Relieving
Stress
You
may fool yourself some of the time, you may fool others some of the
time. But you can never fool your body. It is the most sensitive
barometer of your inner world.”
Barbara
L. Hall
Most
of us treat our body like a conveyor belt—it moves us from place to
place, works like a mule, and is made of steel rollers. It's purpose
is to carry out whatever instructions our brain dreams up without
getting tired or needing anything more than a little oil when it
creaks and groans, or, God forbid, slows down. We work it tirelessly,
feed it ravenously, and drive it endlessly. What we don't do very
much is let it rest, turn it off, give it a break. And then we're
shocked when it breaks down.
The
body is a mirror of our inner landscape. When we're emotionally out
of kilter, we feel it in our joints, in our spine, in our back
muscles, in our gut. Most of us have certain areas of the body that
chronically give us problems, or are the first place to hurt when
we're overly stressed. We unconsciously tighten the muscles around
this area to make it hurt less—but that tightening means we have
less range, less fluidity, and, consequently, more pain. In essence,
our armoring behavior becomes the source of our pain rather than the
solution.
Our
bodies are more than conveyor belts, more than clothes racks, or a
means to an end. They are living, breathing organisms with needs and
wants of their own—good food, clean water, sunshine, rest, enough
exercise to keep them lubricated, but not so much that it produces
micro-tears in the muscles and tendons. Mostly, they need our
simple awareness.
Right
now, feel where in your body you're holding tension, breathe into it, and let it go. Every ten minutes, check again, and see if that same
area is tight. My guess is, you will find it holding tension every
time you check in. This is your problem area. Bring your awareness to
it, breathe, and feel it relax. If you do this enough, over time you
will notice an improvement—in your body and in your level of
stress.
In
the Spirit,
Jane
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