Identifying and Dealing with Stress

Most of my work has been extracted from Tara Brach (Clinical Doctor of Psychology and Master in Vipassana Meditation)

Identifying Stress
In today's society even when we try to relax we can't as we're stuck in stress mode (fight or flight). Whatever the cause of your stress here are some tips to identify it:

On a shallow level ....

Pay attention to:

• Your breath and heart rate - notice their acceleration.
• An increase in body temperature.
• An increase in perspiration (sweating) 
• A build up of internal tension in your muscles, gradually leading to discomfort and fatigue.

On a deeper level ...

Pay attention to:

• The nervous sensation lingering around your chest and stomach: that's your adrenal gland secreting noradrenaline and cortisol. These two neurotransmitting hormones gear your body up for Stress!
• Your breathing mechanics i.e. the over use of your shoulder and chest muscles (trapezius, levator scapulae, pectoralis minor etc..) for breathing! This type of shall breathing reduces your lung capacity, which can lead to reduced oxygen in your blood stream and therefore an increase feeling of fatigue: See diagram below

Dealing with Stress:
The key to dealing with stress is radical acceptance - consider these steps adapted from Vipassana mediation technques:

• Step 1 :- Focus on the area above the upper lip and below the nostrils - let your natural breath rate (whether fast or slow) carry through your nostrils - perform this for a few minutes.
• Step 2 :- Identify the sensations associated with stress (i.e. around the chest, shoulders and stomach) and simply stay present. Allow the sensations to flow like waves in the ocean, more and more begin to let go of the thought or reaction that caused the stress and JUST monitor the sensation - Inevitably it will cease, it has to and this what we call ''radical acceptance''.
• Step3 :- Begin to smile through your eyes - scientists have identified that by simply inducing happy thoughts/feelings outwards significantly reduces cortisol, heart rate and therefore stress levels (Steptoe, Wardle, & Marmot, 2005).

Like training in the gym this mind exercise, or mediation, takes practice, but believe me when I say it does work. As  a previous suffer of chronic stress it certainly was helped me to relax. Like anything there are many many techniques available for coping with stress, the important thing is to simply trial, re-test, trial, re-test.

Good luck and happy chilling.

Alex Mackenzie
Osteopath
Wellbeing Osteopathy - London.