Stress and the Bodymind

Change can be hard, but sometimes not making the needed change is a dangerous mistake. Stress is ever present in our lives in this day and age, yet how we handle it is a choice.  Do we just submit to the situation?  Play the role of victim to our circumstances?  Or do we take the opportunity to create change and commit to a new way of viewing and acting on our own behalf?  To do the former is to struggle with blockage and frustration, while the latter choice offers improved health and quality of life.

How we deal with stress can be deadly; support for this position is evident in the illustration above.  Patterned responses to perceived problems are set in place early in life, leaving us with limited options for creative problem solving, even developing brain based pathways that "efficiently" keep us in unhealthy loops of thinking and behavioral responses.  A common by-product of such limitations in the bodymind is the emergence of an autoimmune disorder.  These instances of compromised immune functioning are literal instances of the body(mind) turning on itself in destructive ways.  High profile examples of autoimmune disorders include Lupus, Chronic Fatigue Disorder, and Celiac Disease, but the list is extensive and symptoms often overlap.  Such disorders may go along undetected until the level of damage is extreme enough to present as full-blown disease, as in cancer, heart disease and diabetes, to name a few.  The implications of ongoing imbalance in health go beyond mere physical illness, impacting relationships, finances and mental well-being.

Since the signs of imbalance are subtle at first, it is imperative to maintain awareness of one's own best functioning on physical and emotional levels.  Western medicine offers many amazing options, but is often shortsighted with regard to the source and course of underlying immune function imbalance.  For this reason it may be necessary to seek out alternative and complementary practitioners to aid in the effort to maintain health.  A known source of imbalance is early trauma, and chronic exposure to stress.  These events tend to include denial or dismissal of one's own experiences and perceptions, as well as keeping attention directed outward toward external demands, thus limiting opportunity for awareness of the subtle signals of imbalance until they blossom into full blown illness.

It is imperative in the quest for health and balance that we slow down and make time to tune-in to ourselves.  Attention to signals from the bodymind is a practice (see earlier post on Finding FLOW).  When we find, listen and openly witness our internal meanings, we have the chance to address imbalance early in its course, as well as a strong base from which to cope and perhaps change that course.  These disruptions will then take their place in life as opportunities for change, another set of unkind gifts that may extend and enhance life..., the greatest gift of all.