Autumnal Equinox Greetings,

In the spirit of the balancing nature of light and dark this time of year I'm sharing simple, research-confirmed ways to balance our wonderful nervous systems. This very primal and necessary system is really the reason humans have made it this far. And yet we are all aware that the danger recognition part of this system has been on varying levels of high alert for years. I'm drawing from the wisdom of clinical psychologist, mindfulness teacher and nervous system researcher, Christine Runyan for her assessment of how we can intervene on behalf of our reactive systems. Here are her thoughts on what happens when stressors become unrelenting.

"So we all have — what is called allostasis; when something creates stress in the system, it buckles a little bit, it absorbs the stress, and then it recovers, and it gets stronger. We all are very familiar with this because we go to the gym or we do whatever our exercise may be, and we do it in a dose, along with recovery — we get stronger.

What we have now is something called allostatic load, which is, the stressors just keep coming with no opportunity for recovery. And our systems just literally break down; and the other thing that’s likely to happen is, we try to intuit solutions to make ourselves feel better in the short term...that are often pretty effective but cause downstream problems. And those kinds of numbing things are alcohol, drugs, Netflix etc."

Rather than numbing out, here are some healthy, longevity-based ideas to recover from stress events. When you find yourself stressed out, first begin with compassion as the base of these possible interventions. Remember that your wonderfully attuned nervous system is doing its job to keep you safe and alive. We can use our knowledge and tools to assess what's going on and then intervene if we don't actually need to flee, fight or freeze.

1) Be conscious about what is triggering you. If it's situational like a conversation, your phone or the news that is stressing you, step away. Technology and constant information is a major source of relentless allostatic load. Unplug when you can.

2) Breathe- A lot of opportunities here, but keep it simple by elongating the exhale.

3) Take a moment to look around, use your eyes and ears to check in with your surroundings. This will send a message to the nervous system that you aren't in immediate danger.

4) Put a hand on your heart, belly or across your shoulders to induce the tend and befriend part of the nervous system through supportive touch. This relates to support from our community but is also effective when practiced with our own compassionate hands.

5) Say what you’re feeling out loud..name it so that your nervous system knows that you know. eg. OK this is anxiety. These are the reasons I’m feeling anxious (if you know why). It’s OK, we are ok, you’re going to be OK. Speaking this is helpful so you can actually hear yourself acknowledge it, and then soothe yourself.

6) Simple mindfulness practice of standing while bringing your attention down into the feet, especially into the heels – fight or flight literally puts us on our toes ready to fight or flee. Resting into your heels and back body helps you feel grounded and tells the nervous system that it is OK to be here right now…I am safe.

7) Bring curiosity/awe to a situation. Curiosity and awe change the chemical make up in your body because the neurotransmitter of curiosity is dopamine. So it gives you a dopamine hit.

8) By-pass the 'thinking brain' by using your senses to directly connect with the nervous system and send it a positive sensory experience.

• Aromatherapy actually works- use your fave essential oil/perfume/fresh cut lemon, etc.
• Favorite song/music that takes you back to a positive feeling
• Calming sight or taste you can savor
• Positive felt sensation- that might be a massage, hot shower/bath 🛀, or a whole body shake out

Finally, here is an audio recording you can have of a 14 minute compassionate body scan that I taught in Friday's class. The script comes from Christine Runyan. 

Healthy Interventions,

Heidi

hlyogini@yahoo.com

602.550.8487