Stress resides in the body

Here is the thing about stress; it gets trapped in our body very easily. Here's why:

The amygdala, aka, the "reptilian brain", is our automatic response to any physical danger we identify. When we start to feel afraid or threatened, our amygdala automatically activates our "fight or flight" responses by sending a signal to release stress hormones that then prepare our bodies to fight or run away (flight). 

Think back to the cavemen era. This was very useful. A lion is standing in front of them, their amygdala sends the stress hormone to their brain, and now they're prepared to either try to fight the lion or to run away as quickly as humanly possible.

These responses (fight/flight) are still very important and necessary in certain situations, however, sometimes our bodies can assume a threat is present when there isn't one or just struggle to de-stress after the threat is gone.

The good news is we can help our bodies regulate and process stress more effectively. Since stress is a physiological experience, meaning that it shifts our nervous system, changes our breathing, as well as how we perceive the environment around us, we need to work towards regulating our physiological responses. 

There are a lot of ways to regulate our bodies, but here are a few that I recommend trying out: 

• Grounding Skills- a grounding skill is a tool that brings you back to the present moment either by focusing on your body or the environment around you rather than your thoughts. For example: you can look around the room and name all the things that are blue that you see. This helps your mind shift from what it was previously focused on, to now identifying all the blue objects in the room.

• Breath Work- slowing down our breathing and helping it return to a calm normal state is so important when we experience a stressful situation. One way that myself and my clients find helpful is the skill of "square breathing". With square breathing you can either look at a square or imagine a square. You then inhale to the count of 4 while following the top of the square, exhale to the count of 4 while following the right side of the square down. Inhale again to the count of 4 while following the bottom line of the square and once again, exhaling to the count of 4 while following the left side of the square up. Repeating as needed to slow your breathing.

• Meditation- meditation, meditation, meditation! I can't stress the importance of meditation in helping regulate stress. Meditation has so many benefits to our well being.

Often times, we look for skills to use when we are in the midst of stress (naturally) and these skills are very helpful for this, however, it is important to remember that practicing these skills outside of the stressful situation is so vital to our wellbeing.

Try implementing some today and see how it helps!