This is episode 1,034 of the Daily Meditation Podcast. I'm Mary Meckley and I welcome you to day four of our series we're exploring this week all about managing stress. Some of your top stress triggers we know are death of a loved

one, divorce, relocating, losing a job, losing your health to an illness or an accident.

These are the top stressors that psychologists claim can really

derail someone for an extended period of time. So one of the best ways to manage these top stressors and stress in

general is by meditating and here you are doing just that. In today's episode I'm going to

be sharing with you a meditation technique called a moodra. And moodras are a way to position your hands and also your body.

I'll be sharing with you a way to place your hands together as if you are in prayer position.

And this is actually called the Gratitude Mudra.

So you press your hands together with your fingers and your thumbs upward your thumbs are

touching and your fingers are touching your palms are pressed together, and this is how you might see statues when they are in prayer position, this is maybe how you pray.

And this helps to open up your heart. It's located right there at

your fourth chakra, your heart chakra. You'll be discovering a little more about chakras in tomorrow's episode and

the qualities of your heart chakra are love, gratitude, and compassion. So when you place your hands in this mudra you

stimulate a corresponding region of your brain to help you feel more grateful. Now when you are able to

manage stress in your life know that you're doing your mind and your body a great service as well

as a service to those around you and the world.

In fact, it's estimated that stress is a culprit in more than 95% of major illness.

That's a whopping number.

That's where you may just recommit even more to your meditation ritual.

95% of major illness

indicates stress as a major culprit.

So stress can cause cardiovascular disease,

...