Death By Stress

Understanding and managing stress has been one of the greatest gifts yoga has bestowed upon me. We must first understand stress, before we can begin to develop strategies to overcome it. The stress response is an automatic and intuitive physiological mechanism that facilitates fight or flight in order to protect the body from danger, whether this danger be real or imagined. We developed this response so that as primal beings, we were able to flee from danger or physically ward off life-threatening enemies. Unfortunately however, as society has evolved, our stress response hasn’t. As a result, our bodies cannot differentiate a hungry lion, from a stressful modern day scenario such as meeting a work deadline. More often than not, we actually hang on to mental images and thought processes, brooding over incidents and churning stressful events over in our mind, long after they have taken place. In this way, the stress response continues and perpetuates. This is when stress becomes chronic and imbalances and disease begin to spread through the body. 

Now that we can comprehend the stress response, we can develop a set of coping mechanisms that can be incorporated into your routine. The best way to reduce stress is to activate your parasympathetic part of your nervous system, which is the part of your body that controls your sleep, digestive and healing mechanisms. I activate my parasympathetic nervous system by practicing yoga, meditation, slow breathing and warm showers. The body and mind are SO powerful that WE have the ability to manoeuvre our way around the stress response. I always tell myself, stress is a choice. Busy is a choice. Stress is not in the situation, but in our reaction. 

My go-to panic remedy:

Find the floor. Be it a patch of grass, yoga mat or the kitchen floor. Close your eyes and place your hands on your belly. Witness your belly rise and fall. Inhale for 4. Hold for 3. Exhale for 8. 3 minutes. You’re welcome. 

Affirmation 

I am safe, I am calm, I can breath.