What you need to know about the stress response (Part 2)
The human brain is incredibly intelligent, and its response to stress is no exception. When the stress response is triggered, the brain takes a snapshot of all the sensory information we receive in that moment. If we encounter that sensory stimulus again, the brain will trigger the stress response earlier, allowing us to prepare for fight or flight sooner. This process is known as a premature cognitive commitment (PCC).
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Lessons from the field
Whether I’ve got my Vedic Meditation teacher hat on, or Occupational Therapist hat on, I spend my week working with individuals to support their nervous systems and emotional regulation. Here’s one thing I’ve learnt..
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What You Need To Know About The Stress Response (Part 1)
Well, there is bad news and good news… let’s start with the bad news, with reference to the ‘father of stress research’ the Hungarian endocrinologist, Hans Selye.
Selye developed the ‘general adaptation syndrome’ model which describes the impact stress has on the human body. Each time the body is exposed to a potential stressor (demand, change in expectation, pressure etc.) it has a limited amount of adaptation energy to cope or deal with the demand.
Become the sanctuary
Have you noticed how we isolate our time to rest, to switch off, to holiday periods? You feel rested and refreshed only to open your inbox to 165 unread emails or go into overdrive getting the kids ready for school etc.? Our next thought is often, when is my next holiday?
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Compassion and The Stress Response
When the Sabre tooth tiger approached our ancestors in the cave, they didn’t stop to count how many teeth the tiger had, wonder how hungry it must be and how many tiger cubs it needed to feed. No, our ancestors, with the help of their in-built physiological stress response, which was designed to save their lives, either fought (fight) or fled (flight). When a tiger is staring you in the face, ready to make you it’s next meal, there really isn’t much time to waste being empathetic, compassionate and understanding towards the tiger. Thankfully the stress response makes this very difficult to do in the moment anyway!
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The anchor sits at the base of the ocean. It is calm and quiet down there, despite all the activity on the surface. Turbulent waves and strong winds combine and water is splashed across my face. Unrelenting.
The information overload, the constant barrage of expectation to adapt. Yet I am anchored. Anchored in my simplest form of awareness, my simplest state of Being.
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The One Reason You Shouldn’t Meditate
The benefits of Vedic Meditation are countless:
greater physical health
accessing your full mental potential
increased happiness
releasing accumulated stress from the body
developing a deep inner contentment regardless of the demands you face
The list goes on..
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However, there is one reason why you shouldn’t learn to meditate:
Masculinity - Creating A New Narrative
Most men know in their hearts and minds that it is time to create a new narrative for strong and positive masculinity. Most women have known this for a while now (thank you for your patience ladies!) It is pretty obvious, that the exaggerated and warped expressions of traditional masculine traits that characterise toxic masculinity are not relevant nor serving men anymore.
Sure, men were taught that to be successful in a patriarchal society, they needed to align with the ‘be a man’, ‘toughen up’ ‘grow some balls’ narrative. They were encouraged to be stoic and unemotional and at the same time were judged as weak for showing vulnerability and sensitivity. Certainly men have lacked positive role models due to the tens of millions of men that died in the many 20th Century wars. Or as an example, that over 40% of all births in the U.S.A in 2015 were born to single mothers.
As with all natural cycles, when things are no longer sustainable, they disintegrate leading to new creations and innovations.
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The Medium is the Message
When we take a rusty, steel chisel and carve a line into granite, it leaves a deep and lasting impression.
When we take that same rusty, steel chisel and carve a line into sand, it leaves an impression that, over some time, will disappear.
Take that same rusty, steel chisel again and carve a line into water. On this occasion, no impression is left.
In life, we are constantly being challenged by the ‘chisels’, the demands of our experiences, whether they relate to the pressures of work, family, love or society. We all face these demands, no one is exempt. The message lies not in the demand itself or how intense it is but rather who we are and how we deal with such demands.
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