Your body & brain on stress

We all know that stress isn't good for us, but do we know why?
I knew it was less than ideal to worry and fret about every little thing, but I didn't know how "less than ideal" it really was until I did some reading up on the subject.

There is so much information out there! Here's a small sample of what I have learned. (Disclaimer; Due to the complexities of all that goes on in the body and brain, I could have written signals sent and hormones released in the wrong order. Nevertheless, all this happens and more.)

First your brain:
It doesn't know the difference between a real or perceived threat (a lion chasing you, or the stress of your job)

Your brain will send signals to the adrenal glands, which releases the hormone adrenaline.
The Hypothalamus sends signals to your Pituitary gland, Cortisol is released.  Cortisol is really good when you're in danger because it keeps your blood sugar/pressure up so you can run... But really bad when it's "up" all the time.

The part of your brain used to "run away from the lion" is in the back. The part used for higher thinking, reasoning, emotion etc. is in the front. When you have chronic stress, you're always in the back part of your brain, so it's harder to remember things. You don't do well in school or at your job, and you have trouble with your relationships....which causes more stress!

Your Body:
When all the blood is sent to your extremities (so that you can run from that lion) it isn't where it should be... your organs. It isn't taking care of your digestion, liver or kidney function etc. which in turn can cause all kinds of illness. Add to that adrenal fatigue, and you have problems!
For too many people, this is a never ending cycle.

So what do we do about it?
We can try and think happy thoughts, but just saying that you are now going to adopt a "positive attitude" is easier said than done. It is very hard to stop all the busy thoughts going on in your brain unless you make a dedicated effort.

Meditation can stop the hamster wheel in your head and allow you to put things back into perspective. Meditation quiets your mind so that you can re-focus and rewire, make new connections, and dramatically improve your life!

If you are interested in learning more about meditation, read my posts on "why we should meditate" and "how to meditate"


There is so much to learn.
Click on the links below to read more about it!

http://www.mindful.org/what-stress-does-to-your-brain/

http://www.youramazingbrain.org/brainchanges/stressbrain.htm

Here's a fun little video that sums it all up.

how to meditate

There are SO many ways to meditate! After my cancer surgery, I was in an unbelievable amount of pain. I thought some books or movies would help "distract" me during this time, but I couldn't concentrate on anything. I couldn't read or even watch TV. Not only did it not help, it really irritated me. The only thing I could do was ZenTangle drawings...which is another form of meditation. (I'll cover that in another post)

About a week before surgery, I downloaded an app on my phone with a few guided meditations. At night in my hospital bed, I would put in my earbuds and listen. It did help me to relax, but I wasn't getting the full benefits because I kept thinking "this is so weird." For some reason, I was really self conscious trying to relax while someone was talking in my ear...as if they could see me, or anyone else knew what I was doing... Plus I was on heavy pain meds and didn't know what I was doing. When I came home and was alone, I was really able to relax while listening, which in turn, made me feel much better. I do wish I would have started practicing a few months BEFORE surgery.

So, if you do, for example, a Pinterest search on meditation, you will find so much info it will make your head spin! Some of it will make you think you have fallen into the realm of hippies, ... just like music, it covers a broad spectrum;-)

There are MANY ways to meditate. Mindfulness meditation, which can be done while walking or doing tasks, Guided meditation or visualization, Mantra meditation, which uses words or phrases, and many more. Yoga is also a form of meditation.
Here is something that you can try right away.  First get comfortable. You will see that many meditation instruction tells you to sit cross legged, kneel or sit in a chair with a straight back and your feet on the ground. I often kneel with a yoga block under my bottom, but that was super hard for me at first, so I started (and sometimes still do) lean back in my recliner, and that's just fine. You can even do it in bed.

Now that you're comfortable, start by closing your eyes, then concentrate on your breath. Feel it going in and out. Feel how it makes your stomach rise and fall. Notice as it becomes slower and more even. Release all the tension in your body from head to toe. One guided meditation I listened to said to imagine your body melting like wax, which really helped to release extra tension. You will have thoughts come and go, but don't try to fight them. Just let them pass by. I like to imagine them as clouds that kind of dissolve as they go by.

Too many people stress because they think they can't clear their mind, don't worry about it, that's why they call it "practice" I can't believe how much easier it is for me now than it was when I started nearly 6 months ago. If your mind wanders, just go back to your breath. Sometimes, I like to silently say a "mantra" to myself like "peace" as I breath in, and "love" as I breath out, or "Peace, be still" It could be part of a short scripture, or just "in" and "out." That way, your mind is on the thing you're doing/saying at that moment and not the dishes sitting in the sink or your job.  It might be good to set a timer starting with 5 or 10 minutes...unless it's bedtime and you want to go to sleep;-)

It's also nice to start with guided meditation, because you can just relax and let the person talking guide you through breathing, relaxing and positive visualization. Remember, your brain is very powerful. When you clear it of the unimportant stuff, your imagination can create energy that can do amazing things for both your mind and body. When your mind is stressed, your body suffers!

Here are some good places to visit for more info.
This one is an article with some great information on what's going on in your brain during meditation as well as some useful links.
Here's a guided meditation called "Healing begins in the mind" I quite like her voice and visualizations.

Some of the apps I've used are "Stop breathe and think" which is the one I used in the hospital, and "Insight Timer" here, you can choose from tons of guided meditations based on time, type and star rating.
Headspace is an app for beginners that starts with a fun animation on how to meditate, and 10 short guided meditations.
I hope these help to start you on your way.

Why meditate?

Have you ever tried to concentrate on something like reading, praying or listening to a speaker, but just couldn't do it? Did your mind keep going back to what you did yesterday or what you're going to do tomorrow?

Well I sure have! I have all the symptoms of ADD...so...yeah.
Even if we can concentrate on tasks, our subconscious is always busy playing tapes all the way back from childhood. Over and over again. Some good, and some not so good. It's where our self doubt and fears live, as well as the "natural man"  And it takes up a really big part of our brain too. We try to shut it out. We try to think positive, but that only works on the conscious part of our brain. What we really need to do is quiet our mind in order to get the good positive stuff into that subconscious.

Once it's quiet, we can use our imagination, to fix bad tapes and to really concentrate on what we want to do.

I used to have a really hard time keeping my focus during scripture study and prayer. My mind would always wander. Now I do my meditation before and it's amazing how much more I get out of this time! It may seem like just one more thing to add to your morning "to do" list, but if you do this one thing, it will make the rest of your day much more productive.

Your imagination is very powerful when you learn how to use it!
 It can drastically improve your mental AND physical health, plus it gets your "Chi" flowing, which is a GOOD thing;-)

I could go on and on, but instead, I will give you some great links from people who know more than me and are better at explaining it.
Here are a couple of articles on meditation explained for Mormons.
This one is from LDS living, and this one from Seedpod.
Happy meditating!

What is "Chi"?

"Chi" is also known as Ki, Qi, or Gi. The really simple definition  of Chi is material energy, or the vital life force that flows through the body. Sometimes it is referred to as air or breath. It is believed to animate our physical body. I would call that our spirit.
Almost every ancient civilization held a similar understanding of this life force, but the most well known and recorded explanations are from India and China.

They didn't have the Gospel, or even a knowledge of Jesus Christ, but I believe they did have some portion of truth and understanding. They didn't know the nature of God as we do, but they did believe in what they called "source" or a divine creator, and always strived to become one with him through rising above the "Ego" or as we would call it, the "natural man."

There are many great articles on the subject that will go into more depth than I can... Some will go so far into depth that you will be totally confused! In my opinion, it's not that complicated. Everything has Chi. People, rocks, animals, the space around us...everything.

The study of Quantum Physics explains this in a more scientific way. One very interesting video explaining this is by Biologist Bruce Lipton. I Don't agree with all of his views, but he basically explains the link between science and spirit. If you have a couple of hours to kill, this is amazing! There are more condensed versions of his theories, but this one really spells it out. Science is finally starting to see how real this is. It kind of turns Darwin's theory of random genetics on it's head. You might want to break this down into a few smaller segments. I ate it up in one big gulp. But then again, I'm kind of a closet science nerd;-)





You might also be interested in this cool demo showing vibration "Chi" using tuning forks. It's really short.