Don’t Let The Stress Manifest!
By Katherine Bryan
Ever experience your mind racing, muscles tensing up, blood boiling, or stomach turning? And then wonder- why do these reactions happen? It’s those sneaky stress hormones: adrenaline & cortisol! This article will teach you about stress and how to prevent the stress from manifesting itself and ruining the day. Stress management is accomplished by first noticing the ways in which stress manifests physiologically (in the body) and psychologically (in the mind) and then subsequently learn to silence the stress by using relaxation techniques. In order to deliver stress management steps which will simplify the process of getting one’s stress under control I combined Dr. Jeanne Segal’s article titled Stress Symptoms, Signs, & Cause, and my three years of experience instructing yoga to produce a comprehensive guide. After reading this article one will be able to implement solutions to control stress and therefore the stress will be unable to manifest. The following paragraphs detail some common symptoms and misperceptions, which were provided by Dr. Jeanne Segal’s stress article, found on HealthGuide.org. Additionally, I have outlined some breathing and relaxation techniques which are taught in most every yoga class and are also very effective ways to reduce stress.
The first step towards less stress and better health is to recognize how often stress appears and realizing what triggers it. Identifying stress is tricky, as it does not produce the same affect for everyone. Stress may feel common place, like a regular occurrence in everyday life, which may be okay. However, chronic (continuous or persistent) stress has detrimental affects to one’s health (Dr. Jeanne Segal). It is common to have more than one circumstance that offsets stress in one’s life. Observe the breath; short and shallow breaths indicate stress. Observe sensations of the body; tense muscles, rapid heartbeats, and stomach aches are all signs of stress stress. Observe behaviors and attitudes; moodiness, over/under eating, over/under sleeping, excessive alcohol or cigarette consumption, and even aggressive driving are indicators of stress. Once one is able to notice their physical reactions to stress and diminished level of mental clarity caused by stress, then it becomes possible to anticipate the stress and halt the progression of its impact. When one knows that they are beginning to feel stressed they can then begin to implement techniques learned from any basic yoga class which will certainly decrease the intensity of stress’s impact.
It is a very common misperception to believe that some people have zero stress in their life, as being completely void of stress all the time is impossible and unnatural. Dr. Jeanne Segal writes that stress is a natural response to certain situations and that it is actually good for the body to experience the stress hormones every once in a while; especially if we are in trouble and need the adrenaline to give us extra energy to flee from a circumstance. Stress manifests differently in different people and if you can have power over of your own personal stressors and direct the feelings of stress in to a positive outlet, then you can actually benefit from the energy brought about by the stress hormones, cortisol and adrenaline! Yoga teaches the individual how to cope with stress when they are confronted with it in their daily lives. The beneficial practices learned in yoga can calm down the increasing heart rate via deep breathing, and also stretching helps loosen the constricting blood vessels and eases a churning stomach.
Avoiding stress is unrealistic especially because anything and everything, from relationships and taxes to natural disasters and job instability, can cause of stress. The more prepared an individual is for the arrival of a stressful situation, the easier it becomes to channel the stressful experience in to a controlled and manageable one. Techniques that are usually taught and practiced in any typical yoga class provide the perfect coping mechanisms for dealing with stress. Yoga breathing techniques guide the individual to calm their mind during movement and also during stillness. Learning new yoga poses brings new challenges that take time to adjust to and become comfortable with, just like real life. When one learns to relax and enjoy the challenge, they are also preparing themselves to relax during uncontrollable stresses in life. Yoga promotes relaxation and decreases tension throughout the body allowing us to decompress mentally and physically in order to restore our entire being to optimal functioning.
Many health professionals recommend breathing techniques to reduce stress, as it has been scientifically proven to assist in stress management (Dr. Len Kravitz). Deep breathing is the most basic and essential tool one can use the moment stress becomes apparent. When one has proficiency with deep breathing and decides to directly apply this talent to everyday life, the outcome of stress reduction is seen instantaneously. The simplest breathing technique is to focus the breath into the lower abdomen which should ensure using full lung capacity and really fill up the entire torso with air. On the exhalation, have a slow and controlled breath; allowing an even amount of air flow to be expired for as long as possible. Eventually the goal is to lengthen the time is takes to inhale and exhale. The length of time to complete one breath cycle should be extended regardless of if the amount of air taken in and expired increases or not. Once one can master a four to five second inhale coupled with a four to five second exhale, which would equal a ten second breathing cycle, then they are ready to learn another breathing technique! Every yoga class I teach, no matter what the skill level is, I instruct the class to practice this very same technique, for I believe the benefits of taking deep breaths is infinite.
This advice should in no way be used as a substitute for real medical use. This article is only a guideline to allow one to become more aware and possibly realize that they should consult an actual Doctor because their stress is in fact unmanageable. Please see the website (under events) for information about what time my classes are and what dates I am hosting a beginners yoga workshop.
Melinda Smith, M.A., Robert Segal, M.A., and Jeanne Segal, Ph.D. “Stress Symptoms, Signs and Causes.” April 2014. Helpguide.org. http://www.helpguide.org/mental/stress_signs.htm
Dr. Kravitz, L. and Novotny, Sarah. “The Science of Breathing.” IDEA Fitness Journal 2007. http://www.unm.edu/~lkravitz/Article%20folder/Breathing.html