We have forgotten we are perfect human beings, and the reason we have forgotten is because of stress! Fatigue, doubts, things to do, responsibilities, money, the list goes on as there are many things to stress about in life. Just looking at the picture of the man below I’m sure you can relate – we often have a LOT of thoughts going on in our head – in fact, studies show we have 60,000 – 80,000 thoughts in an hour. And it’s getting worse and worse in this technology age we live in given we are constantly having to disseminate information and it can easily become overwhelming. Stress comes from all sorts of places, and then stressors can put us in a state of anxiety.
When I worked at a large oil and gas company in Canada managing their benefit programs, anti-anxiety medications were the top prescriptions filled by employee’s and their families. Sadly, the benefits broker I worked with told me this is consistent with all companies in their book of business. Stress results from perceiving obstacles to what we desire and need, and then the body has nothing to do but to respond, that’s it’s job. Stress puts us into that fight/flight response that you may have heard of.
Meditation can help us to effectively manage stress so we can have a more harmonious life. But before we get into how meditation helps us manage stress, I want to review the negative physiological effects of stress so you can more fully appreciate meditation’s mind-body benefits.
Fight-flight-freeze is a primitive stress response grounded in the survival instinct that kept our ancestors alive. It pulls us into a state of constricted awareness—from which there’s no capacity for thinking creatively, broadening our perspective, expanding our awareness, or accessing our purpose. This state is very useful for escaping physical danger and surviving life-threatening situations like running away from a tiger. Even outside survival situations, stress can be beneficial - eustress is when we experience minor stress which motivates or invigorates us. I remember I wanted to start running a lot more and to keep myself accountable, I signed for a 10km race. That eustress is what kept me motivated run. So stress can be healthy, and in my example, I felt challenged, but not overwhelmed. But we don’t want to live in a chronic state of stress as this constricted awareness has negative consequences when activated in everyday encounters. This is what happened to me after I became extremely stressed at work. I was having panic attacks because I was so overwhelmed by every day stuff. My brain felt really full. I remember people at work talking to me and I would just glaze over because I couldn’t process what they were saying. I was so hyper focused on all these separate little things, and I just couldn’t process anything else.
Fight-flight-freeze causes similar physiological changes in every human which includes increased heart rate, blood pressure, and stress hormone production; shallow, rapid breathing; decreased production of anti-aging hormones; increased sweating; weakened immunity; and the clotting of blood platelets. It also causes changes in brain activity which allow us to react quickly in moments of potential danger but when the stress is chronic, it undermines the areas of the brain that feel gratitude, compassion, and connection. This is very helpful if we are a cave man and need to run away, but it’s not appropriate for us when we are living everyday life. Stress and fatigue block the Nadi channels through which the lifeforce energy, prana, flows. A build-up of stress inhibits the flow of energy and information through our mind-body system. Our cars need an oil change every so often, or all of the gunk starts to clog the engine. We REALLY need to clear our mind, and our body of the gunk, or, our system gets really constricted and less efficient.
So what happens is, our body, gets into this chronic stress state, and it causes dis-ease within the body. We are not made to be constantly stressed. We are made to run away from the tiger for a moment, and then reset. But we don’t reset enough, and we get sick.
Stress causes 80% of the diseases around the world! When our heart is constantly pumping faster than it needs to, because of stress, we get increased blood pressure and heart stress, which leads to heart disease. When our hormones are constantly getting ready to fight or run away from the tiger, it leads to anxiety, insomnia. We need lots of glycogen to make our muscles operate to fight or flight the tiger so our blood sugar elevates - and this can lead to diabetes and obesity. Our circulation and digestion shuts down when we get stressed as it’s not a primary function needed when running away from the tiger. How many people have digestive issues? Lot’s of times we attribute digestive issues to the food we are eating (and this very well may be a part, but stress causes this too). Our hormones get out of wack – it’s kind of like we are using up our life force energy when we are stressed, so we prematurely age as well. Our immune system no longer functions the way it should, again because this is not a primary need when we are fighting or running away from the tiger. So this can lead to infections and cancer. Heart attacks and strokes too become an issue. Our body is not meant to be in a chronic state of stress, yet we live like this, and somehow it’s become somewhat acceptable in society.
If we can combat this stress then we can combat these diseases. There are thousands of studies out there that list in detail, how stress causes or contributes to these illnesses, and I’m just giving you a high level summary here. In my opinion, we really need to be mindful about how stressed we are, and then become mindful about how to release this stress as well.
Restful Awareness is a practice that you can choose to do to counterbalance the fight/flight response. Restful Awareness is also known as contemplation time, or meditation. These practices can shift your body into a state which counterbalances the fight/flight response. There are thousands of studies on how meditation and similar practices can heal the body and mind. And what these practices do, is they induce a state of DEEP REST. And REST is how the body heals itself by eliminating stress, fatigue, and toxins. Rest allows the body to release its stress. And when I say rest, I don’t mean watching Netflix or a movie (that’s actually what we call mindlessness), and I don’t mean sleep either (that’s what we call restful dullness). I mean real mental rest, where you are still aware of yourself. This state of restful awareness again is typically known as meditation.
In meditation, we get the opposite of all the stress. This deep rest state prompts the brain to release neurotransmitters linked to various aspects of happiness. It also leads to positive physiological changes. These include decreased heart rate and inflammation; normalization of blood pressure; deeper breathing; reduced stress hormone production and sweating; strengthened immunity (think of those people that get sick all the time! They are probably really stressed); and increased production of anti-aging hormones and the enzyme telomerase. Additionally, our prefrontal cortex—the more evolved part of the brain—becomes more active, awakening gratitude, compassion, and connection. The deep rest gained through meditation releases us from our constricted state, drawing us into one of expanded awareness. From there, we can better experience creativity, equanimity, vitality, joy, and purpose, and live a more harmonious life.
Practices that we can implement such as meditation allows is to restore our natural essence and is the key to experiencing the inner joy of our lives. We want to settle the mind back down to our essential nature so we can operate from a place of equanimity and balance - where our mind flourishes, instead of becoming overwhelmed. Wouldn’t you rather be in a state of being where you have a lower heart rate, lower blood pressure, lower stress, and the body is producing anti-aging hormones etc.? I think we all would. I think we can all agree that living in a state of fight/flight/freeze is uncomfortable…and it simply causes dis-ease in the body and mind.
So if I told you that you can implement one 15 minute practice a day of restful awareness, and it would create all of the side affects on the right side of the War vs. Peace chart – would you do it?
I'm a Certified Meditation Teacher and teach Primordial Sound Meditation with Chopra Global and can help you get started, or deepen your meditation practice.
~Devani
I am a light worker dedicated to the elevation and ascension of the collective human consciousness. I use Clarity Breathwork, Reiki and Meditation to empower my clients to realize their best selves.
I am certified in Usui, Karuna, Holy Fire, and Violet Flame Reiki, and work with Dr. Deepak Chopra sharing his Primordial Sound Meditation to support the vision of having 1 billion people meditating regularly.
