There are many ways we stress ourselves: rushing, worrying, angering, clinging, resisting,and so on.
Our systems are made to respond to threats through a stress hormone reaction: adrenaline and cortisol kick in to support us during a moment of crisis. The heart rate and blood pressure increase. Energy supplies are heightened in a fight or flight response. Glucose (sugar) is released, altering the immune system, the digestive system, the reproductive system, and the entire body’s functioning. When that threat has passed, normal hormone levels resume, as our alarm system has performed its duty and is no longer needed.
The trouble comes when we submit ourselves to long-term, daily stress. The outcomes: anxiety, depression, digestive problems, headaches, muscle tension and pain, heart disease, hypertension, heart attack, stroke, sleep problems, weight gain, and memory and concentration impairments.
On top of all that, the life experience sucks.
Our energy and mood are erratic. We tend to submit to bad habits in a faulty attempt to feel better (over eat, drink, stare at a screen, seek unhealthy distractions, etc). We make poor choices, in a feeble attempt to feel better, because we can’t do better. We rely on bad habits to get through. We’re confused, constricted, vacant, checked out, disconnected from ourselves and the only moment.
Yet stress is a rush. It’s intoxicating. The stress hormones are flowing through us, having us on constant alert. Like fear, stress promotes itself. If we aren’t careful and attentive, we can get stuck in this unhealthy functioning.
There is nothing more important to our physical, emotional, and mental health than managing stress through a conscious endeavor of relaxation. If we don’t manage stress, it will manage us.
Yoga provides all the tools to help us master ourselves.
The first step is always the same: bringing awareness to the situation. Notice “I am rushing.” “I am resisting.” “I am stressed out of my gourd.” Or maybe, it’s more subtle. “I am not myself.” “I am making poor choices.” “I feel stuck.”
And then, we must practice the hardest thing of all: Stopping. Laughing as I type, because stopping can be incredibly hard, when we are tangled up in confusion and reaction.
When stressed, we try to control the uncontrollable. By choosing to stop, we control the only thing we can: ourselves.
Stopping may be the very last thing we want to do, under the circumstances. By stopping, we watch our reactions to stopping. Watch the judgement, tension, and resistance. Watch all the other things we “should” be doing.
We can tentatively take a deep breath and try. In this one sweet breath, we give permission to be still. It’s like dipping a toe into chilly water. Each breath brings us more comfort as we adapt to our best selves that know there is only this moment. The wise self that recognizes the futility of stress, and that the stressors are as impermanent as a dream. The kind self that values the importance of self-care. The supreme self that recognizes its full potential for wisdom, ease, courage, comfort, and satisfaction in the only moment that matters.
There are times when I’m so stressed out that I want to lay on the bed and binge media. I’m burned out, stressed out, done. I must force myself to change into yoga clothes. Force myself to roll out my mat. Force myself to get on it. Force myself to breathe: Deep breath in. Slow, smooth, deep. Full breath out. Slow, smooth, complete.
Then yoga happens. Constricted confusion shifts to expanded ease, breath by breath.
I notice that each pose feels deliciously decadent. Instead of rushing around or hiding in bed, I want to take my time and explore the stretch thoroughly: breathing, extending, aligning, softening. When the pose feels full, then the leisurely, careful, and focused transition to the next one in a fascinating journey. It returns me to the mat, the breath, the body, the moment, and to the supreme me-ing.
It is said that the body doesn’t bring us to yoga, yoga brings us to the body. And then the emotions and mind obediently follow, eager for the sweet, healing medicine of relaxation.
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