Our bodies are beautiful, complex, and incredibly intelligent living systems. In its wisdom, the body knows what to do when we are too cold to heat us up again, it shivers; when we are too hot it sweats, when there is too much glucose in the blood it releases insulin to lock the glucose away until its needed. In these and countless other instances, the body is reacting to an internal or external change in its environment and trying to maintain the best possible set of physiological circumstances to keep us healthy and safe. A key player in this balancing act is the nervous system. Our nervous system helps to detect changes in both inside and outside the body – it has the ability to raise the alarm and put us on high alert (fight, flight, or freeze) and equally can signal to the body and mind that all is well, that you are safe, free to relax and be calm (rest and digest).
The stress response is one of the responses the nervous system can trigger in its quest to maintain a set of balanced conditions – it is essential to survival. When we are faced with a threat, a chain of chemical reactions take place within the body which gives us the ability to deal with the situation. Back in caveman days, if we heard a suspicious rustling in the bushes, this would trigger the stress response, flooding our system with chemicals such as adrenaline which allow us to run away from the sabre tooth tiger (real or imagined). Once we perceived that we were safe again, the stress response would have done its job and been switched off. This would allow the body to get back to its normal duty of keeping us healthy. This illustrates how the stress response can be a very healthy thing in the right circumstances.
Sabre tooth tigers no longer exist, thankfully! But life, in all its complexity, still presents us with many situations which can, and do trigger the stress response. This in itself would not be a bad thing, if after each response there was a chance for the nervous system to switch off the response before needing to turn it on again. Sadly, in modern day life, our nervous systems are bombarded with so many triggers that the almost all of us are in varying levels of constant stress. This low level, background state of constant stress is not normal as far as the body is concerned. The chemicals released during a stress response become harmful to the body as they remain present in the body over long periods of time. The helpful stress response becomes a damaging response know as stress or chronic stress.
We all know when we are feeling stressed, often displaying some of the following symptoms:
· Chronic anxiety, worry and panic
· Broken sleep patterns – waking in the early hours worrying or sleeping too much
· Feeling overwhelmed and unable to cope – losing perspective and ‘making mountains out of molehills’
· Negative outlook and catastrophic thinking
· Being critical and easily triggered
· Poor digestion and eating patterns – being drawn to sugar and junk foods
· Poor judgement and concentration
· Memory problems
· Feeling like you are not in control
· Isolating oneself from others
· Lowered immunity – frequent colds
· Tension headaches
· Rapid heartrate and high blood pressure
· Nervous habits such as biting nails, grinding teeth, clenching the jaw
· Over use of alcohol, caffeine, and drugs
Its easy to see from this list how damaging chronic stress is for our mental and physical health.
Clearly, we need to allow the body to return to a non-stressed state. How do we do this? How can we encourage the body to turn off its chronic stress response and return to a normal baseline?
Happily, there are many ways to help reduce the burden of stress on the nervous system, here are just a few:
· Get more active – moving the body can reduce some of the emotional intensity, it can help you to clear your thoughts
· Connect with other people – activities with friends can help us to relax and relieve stress.
· Find some ‘me’ time. Carve out some time to do something you enjoy – walking, reading, yoga… Whatever you choose, let it be an activity where you are not focused on an outcome but instead allow yourself to enjoy simply doing what you love for the sake of it.
· Challenge yourself – setting goals and challenges such as learning a new skill, can help to build confidence which may help you to feel less stressed.
· Help others – evidence shows that people who help others through volunteering or community work, often become more resilient and happier and less stressed.
· Try and practice gratitude – try listing three things you are grateful for at the end of each day. Cultivating and practicing gratitude has been shown to help decrease stress and increase happiness levels.
Yoga has many powerful and effective practices which allow us to manage stress. One such practice is Restorative Yoga. Restorative yoga is all about slowing down and accessing a deep release. It is a practice which takes place mostly on the floor, where you place the body in different positions fully supported by blankets, bolsters, blocks, and straps etc. This expression of yoga is all about finding comfort in each pose so that your body can begin to release stress and thus relax deeply. As you hold the pose for a few minutes, fully supported by props, the muscles no longer need to be switched ’on’ to support the body and the nervous system begins to shift from its fight, flight or freeze mode to rest and digest. In these comfortable poses we begin to breathe with ease. This sends the right kind of cues to the brain, asking it to down regulate the nervous system. In all forms of yoga, we are aiming to maintain focus on the breath, this allows the mind to stop ruminating on the triggers (real and perceived) which helps the body to shift back towards balance.
Some of the benefits of Restorative yoga are:
· Calms the nervous system
· Ground the body
· Centres the mind and body
· Relieves stress and promotes balance
· Removes fatigue and rejuvenates
· Refreshes perception and promotes a positive outlook
· Aids sleep
· Releases tensions and cultivates softness and openness
· Improves breathing and a sense of vitality
· Helps manage anxiousness and restlessness
· Supports immune system function
· Supports a balanced and resilient nervous system
· Increases a sense of wellbeing, joy and vibrant aliveness
· Encourages purposeful and balanced living
· Provides a means for self-enquiry and gives us greater access to our innate wisdom and creativity
· Cultivates the ability to fully experience and enjoy the moment, as well as connect with others
· Cultivates conscious awareness
Restorative yoga is a mellow practice which makes it a fantastic complement to more active practices and the busyness of modern life. It provides a safe space in which the body can truly begin to learn the art of letting go. It would be a challenge to find a person who would not benefit from having some Restorative yoga in their lives!
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