Stress Relief
We are sometimes so stuck in our stress that we can’t see how we can escape from it. We feel paralyzed. It is never going to go away. Despair and a feeling of overwhelming can easily set in, especially when we don’t sense any support from our surroundings.
Degrees of Stress
There are degrees of stress. Stress for a short period of time can be actually quite useful for our body. Hormetic stress can be a benefit to the body if done intentionally and properly. Hormetic stress is when the right amount of stress is applied to your body. This hormetic stress challenges the body, but does not overly fatigue it. Cold water showers are a perfect example. The impact of the cold water on our body is a short term stress to the body, but it has been proven to provide all sorts of health benefits.
On the other hand, what I see in some of my clients is that they are living in constant stress. And many have been living this way for a very long time. So long, that it has become the norm in their lives. If asked, they are saying they don’t have any stress. Or laughingly, they are saying that they can handle all this stress and, therefore, it is not causing any of their issues. Unfortunately, they are wrong. And it is obvious from all the health issues they are struggling with.
Stress has a Process
Stress, like many other things in our life, has a process. This process will be different for everyone because of the subtle differences our body has compared to other people.
The equation of processing stress will be the same: Your whole body’s unique perception of the stress – your whole body’s ability to respond to the stress – and your whole body’s ability to shut down the response once the stress threat is gone.
So you may say that the threat is never going to go away. In some situations you are right. When this happens we all need to work really hard in changing our perception of the stress. Once you change your mind (the way your brain and nervous system sees and senses the threat), your physiological response will change and, therefore, your life can improve.
This is also why it is very important for you to understand how your stress genes are working because they are deeply involved in your stress response.
Understanding Your Unique Response to Stress
There are three components to understanding how your body processes stress:
- Understanding how your whole body perceives stress.
- Understanding your whole body’s ability to respond to stress.
- Understanding your whole body’s ability to shut down the response to stress once the stress threat is gone.
Only after you understand these three components, can you figure out the unique tools and lifestyle habits that you should integrate into your life. These tools and lifestyle habits will help your body process stress properly and decrease the devastation caused to your body by too much stress.
Our goal is to bring you information and tools to help you understand your unique stress process. We will also bring you the tools and lifestyle suggestions to support your body, to support you, and to support our world.
