Stress Good and Bad
We have reflexes that our brain controls which activate even before we are aware of any danger. It is our primitive survival instinct that we still possess. When our brain senses danger – which could be real or imaginary – it sets in process a series of body changes that ready us for ‘fight or flight’. As the nervous system is aroused, so your alertness becomes more acute and you may focus mainly on the thing that has activated your stress response.
Past Experiences
The brain can think that there is a threat even when there is not and start the stress process in your body. If you have learned of dangers in the past, your brain may remember certain things that activate a trigger which reminds it that there is a threat. This could be a certain sound, smell, place, position of the body in space or even an emotion. Your unconscious brain stores information away from past experiences and can use that information to help you survive. Only sometimes it goes overboard and helps you too much. It causes you stress by telling you that there are a lot of dangers out there and to beware of everything.
Dangers of Continued Stress
If stress stays with us longer than it is needed, it has been known to cause fatigue, muscle tension, headaches and changes in sleeping habits. Your body finds it harder to fight off infections. Another system in your brain gives your body the signal to reverse the stress response. It is called the rest and digest system. When one system is active, the other is inhibited. In the modern world, there are dangers on the roads, on the news every night, at work or at home. Money, housing, relationships, fitting in etc. are all stresses that can activate the ‘fight or flight’ response.
How Pain Source Release Will Help You
Pain source release is a gentle form of myofascial release. I sit with you, applying gentle pressure into a tight area of your body. As you relax into that pressure, your whole body relaxes. Your body begins to calm the stress process and as it does your brain can calm down at the same time. It is like meditation. You become more in tune with your body and your thinking can have a rest. When you reach this state of stillness and relaxation you are in a space where your own body’s intelligence can do its work. We (you and me) work together to help you find this space.
