Our stress reactions are built from the past when we had to run from lions, hide from them, and hope that they don’t get to our village. Those kind of stress responses from our ancestors have carried on/evolved into our current lifestyle.
- The machinery of our mind and body was designed to handle intense momentary stress, followed by longer periods of rest and recovery.
- It was not designed to handle the constant low grade stress we handle every day.
Today it is not our physical survival we worry about, but our social survival.
- Impressing our colleagues, paying mortgages, or staying attractive.
- Our struggle for social survival produces a cascade of thinking that starts the instant we wake up, and only quiets during exquisite moments
- During making love, in nature, or experiences of prayer and meditation.
- Otherwise this stream of thought runs continuously throughout the day, ceasing only when we drift into sleep.
We experience much doubt and anxiety. The specific worries that people describe may be different, but the experience is universal
- We react to finances, work and school place drama, relationship conflict, and many other social stressors of modern life as if our very survival were under threat.
In response to our stressful thoughts, our bodies and minds activate the same primitive response mechanisms.
- Our breath shortens, our muscles tighten, our stress hormones like adrenaline, cortisol, etc. flood the body
- We prepare to fight, freeze or flea as if we just encountered a grizzly bear
- Unlike our ancestors who had time to rest and recover, many of us spend almost every waking hour living with the burden of never ending stress.
Re-source: Relaxation
Learning to relax is at the heart of living well
We now know scientifically that relaxation raining reduces a wide variety of physical psychological symptoms.
- Physically, your heart rate slow, blood pressure lowers, pain decreases, and muscle tension eases.
- Psychologically, there is a decrease in anxiety, anger, hostility, and depression as well as improved quality of life for those suffering from life-threatening illnesses.
Techniques for relaxation can be found in all of the world religions.
- Relaxation is part of every spiritual path, used daily to release worldly tensions.
Relaxation softens us, allowing us to loosen our grip on who we think we are
- Our beliefs, identities, ego, and conditioned responses.
We cant force our muscles to relax or our minds to de-stress. We have to work with our whole body-mind to ease into a relaxed state.
- We must approach the process of relaxing in a gentle and accepting manner, without pressure.
Retreat – Smooth your forehead
- Simply imagine that you can smooth the wrinkles out of your forehead.
- With every exhale, imagine your forehead becoming more relaxed.
- You can use your fingertips to lightly stoke your forehead in a slow, soothing manner.
craving from “Start Here” – Master the Lifelong Habit of Wellbeing” by: Eric Langshur and Nate Klemp
resource from “20 Minute Retreats” by Rachel Harris
