Stress

-Stress

Do you have a to-do list? Got places to go, people to see, hustling a side business, caring for kids, going back to school, any or all of the above? Whatever you're doing in life, I bet you're pretty busy. Heavy mental loads are apart of life. Life is wonderfully busy, but chronic stress and its hormonal warning of cortisol makes us cranky and inflamed. High cortisol can also cause rapid weight gain, muscle weakness, high blood pressure and poor sleep.

Understanding stress as an energy source can lead us to an awareness of it in our bodies. Stepping back and recognizing how it feels in our bodies helps us better work through the emotion. For example when I am feeling stressed I recognize first that my breath starts to become very shallow, my chest tightens, my skin feels tingly, my muscles tense up and my heart palpitates. I pause and say "OK, this is stress, Hi stress, lets dance."

Stress activates a response in our bodies. The mind sees it as a threat or emergency and then reacts. It's a simple job really, fight or flight. Same as a wooly mammoth charging you, cortisol raises blood pressure, heart rate and blood sugar, with a rush of blood flowing to your larger muscles. What once saved us from danger now can causes our brains to overreact. Our bodies take mildly stressful situations as wooly mammoth emergencies. We now live our lives in a near constant fight or flight state.

Stress can be ever-present. Left untreated stress can lead to serious illnesses including depression, anxiety, diabetes, agitation, high blood pressure and even heart disease.

In this space I'll often reference my 2016 breakdown, that I now see as my blossoming. 

2016 = Stress, anxiety, cortisol. 

It was the STORY OF MY LIFE.

Got 

Moodiness - yup 

Depression -yup

Brain fog - yup

Addiction - yup

Muscle weakness - yup

Blood sugar imbalance - yup

Poor sleep - yup

Night sweats - omg yes 

Tired - yup

Pale - yup 

Cold - YES 

YES YES YES 

It was all yes.

My 2016 blossoming started when stress spiraled into anxiety and panic attacks. It was my constant, my ever present. There I was mid-twenties and shaking in my own skin. With all the above listed symptoms and a few I'm not sure I want to mention on the inter-web. I was a semi-functioning anxiety case. Until I wasn't, I was no longer functioning, I was surviving. I couldn't hold it or hide it. It was now effecting anyone and everyone around me. 

I had been dabbling in the idea of self care, yoga, meditation and mindfulness for a little while. However I was in an "Aint nobody got time for that" mindset. It was a wish, a "someday" or "wouldn't that be nice" thought. 

Now it was my experiment. I thought "I'll try, can't hurt, doesn't cost anything." I let go of a little time I was convinced I didn't have to spare and I sat. I sat and sat some more, I breathed and I bawled. It wasn't self involved and I wasn't a weird hippie. It was as effective as an antidepressant for me. 

There is a Buddhist saying "When the student is ready, the teacher will appear." 

What I couldn't find time for became I consciously and wholeheartedly made time for. My mindful living was born, my breath was revealed and my body was healing. 

When you feel stress coming into your life, pause and mentally note, "how is this feeling in my body, What thoughts am I having around this feeling?"  Don't push the feeling away, as my sister Lauren once told me "dance with it." And remember the best form of stress relief is right infront of your nose. 

Studies say "Deep breathing relieves stress and anxiety due to its physiological effect on the nervous system. Breathing slowly and mindfully activates the hypothalamus, connected to the pituitary gland in the brain, to send out neurohormones that inhibit stress-producing hormones and trigger a relaxation response in the body."

Because breathing exercises are a staple for mindfulness, I'm going to share with you one of my most used and effectively quick techniques. 

Sit in a comfortable position. 

Make a "hang10" sign with your right hand. Plug your right nostril with your right thumb. Inhale slowly through the left nostril until the lungs are full. Hold for four seconds. 

Release the right nostril and plug the left with the right pinkie. Slowly exhale. Once you have exhaled fully, inhale through the right nostril and the exhale through the left. 

Do four or more rounds and enjoy. 

XOXO

Ash