It's a ubiquitous word. Everyone experiences it. Some revel in it, needing it to meet deadlines or deal with people. It's been studied. There are books and retreats for dealing with it. People sign up for events designed to beat it.
But what is it? Awareness is the first step to making a different choice.
Stress is defined by Joe Dispenza (author of Breaking the Habit of Being Yourself) as a state of mental or emotional strain or
Roots of a tree, Loess Hills in western Iowa tension resulting from adverse or very
demanding circumstances. It's created when we can't predict a future outcome, when we feel we can't control the situation, or when we have the perception that there's a threat or danger or a perception that something's going to get worse in our lives.
There are three types:
physical stress caused by injury or accident or ongoing pain
chemical stress caused by bacteria/viruses, disagreeable food, blood sugar instability
emotional stress caused by family or work situations, financial issues, transportation, time pressures
Basically stress knocks the brain and body out of balance. The reaction is a flood of chemicals that arouse the body (pupils dilate, digestions decreases, heart rate increases and blood flows from organs to extremities) so that it can move out of the situation. Then it needs to rest to rebuild and repair.
No one can live with this kind of stress for extended periods of time. The energy is always focused outward for reaction and survival and not inward for growth and repair. If this becomes chronic, the response stays on, and the body and brain become accustomed to the chemical rush. We keep situations in life to maintain this rush, even though we may not enjoy the situation—or may actually realize it's destructive.
In this chronic state of stress, even thought can trigger a stress response. Just focusing on a situation can bring on the same reactions in the body.
Here is Dr. Dispenza's video about stress, kicking off his course to help people beat stress. His premise seems to be that, since the mind can trigger stress, it can also stop stress, and he has a plan to teach people how. I have to admit that I haven't read the book or taken his course, though I watched the video, which is very informative.
I have lived many years in a state of chronic stress. Then I took a couple years away from home to study the Alexander Technique (AT). I moved to Champaign, Illinois, and set out to master functional anatomy, the mechanics of movement, developmental movement, and the AT basic principles:
non-judgmental self-awareness
pausing to choose a new process rather than a familiar habit
body and mind working together to make life happen
focusing on the process rather than the goal
When I moved home it was very easy to fall into my old habits, so it's been a challenge to use my new-found Alexander Technique principles to their fullest extent. The result is that I've had three serious respiratory illnesses this year, each requiring weeks to recover.
Interestingly enough, I was not sick at all for the two and a half years I lived in Illinois. It was not because I had nothing to do there. I had class 12 hours a week, studying at home, a part-time job, a community choir and church music rehearsals with their respective services and performances, as well as several practice students each week. It was not because I wasn't busy, or because I wasn't near people, though I didn't work with as many children as I do now.
My hypothesis is that it was about my frame of mind. I benefitted from a constant AT support system reminding me to stop to make choices that supported a healthier life.
So . . . I'm setting out to use my AT training to explore stress and how I can better deal with it in my day to day life. I'm searching for a couple fellow stressed individuals to help me pilot a class about dealing with stress using AT principles. If that sounds good to you, contact me by FaceBook Messenger or email RePattern2Learn@gmail.com .
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