Required Relaxation (Pillar #7)
Relaxation is a lost art (or habit) that continues to suffer at the hands of modern civilization. Some people are convinced that they need to spend thousands of dollars for air flights and all inclusive resorts to experience rest and relaxation. Our day to day lifestyle is littered with perceived dangers, and so we find ourselves constantly with stress. Too much stress is a formidable obstacle to optimal mental and physical health. Pillar 7 of the Elevate Your Vibration series addresses how relaxation is required in order to elevate your vibrations.
Stress as the Silent Killer of Modern Man
Relaxation is best defined by defining its opposite, stress. Stress has been a necessary response for survival among plants and animals for millions of years. Both plants and animals release certain hormones when they experience stress. Stress is nature’s perfect solution for dealing with life threatening situations. Yet, the media has deemed stress as the silent killer. How can nature’s perfect solution for millions of years be modern man’s silent killer?
Stress is what we call when your brain sends out the hormone epinephrine through the nervous system to prepare your body for a perceived threat. The release of epinephrine accelerates heart rate thereby increasing the flow of oxygen and blood in the body. Certain blood vessels widen, the airways expand, blood pressure increases in our preparation for “fight or flight.” This is how early humans survived things like hungry tigers or sudden storms for millions of years. When these hormones are released from the brain, the sympathetic nervous system is switched on. When the perceived threat passes, the parasympathetic nervous system takes over in order to return the body to the rest and digest state.
The Autonomic Nervous System
The appropriately named autonomic nervous system is a network that controls the automatic functions in the body. Things like breathing, heart rate, body temperature, digestion, urination, and blood pressure. The main function of the autonomic nervous system is homeostasis, which is the state of balance of the body’s internal environment ensuring survival and proper functioning of all systems. The autonomic nervous system is made up of the sympathetic nervous system (stress) and the parasympathetic nervous system (relaxation). These two systems constantly perform a yin and yang balancing act between stress and relaxation.
Stress in Today’s Society
Modern humans have adapted a rapid lifestyle where the sympathetic nervous system is constantly being activated from things like work deadlines, walking around in busy streets, driving, financial difficulties, the news, and any other perceived danger or threat. Today’s threats are completely different from the threats humans faced before the industrial revolution. Therefore, we need to help rewire our systems by searching for a balance between the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems. We are required to relax in order to elevate our vibrations. We need to relearn how to relax. We are living in completely different times from our ancestors and so we must guide our evolutionary process along to match the modern world we have created. When lions chase a herd of gazelles, the gazelles release stress hormones to take flight from the threat. As soon as the lions make their kill, the gazelles stop running, and continue grazing. Modern humans forgot how to stop and continue grazing.
We Even Make Eating Stressful
Growing up in the suburbs of Detroit Michigan in the early 80s and 90s, we would make our meal times stressful. In 1998, I was a senior in high school, going to school all day, followed by either football or baseball in the afternoons. I would scarf some food down before practice, and then rush home after practice in order to scarf something else down so that I could make it to work on time. Eating was a stressful activity where the food was just fuel. The body should clearly be in a parasympathetic nervous system while eating so that all your digestive enzymes are firing and internal organs are sharp and ready to digest. The problem with my situation in high school was that my sympathetic nervous system was activated due to my anxiety about getting to work on time, while I was eating. This caused terrible nutrient uptake and general lack of health and vitality.
From 2006 until 2011, I lived in Spain and learned how important slowing down and celebrating the eating experience is to optimal health. We would take a minimum 1.5 hours to have lunch. Some of my friends had 3 hours of lunch everyday. And some Sunday afternoon meals can take the whole afternoon. These long meals are ideal for switching off your sympathetic nervous system. Since learning this lesson, I consciously notice if I am stressed before eating and practice relaxation techniques if necessary.
Practical Relaxation Techniques
Apart from enjoying your meal and the eating experience, there are numerous ways to rewire our autonomic nervous system to meet today’s hurried pace of life. Some of these things we have talked about in detail in previous pillars of this series and some we will talk about in future pillars.
Sleep (Pillar 4). Sleep quality is the greatest ally to activate the parasympathetic nervous system. You can improve your sleep quality by being consistent with bedtime and wake up time, designing a healthy before bed routine, and creating a sleep conducive environment. Quality sleep will certainly help the body relax.
Breathing (Pillar 1). Practicing the complete breath of breathing deep into the lungs and then exhaling all of the air works wonders for your relaxation.
Meditation (Pillar 10). Meditation has a host of physical, mental and spiritual benefits. When combining deep breathing with present moment mindfulness, it allows the parasympathetic nervous system to take over.
Intentional Movement (Pillar 5). Intentional, mindful movements work to get the body into a state of flow. This creates a sense of relaxation and decreases stress levels.
Connect with Nature (Pillar 8). Going outside and feeling the sun on your skin or walking through the woods or down the beach helps the body and mind relax, allowing your parasympathetic nervous system to activate.
Everything is intricately and intimately connected. As you continue your journey down the path guided by the 12 pillars that elevate your vibrations, you will see that each pillar works on the body and mind in a holistic sense. Stress is a vibration killer, so to maintain your vibrations at a high level, it’s imperative to be aware of the stress in and around you, and practice these relaxation techniques to keep the nervous system in a homeostatic state.
