- Chinese proverb
The concept of stress has been around for a while now. Hans Seyle, considered to have first discovered stress, published The Stress of Life
in 1956 where he first introduced his research on the “General Adaptation Syndrome,” which is a more scientific term for stress. His research initially met with some skepticism because it seemed to challenge the current models of health and disease. However, it has since proved valid and has entered our general understanding of health.In 1977 Kenneth Pelletier published Mind as Healer/Mind as Slayer documenting the link between stress and various diseases, most significantly cardiovascular disease, cancer, arthritis, and respiratory disease. Since then the field of holistic medicine has continued to grow and develop. The field of psychoneuroimmunology has developed to study the way that mind, emotions, disease and immunity are related. Numerous studies have shown a link between psychological, social, environmental factors and susceptibility to disease. The implication is that we can manage our health by managing these factors in our lives.
“Stress” is a broad concept which is hard to pin down. We each have our own subjective responses to events in life. What some may find stressful, others might not. The way we respond to stress is also highly variable: the American Institute of Stress lists 50 common signs of stress at http://www.stress.org/topic-effects.htm.
The symptoms of stress can be physical, emotional or behavioral. They range from headaches, chest pains, heart palpitations, etc. to depression and anxiety, overeating, eating disorders and addictive behaviors. Everyone has their own version of what it feels like to be “stressed out,” but we are also often unaware or in denial of our stress levels. Nonetheless it leads to a breakdown in the functioning of our bodies, mood disorders, relationship problems and substance abuse. Even chronic television viewing or internet “surfing” can be maladaptive coping mechanisms for stress. The fact is that stress is rampant in our society and we are all getting sick because of it.
Despite advances in understanding the relationship between stress, disease and immunity the current medical system rarely addresses it. Instead of looking to prevent disease, there are vested interests in treating it. Instead of helping patients to make important lifestyle changes, or even changes in their thinking and beliefs, doctors tend to prescribe pharmaceuticals to treat the symptoms. And, of course, there is big money in this. Approximately $300 billion dollars a years are spent on prescription drugs. Here is an interesting documentary on profits and corruption in the pharmaceutical industry: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1TwdsYVHjGA&feature=player_embedded
Most of us have been taught a belief system that disempowers us in terms of taking control of our own health. Instead we are led to believe that we are victims of viruses, genetics, etc. over which we have no control. Recent research on epigenetics, however, shows that we are not simply controlled by our genes. Instead our genes themselves respond to internal and external stress: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x3E_rSkwrwA There are number of areas in our lives where we can be more proactive in managing our health: diet and exercise, developing insight into our own inner processes (i.e. mindfulness), replacing maladaptive coping strategies with better ones, learning to relax . . .
“Relaxation” is something that we all think we know. However, many of us never or very rarely experience true relaxation. Instead we carry stress and tension all of the time. Relaxation is really a skill which needs to be learned in our modern world. It might come naturally to some but we have mostly learned habits that have buried this ability under layers of conditioning. Yoga is an excellent way to relearn how to relax. Hatha yoga helps to eliminate the cumulative effects of stress from the body. Pranayama promotes emotional balance and meditation develops relaxation on the deeper levels of the psyche. The technique of Yoga Nidra as developed by Swami Satyananda Saraswati has proven to be very effective. I have taught to hundreds of students with nearly unanimous positive feedback.
Here is a link to a guided Yoga Nidra practice I recorded a few months ago: http://soundcloud.com/turiyaom/yoga-nidra. You can use it to help you take control of your physical and psychological health. It is powerful and has no known side-effects. (Do not practice while driving or operating machinery . . : )
ॐ
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