Stress is in our evolutionary DNA. Otherwise we would not be equipped with a sympathetic nervous system. Of the many thousands of nerve pathways crisscrossing our bodies, the sympathetic nervous system is assigned the task of species survival. This network of nerves is also thought of as the “fight or flight” mechanism. Early history of humans right from the prehistoric times was fraught with very frequent instances of danger that would have reminded those early humans of their mortality on an almost daily basis. In response to these dangers, the sympathetic nervous system put out adrenaline, a stress hormone that gave humans temporary superhuman capabilities to help escape from a life threatening situation.
What is stress?
Fortunately for most of us in today’s world, there does not exist this mortal threat. Instead, we face daily situations that challenge our mental peace and equilibrium. This fight between wanting to be at peace with oneself and external forces upsetting that inner balance is the stress we deal with in our daily lives.
How does the body process stress?
The “eyes and ears” of the sympathetic nervous system are our thoughts. Let’s consider an example everyone can relate to. When you are at work and want to do something a certain way, if you are the boss you can have your way. Not everyone can be the boss. For the most of the rest of us, if your boss or people around you don’t agree with how you want to do a certain thing and your are forced to do it in a way contrary to your wishes, your mind can deal with this in a couple of different ways. You can accept it and move on or you can fight internally on the battlefield of your mind. The cause of this fight is your revolt against an obstacle placed in the path of your desires. This manifests as a stressful thought.
This stressful thought is felt all through your body via the medium of the sympathetic nervous system. This system is designed to aggressively increase nervous output to certain parts of the body such as the muscles and heart and decrease it to certain other parts such as the stomach and intestines. That’s why when we feel stressed out all the time, our muscles feel fatigued due to repeated stimulation, and we also sometimes lose our appetite.
A stressful thought travels in two directions. It first sends a shock wave through your mind and disturbs your mental peace. The stressful incident then settles in your subconscious mind and may come up in the future with renewed force if a similar set of stressful circumstances comes up in the future as is often the case in our daily lives. The other direction it travels is to your physical body through the sympathetic nervous system. It does not have to travel to specific muscles involved in the “fight or flight response”. In fact it can travel to any part of the body. Repeated entrainment of these impulses can cause fatigue and breakdown of our physical body leading to various diseases.
How do we fight stress?
In this post we will focus on how to deal with the physical manifestations of stress. At the end of a particularly stressful day, all we want to do sometimes is to go to bed. Some of us can get into deep sleep and get rejuvenated. Others have difficulty falling asleep due to the lingering effects of stress. This can be compared to trying to sleep with a bright light shining in our face.
Nerves transmit information in the form of electric impulses. Since electricity is transmitted to different parts of the body, when your are stressed out and feel its physical effects, you can think of this as leaving lights on in different parts of the body while you are trying sleep. Imagine living in a large house with several rooms. If your bedroom is at the back of the house well away from the main door, as you retire for the night, you would lock the door and turn off the lights in different parts of the house before finally turning off the bedroom lights.
Stress affects different parts of the body. Think of the body as the house in the example I just gave you. The different parts of the body are like the various rooms of the house and your mind is like the bedroom where you retire for the night. Since the physical effects of stress “light up” different parts of the body, before you go to bed you have to turn off these “stress bulbs” that light up the different parts of your body.
Practical exercise
Try this exercise every night and this will help you overcome the physical ill effects of life’s daily stresses and will give you a good restful sleep.
Get into a comfortable lying down position. Your mind is your bedroom. Let in fresh air through the windows of your mind, your nostrils. Take in several slow deep breaths. As you do this bring your attention to your breath and feel it just as you would a cool calm breeze.
Now let’s go around the body and turn off the various lights that have been turned on by the stresses during the day.
Bring you attention to the right foot. Imagine a bright bulb here that is lighting up your entire foot. Think of your entire body being dark except for the right foot. Now take your attention from the great toe to the little toe and then the entire right foot. Rest your attention here for a little while and mentally turn off the bulb that is lighting up your right foot.
Take your attention to the left foot. Imagine a bright bulb here that is lighting up your entire foot. Think of your entire body being dark except for the left foot. Now take your attention from the great toe to the little toe and then the entire left foot. Rest your attention here for a little while and mentally turn off the bulb that is lighting up your left foot.
Next, bring you attention to the right lower leg between the knee and the ankle. Imagine a bright bulb here that is lighting up your right leg from your knee to the ankle. Think of your entire body being dark except for the lower part of the right leg. Rest your attention here for a little while and mentally turn off the bulb that is lighting up the lower part of your right leg.
Take you attention to the left lower leg between the knee and the ankle. Imagine a bright bulb here that is lighting up your left leg from your knee to the ankle. Think of your entire body being dark except for the lower part of the left leg. Rest your attention here for a little while and mentally turn off the bulb that is lighting up the lower part of your left leg.
Now, bring you attention to the right upper leg between the hip and the knee. Imagine a bright bulb here that is lighting up your right leg from your hip to the knee. Think of your entire body being dark except for the upper part of the right leg. Rest your attention here for a little while and mentally turn off the bulb that is lighting up the upper part of your right leg.
Take you attention to the left upper leg between the hip and the knee. Imagine a bright bulb here that is lighting up your left leg from your hip to the knee. Think of your entire body being dark except for the upper part of the left leg. Rest your attention here for a little while and mentally turn off the bulb that is lighting up the upper part of your left leg.
Now take your attention to your abdomen. Mentally turn the light bulb on and rest your attention here. After a few moments turn it off and take your attention to your chest. Turn on the light bulb here and rest your attention here. Mentally turn the bulb off and take you attention to your right hand.
Imagine a bright bulb here that is lighting up your right hand. Think of your entire body being dark except for the right hand. Now take your attention in succession from the thumb to the little finger and then the entire right hand. Rest your attention here for a little while and mentally turn off the bulb that is lighting up your right hand
Take your attention to the left hand and imagine a bright bulb here that is lighting up your left hand. Think of your entire body being dark except for the left hand. Now take your attention in succession from the thumb to the little finger and then the entire left hand. Rest your attention here for a little while and mentally turn off the bulb that is lighting up your left hand.
Next, bring you attention to the right arm between the shoulder and the wrist. Imagine a bright bulb here that is lighting up your right arm from your shoulder to the wrist. Think of your entire body being dark except for the right arm. Rest your attention here for a little while and mentally turn off the bulb that is lighting up the right arm.
Now take your attention to the left arm between the shoulder and the wrist. Imagine a bright bulb here that is lighting up your left arm from your shoulder to the wrist. Think of your entire body being dark except for the left arm. Rest your attention here for a little while and mentally turn off the bulb that is lighting up the left arm.
Now take you attention to your throat. When your attention is on your throat, think of a light bulb lighting up your throat and rest of the body is dark. After keeping your attention for a few moments here mentally turn off the light.
Bring your attention to your head and focus on the mind. Every part of the body is dark, the lights have been switched off except for the mind. Imagine your mind being lit up by a light bulb and the windows of the mind, the nostrils are letting in a fresh cool breeze. Keep your attention on this cool breeze or your breath coming in. With the help of the light and the cool breeze in your mind, clear the mind (the bedroom) of all the junk accumulated from the day and when the mind is now clean, mentally turn off the light in the mind and remain in the darkness till you fall asleep.
Benefits of this exercise
When you do this exercise, you are consciously dissipating pent up energy (derived from stressful thoughts) in different parts of the bod. By taking your attention from the outer reaches of your body to your inner core, your mind, you are using this pent up energy to send a wave of relaxation inwards.
Please try this out and let me know if this works for you.
What is stress?
Fortunately for most of us in today’s world, there does not exist this mortal threat. Instead, we face daily situations that challenge our mental peace and equilibrium. This fight between wanting to be at peace with oneself and external forces upsetting that inner balance is the stress we deal with in our daily lives.
How does the body process stress?
The “eyes and ears” of the sympathetic nervous system are our thoughts. Let’s consider an example everyone can relate to. When you are at work and want to do something a certain way, if you are the boss you can have your way. Not everyone can be the boss. For the most of the rest of us, if your boss or people around you don’t agree with how you want to do a certain thing and your are forced to do it in a way contrary to your wishes, your mind can deal with this in a couple of different ways. You can accept it and move on or you can fight internally on the battlefield of your mind. The cause of this fight is your revolt against an obstacle placed in the path of your desires. This manifests as a stressful thought.
This stressful thought is felt all through your body via the medium of the sympathetic nervous system. This system is designed to aggressively increase nervous output to certain parts of the body such as the muscles and heart and decrease it to certain other parts such as the stomach and intestines. That’s why when we feel stressed out all the time, our muscles feel fatigued due to repeated stimulation, and we also sometimes lose our appetite.
A stressful thought travels in two directions. It first sends a shock wave through your mind and disturbs your mental peace. The stressful incident then settles in your subconscious mind and may come up in the future with renewed force if a similar set of stressful circumstances comes up in the future as is often the case in our daily lives. The other direction it travels is to your physical body through the sympathetic nervous system. It does not have to travel to specific muscles involved in the “fight or flight response”. In fact it can travel to any part of the body. Repeated entrainment of these impulses can cause fatigue and breakdown of our physical body leading to various diseases.
How do we fight stress?
In this post we will focus on how to deal with the physical manifestations of stress. At the end of a particularly stressful day, all we want to do sometimes is to go to bed. Some of us can get into deep sleep and get rejuvenated. Others have difficulty falling asleep due to the lingering effects of stress. This can be compared to trying to sleep with a bright light shining in our face.
Nerves transmit information in the form of electric impulses. Since electricity is transmitted to different parts of the body, when your are stressed out and feel its physical effects, you can think of this as leaving lights on in different parts of the body while you are trying sleep. Imagine living in a large house with several rooms. If your bedroom is at the back of the house well away from the main door, as you retire for the night, you would lock the door and turn off the lights in different parts of the house before finally turning off the bedroom lights.
Stress affects different parts of the body. Think of the body as the house in the example I just gave you. The different parts of the body are like the various rooms of the house and your mind is like the bedroom where you retire for the night. Since the physical effects of stress “light up” different parts of the body, before you go to bed you have to turn off these “stress bulbs” that light up the different parts of your body.
Practical exercise
Try this exercise every night and this will help you overcome the physical ill effects of life’s daily stresses and will give you a good restful sleep.
Get into a comfortable lying down position. Your mind is your bedroom. Let in fresh air through the windows of your mind, your nostrils. Take in several slow deep breaths. As you do this bring your attention to your breath and feel it just as you would a cool calm breeze.
Now let’s go around the body and turn off the various lights that have been turned on by the stresses during the day.
Bring you attention to the right foot. Imagine a bright bulb here that is lighting up your entire foot. Think of your entire body being dark except for the right foot. Now take your attention from the great toe to the little toe and then the entire right foot. Rest your attention here for a little while and mentally turn off the bulb that is lighting up your right foot.
Take your attention to the left foot. Imagine a bright bulb here that is lighting up your entire foot. Think of your entire body being dark except for the left foot. Now take your attention from the great toe to the little toe and then the entire left foot. Rest your attention here for a little while and mentally turn off the bulb that is lighting up your left foot.
Next, bring you attention to the right lower leg between the knee and the ankle. Imagine a bright bulb here that is lighting up your right leg from your knee to the ankle. Think of your entire body being dark except for the lower part of the right leg. Rest your attention here for a little while and mentally turn off the bulb that is lighting up the lower part of your right leg.
Take you attention to the left lower leg between the knee and the ankle. Imagine a bright bulb here that is lighting up your left leg from your knee to the ankle. Think of your entire body being dark except for the lower part of the left leg. Rest your attention here for a little while and mentally turn off the bulb that is lighting up the lower part of your left leg.
Now, bring you attention to the right upper leg between the hip and the knee. Imagine a bright bulb here that is lighting up your right leg from your hip to the knee. Think of your entire body being dark except for the upper part of the right leg. Rest your attention here for a little while and mentally turn off the bulb that is lighting up the upper part of your right leg.
Take you attention to the left upper leg between the hip and the knee. Imagine a bright bulb here that is lighting up your left leg from your hip to the knee. Think of your entire body being dark except for the upper part of the left leg. Rest your attention here for a little while and mentally turn off the bulb that is lighting up the upper part of your left leg.
Now take your attention to your abdomen. Mentally turn the light bulb on and rest your attention here. After a few moments turn it off and take your attention to your chest. Turn on the light bulb here and rest your attention here. Mentally turn the bulb off and take you attention to your right hand.
Imagine a bright bulb here that is lighting up your right hand. Think of your entire body being dark except for the right hand. Now take your attention in succession from the thumb to the little finger and then the entire right hand. Rest your attention here for a little while and mentally turn off the bulb that is lighting up your right hand
Take your attention to the left hand and imagine a bright bulb here that is lighting up your left hand. Think of your entire body being dark except for the left hand. Now take your attention in succession from the thumb to the little finger and then the entire left hand. Rest your attention here for a little while and mentally turn off the bulb that is lighting up your left hand.
Next, bring you attention to the right arm between the shoulder and the wrist. Imagine a bright bulb here that is lighting up your right arm from your shoulder to the wrist. Think of your entire body being dark except for the right arm. Rest your attention here for a little while and mentally turn off the bulb that is lighting up the right arm.
Now take your attention to the left arm between the shoulder and the wrist. Imagine a bright bulb here that is lighting up your left arm from your shoulder to the wrist. Think of your entire body being dark except for the left arm. Rest your attention here for a little while and mentally turn off the bulb that is lighting up the left arm.
Now take you attention to your throat. When your attention is on your throat, think of a light bulb lighting up your throat and rest of the body is dark. After keeping your attention for a few moments here mentally turn off the light.
Bring your attention to your head and focus on the mind. Every part of the body is dark, the lights have been switched off except for the mind. Imagine your mind being lit up by a light bulb and the windows of the mind, the nostrils are letting in a fresh cool breeze. Keep your attention on this cool breeze or your breath coming in. With the help of the light and the cool breeze in your mind, clear the mind (the bedroom) of all the junk accumulated from the day and when the mind is now clean, mentally turn off the light in the mind and remain in the darkness till you fall asleep.
Benefits of this exercise
When you do this exercise, you are consciously dissipating pent up energy (derived from stressful thoughts) in different parts of the bod. By taking your attention from the outer reaches of your body to your inner core, your mind, you are using this pent up energy to send a wave of relaxation inwards.
Please try this out and let me know if this works for you.
