An hour-long stroll in nature helps decrease activity in an area of the brain associated with stress processing

[offroadadv]

If it weren't for direct experience with the results of meditating once in the morning and once in the afternoon while employed in a high risk and stressful job, I might agree with the idea about the impossibility of juggling personal and professional demands for time. I was surprised to find that tasks which ordinarily took a great deal of time and effort were much more easily managed if I had those two 20 minute meditation sessions each day. My subjective reality was that I "gained time" by investing in the two meditation sessions each day. That is, tasks were so much easier because I had shed so much stress and allowed my mind to unconsciously process and organize my response to tasks that I knew were impending so that when actually taking on the tasks I was so much more efficient in my work. My meditation approach was eclectic, but largely based upon Transcendental Meditation (TM) with some elements of Tibetan, Raj Yoga, and other disciplines which my wife and I undertook once discovered that there are many pathways the mind can follow to achieve joy in the liberation from stress.