Hi cakeboss
There can definitely be more questions than answers when it comes to working out how we tick.
While recent events in my life have led me to become more stressed than ever, a thought occurred to me, a rather strange thought but definitely quite a revelation, 'How was I taught or conditioned to relax?' The answer, 'I wasn't!' So, we can go through our apprenticeship years, our young growing up years, without a lot of the skills we need to be able to cope with life. Strange thing is, this can lead us to ask that all too common question 'What's wrong with me?' Simple answer, 'A lack of skill development'.
It's only now that things such as meditation and yoga, for example, are being introduced into primary schools. Took a while but constructive change and skill development is beginning to come about. I've found, for myself, meditating on my breathing has made some difference. If there's a massive amount of hyperactivity going on in my brain (mental stress), it's going to put my body into a massive amount of hyperactivity. It's just the way we tick. Mind and body are so interwoven. Exhaust, exhaust, exhaust, remains the #1 goal. I focus more on the out breath (exhausting). Sounds weird but I can actually begin to feel the blood pressure change in my head through this process. At first I thought 'What's wrong with me?' regarding the sensation in my head until I realised it always coincided with me beginning to calm down. Another benefit to focusing on this breathing technique is - while I'm focused 100% on my breathing, I cannot be focused on anything else, including the things that are stressing me out. While the stressors or challenges remain, the breathing meditation becomes a break from them, so they're not there all the time. May sound a little simplistic or silly perhaps but while the mind and body are in a constant state of hyperactivity, due to stress, they remain in a constant state of dis-ease. Long term dis-ease can have a significant impact as it reconditions the body.
Another important thing I've found involves releasing tension/stress. We hold it in our muscles. Every morning we wake up and give a single stretch or maybe 2 and that's the extent of it. So while we release a little tension, it doesn't really make a big difference. Regular stretching exercises or professional massages can help make a difference.
It works both ways; while the body reacts to the mind, the mind can also react to the state our body's in at any time.
🙂
