I often find myself wondering what speed I am moving at and if I were to slow down a second what impact that would have on me. Over the last few years, the speed of my life has had a dramatic effect on my health. The speed at which I do my daily life and work as well as how much I pack into a day and how much I stress about daily life has created an amount of fatigue limiting my energy and day to day functioning.
In the body we identify 2 nervous systems:
The Parasympathetic Nervous - known as rest and digest
The Sympathetic Nervous system - known as fight, flight or freeze.
The latter is what happens when we are in a state of stress, trauma and anxiety. If we are in this state constantly, the sympathetic nervous system is overactive and drains the body.
Many books are coming out now that highlight the short and long term effects of anxiety, stress and trauma. Bessel A. van der Kolk highlights this well in his book "The body keeps the score: brain, mind and body in the healing of trauma" He writes:
" we have learned that trauma is not just an event that took place sometime in the past it is also the imprint left by that experience on mind, brain and body. This imprint has ongoing consequences for how the human organism manages to survive in the present. Trauma results in a fundamental reorganisation of the way mind and brain manage perceptions. It changes not only how we think and what we think about, but also our very capacity to think."
Gabor Mate's book "When the body says no: the cost of hidden stress," writes: "the physiology of stress eats away at our bodies." Through my journey with stress, trauma, and anxiety, I have learned that mental and physical lifestyle has a physiological impact. If the sympathetic nervous system is in overdrive, and constantly active, you can find yourself worn out, tired, and easily sick, with an increased heart rate and high blood pressure, to name a few. A wise response to this would be to try and influence your parasympathetic nervous system ( rest and digest) and find some equilibrium in body and mind.
However, it can be hard to go from one extreme to the next and is often not the best way. Slow incremental change can have a better impact rather than trying to make an immediate shift. In some cases, the latter can simply add to the stress.
Over the last couple of years, I have been sicker than I have ever been in life this is directly linked to a constant state of stress and adrenaline. I have found my yoga practice slower and mind-body aware. I have to listen to what my body says and wants me to do ( am a very active person so this has been a challenge). The practice of Yoga as Embodiment seeks to intercept the fight, flight, freeze pattern of behaviour. As this blog is titled slow flow and pause we can seek to slow down the speed at which we move and think. A slow deep breath or in general simply slowing down the daily movements you make, getting out of bed, making breakfast etc. Ways we can influence this restful nervous system and find more equilibrium are by doing activities that bring groundedness, internal focus, deep relation to self and a slowing of the heart rate ( if it's increased). In short, do yoga.
When we slow down and take a pause we can intercept the kick of adrenaline and down-regulate the sympathetic nervous system. When you feel the surge of something arising in you, pause and take a deep breath. Walk slowly, sit and you may slow the surge to bring in some groundedness and attention to self.
Slow Flow and Pause Class to help you get a deeper sense of this practice.
Please note that specialist therapeutic treatment may be needed for trauma and anxiety.
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