On this page each month you'll find a link to a new stress-busting tip or simple energy shifting modality you can do, to quickly put yourself back into a more coherent, relaxed state. Doing this on a daily basis will allow you to get back in touch with the natural, inherent sense of well-being in which we were designed to live – the state many of us knew as young children.
Stress - what is it?
In some way it is resistance to the flow of our life as it is.
It is a saying “NO!” to life.
However, Life is however it is. So we’re going against what is.
Stress is, fundamentally, a judging of our current life, as BAD, unacceptable in some way, and stress is all the unpleasant feelings and physiological changes that come from this judgment.
We tend to feel very justified in our stresses - our boss is too demanding; our child is rude; the partner didn't pick up the dirty laundry! there are too many bills to pay and too little coming in.
A lot of stress also comes from refusing to be in the present - rehashing the past and beating ourselves up for our "mistakes", or from projecting into the future and living in the fear of what "might happen".
The problem with stress is that the physiological processes in the body triggered by stress literally make us dumb - they shut down the higher thinking capacities, and put us under the more primitive brain areas which are concerned only with survival and the fight or flight related emotions.
This leaves us very poorly equipped to come up with solutions to the situations that we'd like to change, or even the ability to cope gracefully with situations that we can't change. If we want to be masters of our life and create the life we want, we have to learn how to turn off the stress response and bring ourselves back to well-being, quickly, and moment to moment, on a daily basis.
The physiological processes of stress also shut down the body processes associated with growth and healing.
Chronic stress is now understood to be strongly associated with most major degenerative processes and diseases in the body.
According to cell biologist, Barry Lipton (www.), our cells have only two modes - protection (stress) and growth, and they can't do both at the same time. These two modes are carried out and reflected in the sympathetic (fight/flight) and parasympathetic (growth/healing) aspects of the nervous system. While our ancestors often needed the fight/flight system to protect them from saber tooth tigers, our lives don’t often require that kind of physiological reaction – and yet we continually get triggered into it – and even live in that mode.
Wouldn't you rather give your cells permission to do growth and healing rather than protection, most of the time?!
So what we each need are ways that work for us, to shift us out of stress/reactive mode back into the well-being/growth mode.
The good news is that very simple things can enable us to do this.
As the understandings of Quantum Physics are brought into the realm of healthcare, the understanding of who we are begins to shift. And we can begin to realize that we are vibrating energy fields, as much, or even more truly, than blood, skin and bones. As vibrating energy fields, we can use simple tools to shift our vibration. This shift then translates into instantaneous change throughout the system.
The bad news is that we have to train ourselves to notice stress and actually do what works to move us out of stress mode!
Most of us tend to be very addicted to stress. And furthermore, when the system is in stress mode, it very often goes into a reaction, which is known as "being switched". It's equivalent to when a circuit breaker "trips". It's meant to get us to take a break, to rest and regroup, but often we keep going and pushing, not giving the body a chance to reset the circuit. In this switched state, we tend to make poor choices for ourselves (I can't believe I ate the whole thing!), and the energies of the body work against themselves, making healing and growth very difficult.
So let’s try one simple stress-buster right now.
You can take a moment to think of one current situation that you feel some stress about. If possible, write down in one sentence, the core of what it is that you’re stressed about. To begin, choose something relatively minor. Take a minute to notice in your body, how stress shows up for you – Is it a tightening of the shoulders, shallow breathing, clenching of the jaw, a tightness in the stomach, repetitive negative thoughts, a feeling of anxiety or depression? Closing your eyes may help.
Now, stand up if you can, and begin to vigorously shake the hands and wrists, then the whole arm and shoulders. Extend the shaking, like a dog shaking water off its back, to each leg, the hips, the feet. Allow yourself to make any sound that feels good. Shake out all the tension in your body. Do this for at least a couple minutes, until you feel “done”.
Now sit back down, and close your eyes. Tune into your body, mind and emotions. What changes do you notice?
Congratulations! You’ve just helped your body release stored tensions and moved yourself into a more relaxed and healthy state. You’re allowing your body to return to its work of growth and healing. And it just took a few minutes!
And for the times when you can’t stand up and shake, and don’t even have 3 minutes, a few simple deep breaths can also profoundly shift your energies. If you can add yawning, sighing and stretching it will help even more.
We are meant to live in a state of ease and well-being most of the time. Our physiology is designed for this, and our health depends on it.
