How you Breathe is How you Live.
“Medical thinking usually sees stress as highly disturbing but isolated events such as, for example, sudden unemployment, a marriage breakup, or the death of a loved one. These major events are potent sources of stress for many, but there are chronic daily stresses in people's lives that are more insidious and more harmful in their long-term biological consequences. Internally generated stresses take their toll without in any way seeming out of the ordinary.” ~ Dr. Gabor Maté
Photography Credit: Motion City Films
Stress is something that seems to plague many of us in this modern day. Studies show that 60-80% of doctor visits are related to stress {1}. Stress complaints continue to be on the rise as stress management becomes more and more prevalent in understanding its effects on our health.
In my practice, I've found that chronic stress is the #1 complaint that I hear from clients when I ask them, "How are you feeling today?" Countless times the first thing I hear is, "I'm so stressed!" More and more, we are living in a fast-paced world with increasing pressure that compounds the stressors in our lives.
As lifesaving as the stress response is, it was meant to solve short-term, life-threatening problems, not extended difficulties such as daily traffic jams, difficult people at work & in our relationships, etc. But did you know that how you breathe also directly affects your body's response to stress? Poor breathing habits can exacerbate stress signals in your body and create a cycle that encourages feelings such as anxiety and physical tension. Prolonged or repeated arousal of the stress response, a characteristic of modern life, can have harmful physical and psychological effects, including heart disease and depression.
Stress generally refers to two things:
1. the psychological perception of pressure
2. the body's response to it
When the body reacts to stress, it affects multiple systems from the metabolism to muscles and even memory. Through hormonal signaling, the perception of danger sets off an automatic response system, aka fight-or-flight response, that prepares all animals to face a challenge or escape from it. This system that controls your body's mode to go into fight-or-flight vs. rest-&-digest is called the autonomic nervous system (ANS for short), which has two main divisions: sympathetic & parasympathetic nervous systems. {2} Fortunately for us, the ANS is directly impacted by how we breathe for our body, and you can learn healthier breathing habits to combat, reduce and control excessive stress.
Why is Breath important to reducing chronic stress?
Chronic stress affects your overall health, including your metabolism, ability to lose weight, your brain cognition, including memory, focus, and mental clarity, as well as your immune system and even your sex life!
MIND: Memory, Mental Clarity, Focus
BODY: Inflammation, Immune System
Many scientific studies prove the benefits of breathing on your health, including one such study that proved a regular breathing practice can help children with ADHD{3}. By breathing in a mechanically sound way, you are less likely to trigger excess stress signals to the brain. When the brain receives chronic stress signals, it begins to wreak havoc on our hippocampus. Hippocampal degeneration from glucocorticoid receptors in the hippocampus interacts with the hormones coming from your stress response. When they are overstimulated from chronic stress, the hippocampus begins to malfunction.
How does that affect you?
Hippocampus affects your short-term & long-term memory, spatial memory, navigation.
Glucocorticoids react to stress by creating cortisol which affects your anti-inflammatory and immune system.
By simply switching the stress triggers with our Breath, we can reduce the load on our hippocampus and the glucocorticoid receptors, thereby reducing inflammation responses in the body and improving our immune system response. We also reduce the amount of cortisol released in our body which helps prevent excess weight gain and improve your metabolic rate.
When you introduce breathing practices that reduce chronic stress, you begin to improve your brain function and cognition. This often leads to a calming effect that allows you to feel more centered and aware of the present moment. By becoming aware of the present moment, we can bring harmony with ourselves and with our partners. We are allowing for greater connection and an increase in intimacy. You can use many forms of breathwork to enhance intimacy, including breath cycling and Tantric breathing. Chronic stress can directly affect our libido! Breathing together can form an intimate bond and connection, cycling in one another's prana. Not to mention, better sex is a win-win for our physical, mental, and our emotional health!
Why is Pilates important to reducing chronic stress?
“A body free from nervous tension and fatigue is the ideal shelter provided by nature for housing a well balanced mind, fully capable of successfully meeting all the complex problems of modern living.”
Pilates is a form of movement that is meant to be done with flow and ease of tension. While challenging, it is never meant to be done with force or strain and allows you to become more in tune with the Breath. It also requires a considerable amount of focus and concentration, releasing you from any thoughts outside of the practice and allowing the flow of precise, conscious movements. The sheer practice of Pilates embodies the 3 top benefits of fitness for relieving stress.
1) NEUROCHEMICAL: The tempo and flow of Pilates allow for an aerobic stimulus that creates a neurochemical release reducing the levels of the body's stress hormones. While stress hormones such as adrenaline and cortisol start to go down, your body's endorphins begin to increase. The production of endorphins naturally begins to enhance your mood and act as the body's natural painkillers. Leaving you upbeat and relaxed at the end of your workout.
2) BEHAVIORAL: As you begin to feel and see the results of consistent practice of the Pilates repertoire, you can start to experience the emotional benefits of exercise. Joseph Pilates's intent for the practice was to leave you with renewed vigor and energy to help you succeed at the tasks in your daily life. The sense of renewed energy and stamina compounds with the satisfaction of strength while you begin to build confidence and a sense of mastery and control. This renewed sense of confidence and empowerment can easily carry over into your ability to be inspired to pursue achievements of life goals.
3) TIME AWAY: When your body is busy, your mind can be distracted away from the worries of daily life. Just this momentary pause to focus on time with yourself, achieving your fitness goals, can help you think more creatively when you come back to your tasks. Consider it your opportunity to get away from it all and enjoy some time for yourself.
Why is Energy Work important to reducing chronic stress?
Energywork practices such as Reiki or Pranic healing can be an excellent source to relieve chronic stress with little to no effort for the client. When our energy is out of balance, we may feel this imbalance emotionally in the form of anxiety, stress, or depression. While the words "energy healing" or "energy work" may garner a few eye rolls, it's worth keeping an open mind. Clinical research shows that energy work such as Reiki and Pranic Healing can be helpful for anxiety and pain management {4}. Medical institutions like New York-Presbyterian Hospital even offer Reiki as a complementary treatment to patients {5}. Data from the hospital's pilot program reveals that Reiki, along with other integrative solutions like meditation and yoga, can decrease blood pressure, heart rate, anxiety, and pain among radiation oncology patients {6}.
REIKI:
An ancient Japanese technique, reiki is a non-invasive, energy-based approach to relaxation and healing. Subtle, yet powerful, it is designed to stimulate the body’s natural ability to heal itself on all levels—physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual.
Over time, reiki has become a more widely accepted form of healing. Hospitals and Hospice care now recognize its benefits and as a result, more research is being conducted to determine the full extent of its effect on both stress and anxiety. Past research indicated that patients who received six sessions of reiki showed significantly reduced signs of stress and depression. Re-testing one year later on those same patients showed that the positive results of the six reiki sessions remained intact. Due to a better understanding of the positive impact of reiki, hospitals in England are now employing Reiki practitioners to work with patients pre and post-operative.
Tried and true, Reiki is a safe, effective method for easing the symptoms of stress, building up the positive energy in the body, and restoring a sense of well-being and balance{7}.
PRANIC HEALING:
Pranic healing is a relatively ancient method of energy work that incorporates a variety of breathwork techniques along with meditation. Founded by Grand Master Choa Kok Sui it has a modern approach that is no touch, no drugs, and no instrument therapy. Pranic Healing is meant to cleanse the energy of your aura and in some cases energize your chakras. Like Reiki, Pranic Healing is used as a complement to the care you receive from medical practitioners.
These two main techniques of energy work, Reiki and Pranic Healing can help you with pulling away from your anxieties and stress. The beauty in both of these practices is that they can be done remotely, anywhere in the world, and can even be done while you are resting or even sleeping. Some say that it helps to change the state of your inner illusion by increasing the levels of your inner strengths. To learn more about Energy work, check out our blog here
Chronic stress does not have to be the way you live! Starting a breath practice that takes into account your mechanics and habits can have dramatic effects in clearing away stress. There are many options to help you relieve stress whether it is a regular commitment to movement and exercise, creating a breathwork and meditation practice, or trying ancient eastern health practices like reiki and pranic healing. There are many opportunities to find the right practice that fits your needs.
