How to Get Out of the Stress Response Loop
I've heard a lot of people are living in the overwhelm right at the moment. There's been so much going on, so many added stressors happening all the time, we’re all kind of under a crunch lately.
I think it's really important to know what's going on with our bodies, why we're in this stress response state, and how we can easily get out of it with a really simple life hack.
So stay with me if you want to learn how to de-stress yourself within two minutes just about every day.
The Stress Response is Normal
One of my favorite things to talk to my apprentice students about is why stress is a normal and necessary thing. It's a natural, built in response that our bodies have to any type of perceived threat.
“Perceived” just means that your body, whether it's physically, emotionally, mentally, whatever, sees something as a potential threat to your livelihood, to your body, to your sense of well-being.
And whenever that thermostat of what's okay and acceptable gets pressed on, our body naturally goes into that fight, flight or freeze response.
And that's our body's natural mechanism to increase blood flow to our brain and muscles so that we can fight or run away from something.
"And there's nothing wrong with that experience. That's our body's built in survival mechanism. It's supposed to do that."
When we're in fight or flight all the time, it starts wearing on our ability to adapt to
changes around us. Especially when we've been going through a lot of big changes, it's so important to help our body adapt to make those changes easier.
So by practicing really simple stress relieving techniques every day, you can actually rewire your brain to perceive less threats in your daily environment.
Rewire Your Habits to Rewire Your Brain
If you think about stress in terms of how our body naturally does it, being in a stress response all the time is actually a learned habit.
By focusing on something else, we can rewire our brains to not have the habit of being overwhelmed and freaked out all the time.
One of my favorite ways to de-stress and take the edge off is to get detachment or distance from the problem.
And we can do this really simply with a two-minute meditation.
I talk a lot in my Herbal Apprentice Program about all of the ways we can de-stress our bodies.
By building in these habits on top of herbs and nutrition, we can find that balancing, happy place, no matter where we're at.
To detach from your problems, simply take two minutes to:
Turn off your brain
Stop talking
Focus on breath and intention
If you’re new to meditation, don’t be worried, you can keep it really simple.
"My original two minute meditation was turning on a timer, sitting my butt on a pillow on the floor for two minutes, and having my brain kinda get flooded with all the crazy things going on."
And at first, I was like, “Why would anyone ever do this?” It's terrifying because I thought
about all the stuff that was in the background running in my mind all the time.
But the more that I practiced it, I started finding that my body was more quickly able to switch into a relaxation state.
I began to see my thought patterns as something in front of me instead of something that I was living in. I was able to detach from my problems a little bit more.
“Then when I come back to my life, I'm not carrying my problems with me so much.”
I like to think about meditation as a nice, easy way to squeeze out the sponge of your brain so that you can reset and get back to washing up everything else.
There's lots of great meditation timers, Zen meditation apps, you name it.
Here at Artemisia Academy, we shared a blog post with 3 easy ways to Detox your Mind for Healthy Living.
If you are new, take it really easy. Here are some way to keep it really simple:
Try a meditation timer or Zen meditation app
Take a couple minutes to sit and breath in your car before you start driving
When you take a bathroom break or other moment alone, take a couple of minutes to sit and breath
“The more times that you have these pause points throughout the day, the more resets you have to come back to that happy place and get out of your stress response.”
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