managing stress during a pandemic

A meditative moment on a Flow journey in the Westfjörds of Iceland

Meditation is the most powerful tool we can use to conquer stress and learn to gain control of our mind and emotions especially during times of high stress.

Being constantly confronted daily with images and information about our global crisis and pandemic and the ensuing chaos happening in our world sets our fight or flight adrenaline glands constantly into overdrive. Over time, this dramatically wears our immune systems down, until we become vulnerable to sickness and burnout.

Check in with yourself. What is the first thing you do when you wake up? How soon do you open your phone or your computer and read messages that invariably contain notifications about distressing events happening in our world?

During times of stress and uncertainty it becomes more important than ever to meditate and to safeguard our health. Most of us are at the mercy of our emotions. We tend to avoid difficult and painful feelings, and this is a natural reflex when we are going through difficult times. Hard times are always going on, but sometimes like now they reach a boiling point.

Flow Meditation helps us reverse that trend and live with an open heart. In the process of taking some minutes to go within, simply breathing and opening up more space inside ourselves, we naturally connect deeper and allow ourselves to feel our genuine feelings. We trust ourselves and our emotions in all the ways they bubble up, in order to be able to let go of emotional and mental obstacles like stress, fear and distractions.

In this process we become more intune and receptive, and begin to understand ourselves better. As we open our minds and hearts in meditation we connect to our true qualities like inner strength and courage. We find more self-trust, compassion, and more connection to our whole selves. This gives us more freedom to live in the way we desire to live.

Meditation does not have to take a lot of time from your busy and full day. According to research at Stanford, just five minutes can change your wellbeing for the better. This is our experience with our Flow immersive tools. “Even just four minutes in Flow can change everything.” says Flow CEO Kristin Hrefna Halldórsdóttir.

When you meditate before going to sleep, for example, this can turn your whole night into a meditation experience. Try meditating with Flow's Restore Meditation before going to bed. Make the last thoughts you think before drifting off to sleep be an expression of your positive intention. For example, you can say to yourself silently or out loud, “I am strong, I am resilient, I am calm.” Then when you wake up, notice how you feel, and if you feel different.

Meditating first thing in the morning can make your day more peaceful, focused and productive. Just four minutes of a Flow Calm meditation can make a world of difference, but if you can manage 12 minutes or longer, this is even more optimum. My morning meditation routine now includes a 60 minute Flow meditation, using our playlist on Spotify. This transforms my outlook on my world in a really positive way. I feel freed up from the burden of current events and ready to move forward in my day with energy and enthusiasm.

Background: Originally from Palo Alto, California, Tristan Elizabeth Gribbin founded Flow VR in Iceland in the summer of 2016 and since then has led hundreds of corporate meditation classes.

Throughout her life Tristan has tried all kinds of meditation in different places in the world along with her husband film director Stefan Árni. Both are trained meditation leaders, and they are the current voices of Flow -- Tristan in English and Stefan in Icelandic. At the heart of Flow’s offerings (Flow VR and Flow apps) is the Flow meditation method, which features six modes:

1. Breathe 2. Move 3. Let go 4. Calm 5. Focus and 6. Restore.

“We provide a wide variety of tools and the Flow method has a special power that helps people connect to a profound experience of meditation from the first try”, Tristan says, “These tools are designed to help people living in our challenging and chaotic climate. We are dealing with high levels of stress.”

She says that meditation has the ability to “...help people to open up to the depth of everything that is inside of us, to break free from old patterns and thoughts that hold us back. People are always seeking more well-being, happiness and inner strength. It is our own responsibility to choose what we do with our lives and how we go about this search. Flow is here to support that.”