Stress. We all know what it feels like, especially this time of year. In fact most of us live our lives in a constant state of it, with no idea of how to manage it. Most people think that external events cause them stress, but actually, stress is our response to those external events, and it is rooted in our biochemistry.
When we were cave people many thousands of years ago, nature devised a system which we call “fight or flight” to help our species survive. The caveman would be blissfully going along, and suddenly get attacked by a Saber-Toothed Tiger, and would have to jump into immediate action. All sorts of hormones and biochemicals would go coursing through his body to “rev him up”. Things like adrenalin, to increase his heart rate, and cortisol to help him break down bone, muscle and fat so as to produce more sugar. He would need all of his energy and strength to fight the tiger or flee. Hopefully, the caveman would survive the attack, and then his brain would signal to his body that the danger was passed, and his body would return to balance.
In today’s world, we have retained the “fight or flight response”, but most of us seem to have lost the ability to return to a naturally calm state after the danger has passed. We live our lives as if we are perpetually under attack by modern day Saber-Toothed Tigers, and we never really return to a blissful, relaxed state.
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This is where Yoga and Meditation can help. The purpose of Yoga is to help you achieve that blissful, relaxed state, by decreasing the levels of “stress molecules” in your body, and increasing the levels of calming molecules. As you release tensions in the deeper muscles of your spine, particularly the tailbone, you begin to feel noticeably more relaxed, so that the external events no longer have the same grip on you. And you learn that although you may not have any control over the external events of your life, you do have some control over how you respond. Yoga helps you to let go of the tigers in your life after you have fought them off.