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Destressifying: The Real-World Guide to Personal Empowerment, Lasting Fulfillment, and Peace of Mindby DavidjiEnglish | ISBN: 1401948006, 1781805350 | 2015 | 312 pages | EPUB, MOBI, AZW3 | 2 MBIt’s pernicious . . . it’s diabolical . . . it creeps into every moment of our lives. It influences our relationships, impacts our physical body, works its way into our conversations, sparks non-nourishing behaviors, and forces us to do things we’d never want to do. It’s infectious; it’s relentless . . .It’s stress!We all know it. We all experience it. It’s the human condition—but through this book, you will learn to transcend it.Drawing on decades of experience working with individuals in extreme, high-pressure situations—including business leaders, world-class athletes, members of the military, Special Forces, and those in crisis—davidji will show you how to handle any type of stress that life throws at you. Just as he demystified the practice of meditation in his award-winning book Secrets of Meditation, here he will teach you proactive tools to breathe more easily, master your emotions, communicate more effectively, cultivate more nourishing relationships, and perform at a higher level. With his trademark easy-to-understand and entertaining writing style, davidji will transform your understanding of stress using time-tested techniques; cutting-edge science; real-world, practical applications; and in-the-moment stress busters.How you respond to the world around you determines the fabric of your life—and one read of destressifying will enhance your performance at work, at home, and in the face of daily surprises. This book will allow you to determine the speed at which life comes at you and guide you to deeper fulfillment, greater empowerment, and true peace of mind. Editorial ReviewsReview“This is a very high-powered book. Stressful thinking is wreaking havoc on the lives of so many in our fast-paced world. davidji offers a comprehensive course written in a language that you can grasp and apply immediately, all within the covers of one book. I loved it and am recommitted to in-the-moment destressifying.”— Dr. Wayne W. Dyer, #1 New York Times best-selling author of I Can See Clearly Now“I love the genuineness and raw simplicity of davidji’s powerful message. His style is inclusive and inviting rather than exclusive and elitist. Bottom line: I want to have an outlook on life just like davidji.” —Laurent Potdevin, CEO, lululemon“davidji is a master teacher who illuminates a better way to be human by bringing bleeding-edge research to life and showing practical ways to change your mind-set about stress.”— Shawn Achor, happiness researcher and New York Times best-selling author of The Happiness Advantage“davidji’s fundamentally human approach gets at a simple truth: if we are happier, healthier, and more aware of our inner motivations, we will perform better in our jobs, be better parents or spouses, and be more present for our clients. This is true because, thanks to davidji’s guidance, we have a better understanding of what peace of mind is and how to achieve it.” — John W. Thiel, CEO, Merrill Lynch“davidji is a wonderful teacher who brings joy and awareness to the world.”— Deepak Chopra, M.D.,New York Times best-selling author of The Future of God“davidji has written a powerful, practical, and inspiring manual to help us understand and radically transform our relationship to stress. Written with a brilliant blend of clarity, compassion, and wisdom, it enlightens the mind and uplifts the heart. I highly recommend destressifying as essential reading for anyone who wants to live a more peaceful and joyful life!” — Dr. Barbara De Angelis, #1 New York Times best-selling author of Soul Shifts“I’m a huge fan and a lucky friend. I love being in davidji’s great, robust, rich, delicious, deep, peaceful, funny, people- and animal-loving presence. He’s a wonderful teacher, and destressifying is a book we all need to read and embrace.” — Kris Carr,New York Times best-selling author of the Crazy Sexy Cancer book series“davidji is a divine teacher and a soulful leader. In his book destressifying, he offers a practical guide to managing stress with grace. In a world where stress has become an epidemic, this book is a must-read. davidji’s wisdom and tools will clear the blocks to the presence of peace we all long for.”— Gabrielle Bernstein,New York Times best-selling author of Miracles Now“If I’d read this book as a beginning meditator, I’d have avoided a lot of false starts, perceptual errors, and backaches. Reading it now, many years into my own practice, I still found jewels that enriched and brightened my meditation and my life. davidji is a gentle, kind, patient, clever teacher whose words can help lighten your stress and facilitate your quest for greater wisdom.”— Martha Beck,New York Times best-selling author of Finding Your Way in a Wild New World“davidji is an incomparable teacher. The depth and breadth of his wisdom is unsurpassed. With davidji, the Blue Courage team of police officers—who teach thousands of cops annually—have laughed, cried, learned, grown, and transformed. davidji has the solutions that protect those who protect us. Through davidji, hearts are healed, souls are inspired, spirits are ignited, and minds are expanded. Oh yes—and lives are saved! In a modern world desperately in need of greater awareness and resilience, destressifying is your must-read! Thank you, davidji!”— Michael J. Nila, police commander (Ret.), Blue Courage founder and managing partnerAbout the AuthorDavidji is an internationally recognized stress-management expert, meditation master, corporate-wellness trainer, public speaker, and author. After a 20-year career in finance, business, and mergers and acquisitions, davidji began a new journey to wholeness by apprenticing under Deepak Chopra for ten years as the Chopra Center COO and lead educator, and became the first dean of Chopra Center University. He now travels the world helping individuals awaken to the best version of themselves; his real-world techniques and guided meditations have been used by hundreds of thousands around the globe to destressify and take their lives to the next level.     davidji has a deep passion for working with those in high-stress, high-pressure situations. Through the Blue Courage Awareness Training curriculum, his teachings are practiced in some of the largest precincts and police academies in the U.S. Each week, he hosts LIVE from the SweetSpot, now in its fifth year on HayHouseRadio.com®. Join the davidji SweetSpot Community at www.davidji.comAmazon Top Customer Reviews5.0 out of 5 starsPractical exercises that are really effective, supportive and transformative. Less stress!By Sarah Rose on September 1, 2015Quote:The first chapters focus on clearly defining stress and the impact stress has on our bodies. Practical exercises begin with Squeeze and Release, teaching our bodymind that the threat has passed and we are safe now. This allows us to power down from fight or flight. This stops the effects continuing into the longer term future. 16 seconds to clarity is very helpful in relaxing through your breathing. It totally worked for me. Davidji’s way of guiding you into, through and out of the exercises is supportive, effective and transformative. I feel much lighter and less stressed already! According to Davidji, this can be explained as introducing pattern interrupt:-Quote:- You actually just jammed the brakes on a potential surge of stress hormones and all the negative bodymind reactions you were starting to feel. You broke the flow of conditioned physical and emotional responses.The author explains this as the halo effect, lightening and calm inducing. We put the past conditioning on hold, and step out of it and beyond. We explore our full potential.As you read on you will learn about mindful meditation and mantra meditation. I have practised mantra meditation for 31 years, starting as a teenager, with Transcendental Meditation, as practiced by Oprah Winfrey, Russell Brand and other well known people. You can even download a meditation timer from Davidji.com, which I recommend doing to avoid clock watching and learn to surrender into meditation.Davidji explains how meditation enables us to gain a new perspective and see the world anew, a fresh space for new potential to unfold, sparking new expansion and growth.The author shares how commencing your day with meditation, a platform of silence and stillness, is transformational. Autopilot goes off and reflection on.Davidji is so real about the challenges to practicing meditation regularly, you will, no doubt, see yourself in one example that he provides. This is simply the best meditation guide I have found, and I have been meditating for 33 years.The highlight of destressifying came upon reading chapter 9, destressifying by mastering your communication. We all would generally feel fine alone on the top of the mountain, but, the challenge is integration in life, with the rest of the world, hence communication. I read about the primitive brain before, but Davidji has THE perfect way to explain how this works in action via examples, one of such I have personally experienced. I previously learnt how to become more objective, yet that was only part of the answer, albiet an important part. Through the four part process on page 193 to 199, you will learn how to address your unmet needs. Some ideas may seem obvious, so then why do we never take action in this way instead? I have put the process into action in my own life, and now feel more peaceful, as do those around me, and more love flows between everyone. I also feel increased wellbeing from less stress and more creativity from not expending my energy in anger (when I felt an injustice, but do read destressify to understand how to take authentic action by responding instead of reacting). Nourishing boundaries, non-verbal communication and conflict resolution are also covered in ways that I have not seen before, even if some similarities exist, it depends on how comprehensive the message is:- are you lost in a sea of words? Is the message incomplete or not explained very clearly.In chapter 10, The Burnout Quiz and the facing page on heading towards burnout is very valuable, followed by a body scan (a longer exercise). Chapter 11 offers 18 ways to destressify in your life, and advises you choose just one to focus on at a time. Also included is:- Why do we get angry?In the final chapter Davidji teaches how to integrate the processes in different scenarios and times of the day. No stone is left unturned, which is an unusual feat for a method in the absence of personal coaching or live workshops. I guess that comes from considerable experience of teaching!Keep the destressify book close by as you read on and integrate the wisdom in your daily life, as I have done.5.0 out of 5 starsWe change the world by changing ourselves !!! Read it. Apply the lessons. Don’t put it off.By KevinCP on August 25, 2015Quote:Now I finally know how to apply all the stress management techniques that I’ve been reading about. Most of the other books on the stress management don’t get down to how to apply the information presented. This book gives you actions that you can start applying now. Don’t wait, read it today, Start managing your stress. Don’t let it manage you. I’ve finished the book and starting to implement the recommended steps.The book just kept getting better and better. davidji is AMAZING.5.0 out of 5 starsWONDERFUL book by davidjiBy D. Cox on September 8, 2015Quote:WONDERFUL book by davidji. Very informative and easy to read and understand. In this crazy, hectic world in which we live, I’m grateful to have people like davidji helping to “destressify” my life. Loved it! Many thanks!5.0 out of 5 starsPractical & Full of WisdomBy Amanda Weber on September 6, 2015Quote:In true Davidji style this book lays out a clear and practical path to greater health and happiness. Whether you integrate 1 or all of his suggestions you will feel a shift in your life. This kind of powerful wisdom is exactly what we need to cope in today’s always on and wired world. I loved this book and as a busy entrepreneur, parent, daughter, spouse and person trying to generate a positive ripple in the world, highly recommend it.4.0 out of 5 starsTeaching you to “destress” stressBy Pippa Lee VINE VOICE on November 21, 2015Quote:One way to look at davidji’s “destressifying” (yes, the author chooses to write his name and title of the book all in small caps) as a compendium of exercises and techniques to manage stress. He actually lists in the index 30 exercises that help readers handle the fight-or-flight response in stressful situations. But this book is not just about releasing stress by performing those exercises, but also it’s a guide to understanding why we experience stress and how, according to the author, destressifying helps us adapt to negative situations without feeling the negative consequences of stress.In the book, davidji explains how stress is born out of our unmet needs, from basics needs such as food and shelter to our needs for stability and security, love and family, status and self-fulfillment. But most of the times, we cannot identify exactly what those needs are. Destressifying helps us gain clarity, and we do so by mastering our awareness, needs, emotions, communication and purpose in life.“destressifying” covers a lot. Sometimes if feels like there is too much information to absorb. The advice ranges from getting rid of clutter to tapping into your passion. But at its core is the importance of staying in the moment and how we interpret that moment has an impact on how much stress we’re going to experience. Throughout the book, there are many meditation and breathing exercises. Some are very short, like “16 seconds to clarity” to full body scans. Many can be used and are meant to be used to short circuit a stressful situation so that we have a chance to step back and look at the situation with different eyes.It would be nice if the guided meditations, like the destressifying body scan, would come in a CD so that readers can listen to it. Reading the instructions are hard when you’re asked to closed your eyes. Nevertheless, this book is a good resource to understanding stress and includes a good number of exercises; meditations and advice that help us live a more fulfilling life.5.0 out of 5 starsDestressifyingBy KatS on August 27, 2015Quote:I love this book. Davidji’s meditations are usually gentle and dreamy. I like his RPM and RAW meditation suggestions – very down to earth advice! Also ‘Destressifying’ is a book that helps us link – what meditation goes with our stress. It is specially helpful to find an ‘Index of Meditatios and Exercises’ on page 275. Exercises are practical, such as, the ‘Eight destressifications of the spine’ – designed to ‘… Proactively relese you from bodily stress’.