Responding to Stress
by Shanti Shanti
K. Khalsa, Ph.D.
The simplest description for stress I have ever heard is from Hans Selye,
the Canadian physician, who first borrowed the word from engineering
and applied it to a physiological process he observed in his patients.
He described stress as simply the body's adaptation to change. It is
how we respond whenever an internal or external event occurs. Change
can be as simple as a shift in room temperature or as destabilizing as
losing one's job. Since change happens nearly every instant, we have
a stress response nearly every instant. Stress is natural and necessary.
Over time, we create our own
individual stress response pattern through our thoughts and beliefs, our
emotional responses, the way we breathe, and the way we hold and move our
body.
This pattern becomes set at
a certain point, and although this response is intended to be helpful,
more often than not our personal stress response pattern blocks the natural
flow of ease in the body, and we become frequently sick,
easily tired, often irritable, and generally "stressed out." In
each stress response, we draw on the capacity of the glandular and nervous
systems, which inturn affects the sensitivity and vitality
of the immune response. Where we hold tension and how quickly we release
it (our individual, personal stress response) determine what happens in
our body, how much
energy we have, how healthy we stay, and how we feel at the end of the
day.
One characteristic of a healthy stress response is to take action when action
is needed and to pause, or rest internally, when it is not. The hardest working
muscle in the body, the heart, functions this way. It does not stop from the
time it takes its first beat while we are still in the womb, until we take our
last breath.
Yet, notice the beat of the
heart: action, pause, action, pause. In a similar way, it is not the stress
itself that is unhealthy; it is staying continually in stress response
without pause that is unhealthy.
James felt exhausted at the
end of the day and took three or more sick days each
month. "I was on the verge of losing my job as an investment banker, I was
absent so much. Yet I just couldn't take the pace. Getting out of bed in the
morning got to be a big effort most days. I hated my life the way it was. It
felt like I was always working, even when I wasn't. My concentration was poor,
and my temper was short with my co-workers. The day I snapped at my boss over
a suggestion she made I knew I had to make some changes." He got advice
from the employee assistance program at his company and started participating
in the yoga and meditation classes offered twice a week.
Yogic Breath
Right now, take
a deep breath. Every good, yogic breath starts with an exhalation.
So let the breath go from deep in your belly. This provides room for
your inhalation.
Once your exhalation is complete, inhale. Once your inhalation is complete,
exhale. Continue to breathe consciously. Notice in your body where
the breath comes easily, where it is restricted. Notice what part of
your torso
moves, and what does not. Notice where your breath stops and how deep
it goes, both on the inhalation and on the exhalation. Throughout the
day,
notice your breathing pattern and where you hold tension in your body.
Do you hold your breath when thinking? When listening? When performing
certain tasks? Do you lift your shoulders or tighten your stomach?
These are all part of your personal stress response pattern. Once you
are aware
of your pattern, you can interact with it, modify it, and make it work
for you.
Yogis teach that the breath is the life of
the mind. This means that the quality of our thoughts and emotional responses
is determined by our breathing. Breath is our direct link to our spirit,
mood, energy, and hopefulness. On a physical level, it is the practice
of the various yogic breathing techniques that strengthens the nervous
system and balances the action of the glandular system. Since these two
systems are key to the stress response, making them strong through proper
breathing actually breaks previous patterns and forms a healthy stress
response. By breathing from the navel point, we develop a deeper relationship
with the core of the body, bringing greater confidence and calm.
Effective Body Movement
What makes Kundalini
Yoga more effective for stress reduction than, say, 20 minutes on the
elliptical machine at your gym? Kundalini Yoga provides
a complete system of effective movement for the body. While most
forms of exercise reduce stress, Kundalini Yoga is uniquely suited because
of its positive effects on the glands and nerves.
The movements of
Kundalini
Yoga, set in the sequence of a Kriya, directly release the tension
built up over time from holding the breath and various muscles in your
particular
stress response pattern. Even the sweat that arises during yoga
practice is different, because it is a result of a deep glandular experience,
not just the body's response to exertion. Practice of Kundalini
Yoga
releases tension from the inner organs, nerves, and glands and
creates an internal biochemistry of calm, inner balance, and depth of
self.
Without Kundalini Yoga and the practices of breath and meditation
that come with it, we cannot change old stress response patterns.
Further, to
reverse the ill effects of long-term stress, and to increase our
capacity to form and maintain healthy stress response patterns, breath,
meditation,
and movement are essential.
Simply put, we don't have time not to practice yoga and meditation.
Let's face it; each of us becomes inefficient and less effective
under stress.
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