Resolution - Situational Awareness

Any stress situation has two elements: the stressor and our coping action, out of which the only the latter is truly in our control. Our ability to cope effectively is limited only by our capability, our ability to assess the situation, decide on what to do, effectiveness in implementing the decision and dealing with the consequence of our action.

Elements of Situational Awareness

Situational Awareness is a stress management product that addresses solutions at two levels; an intervention to manage the immediacy of the situation and a developmental aspect where the lessons (vijnana and jnana) are imbibed, resulting in us being able to either avoid the situation in future or to deal with it more effectively.

Intervention. In many new or difficult situations we often feel overwhelmed, experiencing a kind of psychosomatic hijack characterized by a feeling of being out of control. We need some tool that clears the clouds of confusion and brings a sense of clarity and balance.

Development. This solution is used in the following cases:

Often, we react without fully understanding the situation. This results in a stress residue after the situation has passed. These stresses need to be purged in order that we remain in reality and at peace.

Some situations are long-term and need continuous attention. This means continued focus on incremental improvements to bring the situation under control.

Finally, all experiences result in learning at both, vijnana (transactional) and jnana (value) levels. The faster this assimilation occurs, the better will be the capability of the person to manage a similar experience again.

Any stress management tool we use must cover the following areas related to us:

• Ability to interact with our environment in such a way that we retain our sense of peace and keep the peace with our environment.

• Ability to digest and assimilate inputs from the environment, extract and assimilate the essence of our experience, reference and understand concepts and build a base for better interaction with the environment.

• The opening up of the world has thrown up many opportunities and challenges. The cost of assuaging ambition is often very high in terms of health, relationships and other lost opportunities. The ability to prioritise and balance these requirements is very important.

• As we move to extract more from life without losing our sense of peace, a key requirement is our ability to retain emotional integrity, dual brain operation (left and right/ logical and creative) and high oxygen absorption. The reason is that without such a balance, thinking can become polarized, leading to stress.

• Finally, our ability to process data needs to be enhanced. The ability to handle multiple situations, each with its own demands, is the key to the effective utilization of our time and energy.

Situational Awareness is an exercise in capability building, directing our energies to generating maximum effectiveness for the time that we are alive. This means understanding the objective of what we are setting out to do, putting together a plan that has measurable milestones, eliminating waste in the form of frittered energy, fear, etc., in our operations, communicating effectively, learning continuously and being aware of what we are doing.

This consists of 5 steps which form part of Kriya Yoga of Raja Yoga:

Yama (Outward Focus): Being sensitive to the Dharma of others so that we are at peace.

Niyama (Inward Focus): Align our faculties to Dharma so that we build a foundation of values that improves yama and results in reduced stress experiences.

Asana (Lifestyle Management): Living life in a balanced manner so that we understand all aspects of living to get a well experienced svabhava.

For exercises, we recommend usage of Yogasanas because they are easier on the body, easy to learn & do, do not require expensive accessories/ equipment and yet keep the body fit.

Pranayama (Breathing Techniques): Breathing is critical to our physical, intellectual and emotional stability and reduced stress. We teach various methods of breathing, each designed to optimize absorption of oxygen into the system.

Pratyahara (Mind Control): Concentration is the ability to channalise all our faculties in a single direction (ekagrat) to achieve the objective. Clutter and confusion is avoided when meditation is done regularly. Lower stress results in better decision making capability.