on the edge. So, a stressed entrepreneur is more likely to make impulsive decisions and operate in a reactive mode, whereas a non-stressed business owner makes better decisions. Battling stress keeps them in a vicious loop because they keep making poor decisions that, in turn, keep adding more and more stress. The best piece of advice for them is to take a step back, alleviate the stress, and resume with a stress-free and refreshed approach.
The journey of an entrepreneur is full of challenges and stress simply comes along with it. Balancing multiple tasks and responsibilities, dealing with crises and uncertainties regularly is part of an entrepreneur’s day job. When faced with a danger or a problem, the human body creates a sensation to attract our attention and prompts us to act, which we call stress. In short busts, it can be positive, but stress for prolonged periods can be damaging to our mental and physical well-being. Entrepreneurs may always have something or the other, which is going against their wish, which is outside their control, and thus it can cause stress. Whether it is a funding issue, or profitability, or just the projector that stops working during an important presentation. No matter how much they try, their work will always throw ‘stress creating situations’ at them, and the only way to come out unaffected is by working on themselves. How does that happen? Subah Saraf and Harshvardhan Saraf believe what they have been able to create at Satvic Movement can help entrepreneurs follow a healthy lifestyle such that stress does not hamper their health, wellness, or decision-making abilities.Satvic Movement is an online holistic health education platform, founded in August 2017 by Subah Saraf and Harshvardhan Saraf. The co-founders, who themselves battled chronic health conditions and overcame them following a Satvic lifestyle, have applied their learnings to start this movement based on three pillars – holistic lifestyle, natural diet, and daily yoga. Satvic means the mode of goodness. In the Bhagavad Gita , we learn about 3 modes/gunas – Satva, Rajas, and Tamas. “Today, most our society operates between the modes of rajas (over-ambition and greed) and tamas (laziness and ignorance). Satvic Movement aims to spread Satva, the values of goodness,” says Harshvardhan Saraf. The founders believe that it is this Satvic quality within us that makes us happy, blissful, fearless, and compassionate.Entrepreneurs manage stress in their daily lives. Apart from the things we manage in our everyday life, such as our family, our relationships, our finances, our work and so on; entrepreneurs have to manage a business entity, its growth, sales, profit, employees and their wellbeing, etc. It’s a lot of responsibility on one person, and they may not always have a team to do it for them, at least in the early days of their new venture. Being affected by the stress in their love is something that they should remove.“Stress is an undesirable situation, and it is unfortunate that most millennials today are talking about managing stress. There is no need to manage it. It is like saying ‘depression management’ or ‘unhealthy diet management’. The objective should be to seek a healthy and balanced lifestyle, which will ensure that our mind is strong enough to remain unaffected by stressors,” says Subah Saraf.The founder duo has some easy tips and techniques for stress management for all entrepreneurs- current and aspiring:Entrepreneurs must set aside some time each day to focus on building themselves. Their focus must be on the 3 M’s – movement for the physical body, meditation for spiritual peace, and mastery for skills and knowledge. They should prepare themselves in such a way that even if external stress comes their way, they are prepared to handle it. The ideal time for such activities is in the morning.Modern urban lifestyle revolves around stimulants. They are available everywhere and in excess. Glorified by media and popular culture, a huge chunk of the population is hooked on stimulants: tea, coffee, nicotine, energy drinks. It’s not surprising that they are stressed! These are all overly stimulating for our nervous system and over time, their mind loses its own ability and starts depending on external stimulants for short term boosts. This makes them vulnerable to stress, making it amply clear that entrepreneurs must work towards reducing such stimulants from their lives.Erratic sleep cycles and erratic meal times are one of the prime reasons for stress and anxiety. A disciplined personal routine is a key foundation to a stress-free life. Netflix and chill may sound cool, but its impact is definitely uncool. Poor regard for regular meals and rest leads to burnout at an early age. Entrepreneurs remain stressed for such prolonged periods of time that they start to normalize stress. On the contrary, if they normalize having a regular schedule, it reduces stress and gives them time for self-care.Mindless scrolling constantly feeds our brains with information that we’re compulsively consuming, but the brain still processes it and our emotions still react. Avoiding this especially before going to bed, or the first thing after waking up, improves sleep quality and leaves them refreshed and ready to take on challenges with new vigour at the start of their day. If an entrepreneur is spending over 30 minutes on social media each day, it should raise a red flag. If this is not checked, over time, it is bound to reduce productivity and create unwanted stress.Most stress comes when entrepreneurs spend the majority of their day doing urgent last-minute work. Harshvardhan recommends planning for an entire week instead of making day to-do lists. He emphasized, “This helps in doing things which are the most important and firefighting less each day. Not planning the coming week and showing up on the desk without a clear plan is a sure shot formula for stress for any entrepreneur,” he says.Entrepreneurs do not get bogged down by routine ups and downs of life. Stress is a natural reaction of the body meant for their survival, and it just remains so. A stress-free body is vibrant, full of life and composed, unlike a stressed-out body that is always on the edge. So, a stressed entrepreneur is more likely to make impulsive decisions and operate in a reactive mode, whereas a non-stressed business owner makes better decisions. Battling stress keeps them in a vicious loop because they keep making poor decisions that, in turn, keep adding more and more stress. The best piece of advice for them is to take a step back, alleviate the stress, and resume with a stress-free and refreshed approach.
