Stress

When faced with tension or pressures, your body responds via a built-in “fight or flight” mechanism: your metabolism, blood pressure, heart rate, rate of breathing, and blood flow to the muscles increases. We all experience these stress hormones. When you have a hard time alleviating or managing the tension in your life and your corresponding stress hormones, you can create a plan to manage the stress in our lives.

Western doctors usually offer natural remedies for alleviating stress: exercising more, eating healthy and taking good care of your body, to practicing yoga and other movement therapies that combine exercise with breathing techniques. Your care provider may prescribe medication if stress has lead to depression, anxiety, or panic attacks.

1. Meditation: Practicing meditation calls forth the relaxation response, which lowers metabolism, blood pressure, heart rate, breathing rates, and blood flow to the muscles. As you meditate, you calm your mind and slow down your body, creating balance and alleviating stress.To achieve results, you have to practice meditation every day for 15 minutes for at least two months. Joining a group can help with your consistency level, and if you become uninspired, try listening to new guided mediation CDs. Learn how to meditate with Dr. Pujari’s Fundamental Meditations I and Fundamental Meditations II CDs (Contact us to purchase these cd’s).
   If you have never meditated before, guided imagery meditation is an easy way to learn; this is also included on Dr. Pujari’s meditation cds (Contact us to purchase these cd’s).Alternatively, you can try the relaxation response method created by Dr. Herbert Benson, Director Emeritus of the Benson-Henry Institute for Mind Body Medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital:
   • Pick a word or positive phrase such as calm or peace.
   • In a quiet place, sit in a comfortable position, close your eyes and relax the muscles in your body one by one.
   • Focus on breathing slowly in and out.
   • Breathe in slowly, and as you breathe out say your word or phrase. Continue in this fashion for 10 to 20 minutes.
   • If other thoughts distract you, say “Oh, well.” Then return to your repetition of breathing in and then breathing out as you say your word or phrase.
   • Upon completion, open your eyes slowly and sit quietly for a few minutes.
2.  Yoga: A small German study published in 2005 had half its women participants taking two yoga classes each week for three months while the other study members didn’t undertake any new stress-reduction or exercise programs. At the end of this time period, the yoga-class participants had improved their anxiety scores by 30 percent, and their overall well-being scores went up 65 percent.
   One of yoga’s main principles is developing self-understanding, which is a helpful practice for people dealing with stress. This self-understanding comes through placing your body in yoga poses or postures and breathing. Often yoga includes sitting in meditation for part of the practice. Yoga not only relaxes the mind, it stretches and strengthens the body.
3. Tai-chi: Tai chi is a graceful, slow form of exercise that combines breathing with flowing movements; it originated in China. Practicing Tai Chi helps to rebalance energy flow and heal the body with deliberate and graceful movements.
4. Qigong: Qigong is a traditional Chinese martial arts practice that combines a series of postures with breathing and meditation. This form of exercise synchronizes your mind, body, and breath. According to traditional Chinese medicine, illness is caused by blocks in a person’s energy flow. Practicing Qigong helps to rebalance energy flow and heal the body with deliberate and graceful movements.
5. Exercise: Your body was made to move; perhaps this is why moving your body is an apt way to release its stress. Of course, any form of exercise helps lower stress levels. Pick an activity you enjoy—running, walking, swimming, hiking, biking—and move your body for 30 minutes every day.
6. Say a mantra: When your brain is filled with negative chatter and your body vibrates with stress, you can use a mantra to transform the way you feel. This word mantra sounds exotic, but maybe this is only because it is from the Sanskrit language, an ancient Indian dialect. The root “man” means to think, and the suffix “tra” translates to tools; this word simply means “instrument of thought.” A mantra is a repeated word or phrase we can use to transform our negative stream of thoughts into positive thoughts.
   The easiest way to choose a mantra is to pick an attribute you wish to embody such as calm or peace. Then add the phrase “I am” in front of this word. Now you have a mantra such as “I am calm” or “I am peace.” Saying your mantra is like knocking on a door that has positive energy behind it. The next time wrecks havoc on your mind and body, say this mantra. Say it silently again and again and you can dissipate the unhealthy thinking and energy. Repeat it as you travel through your stressful day: while taking the work elevator, loading the dishwasher, and driving to your evening event. Saying “I am calm” or “I am peace” to yourself fills you with calmness or peace and lowers your stress level.