Are You Making Your Stress Worse?

Stress seems to permeate almost every aspect of our existence at the moment. Do you ever stop and think about what stress actually is, and what’s your relationship with it?

We tend to think about whatever is causing us stress coming from the outside of us: the boss who stresses you out, a situation that keeps popping up in your life, demands from the family… However, stress occurs when the external demand is not met and overcome by appropriate internal resources. So, if you don’t have enough vitality, time, money, energy (or so-called “wavelength”) to deal with that demand, you are becoming stressed. 

Concentrating your resources (whatever appropriate ones they might be) helps you solve the source of that stress, and ideally your body returns to your pre-stressed state. However, in today’s reality we tend to be constantly bombarded by stressors, and we hardly ever return to the state of full relaxation, which results in chronic stress. Prolonged periods of chronic stress can lead to COLD DEPRESSION (I’ll write about it at some other time, stay tuned!) or to a burnout and clinical depression.

Chronic stress changes the human body. It physically changes your brain, it impairs your judgement, makes you reactive and irritable. Stress produces inflammatory response in the body, depleting your immune system and making you susceptible to heart disease, diabetes, and other chronic health issues. 

Did you know that level of stress in highly SUBJECTIVE? Two different people will react to the same stressor in totally different ways, based on their experience, knowledge, and most importantly, their perception of the amount of CONTROL they have in the situation. To illustrate the point, someone who believes they are stuck in their thankless, draining job forever and with no way out is going to register a very high degree of stress, as compared to someone who believes that their health is more important than any job, and they can find other employment.  

Clearly, our point of view and perceived degree of control over the situation affects our experience of stress, and maintaining a neutral mind will help with processing and resolving the stress. But what can you do when your judgment is affected by stress, and you’re reactive and confused, and don’t see the whole pictureanymore? It’s simple… MEDITATION!

Meditation from the tradition of Kundalini Yoga has been dubbed “medical meditation”, due to its profound effect not only on the relaxation response in your body, but also on hormonal and nervous system (including the brain) health! Daily, or even few times a week, meditation program is like an excellent shower for your mental health! It cleanses you, dissolving stresses and persistent patterns of thought and behaviour, and restoring you to a healthy baseline. It trains your nervous system to be more adaptive, so that you can react quickly and effectively to a stressful situation and return to a relaxed state much more easily. 

And best of all, meditation allows you to step out of the confines of the box that stress keeps you in. You know when you're under pressure and you can't see many possibilities because you're too close to the problem? That's what I'm talking about! Meditation allows you to get rid of that box, so you can distance yourself from the issue and actually see things with clarity. New solutions and new possibilities are available to you!

Are you ready to say YES to yourself and your mental health? Join me as we venture through any of the 40-day meditation practices. Our intentions combined with thoughtful guidance and group energy serve as a beautiful platform and structure to build new things in life, change habits, and grow! You'd be amazed what's possible in 40 days. We are waiting for you!