Relieve My Stress

People are just like members of the animal kingdom in the way we perceive external threats. Our body responses all go into alert and all our senses amplify. The similarity however ends there. When the animal believes that the danger has passed, it gives a shudder or shake of the spine and tail, and discharges the toxicity of the adrenalin surge. Humans have somehow numbed to the presence of the danger passing; we don’t always discharge the adrenalin surge and most often remain in the state of active alert indefinitely. The human body can’t thrive in this state and we eventually exhaust our adrenals inducing collapse through physical exhaustion.

We are the only mammal that does not discharge a foetus when we experience stress. Every other pregnant mammal will abort when they become traumatised.

Human babies are the only ones that are born already traumatised.

Smoking, alcohol, nutritional or environmental toxicity enters the womb via the umbilical cord and is likely to cause shock and overstimulation to the foetus. Many babies are born on active alert; they are born already living in the sympathetic mode of the nervous system.

We have an autonomic nervous system that runs through the spine from the brain linking it to all the parts of our body. Messages are sent via the neurons through the nerves to the brain centre and that need is immediately dealt with.

If it is a conscious need, for example the need to eat or drink, make a telephone call, or go for a walk, we are activating the sympathetic nervous system. It requires a conscious energy. If the requirement is a natural body function,eg digesting food, breathing and the millions of internal functions that prevail daily in our body without our knowledge, this is the parasympathetic nervous system.

In order for our body to function optimally we need to have a carefully balanced autonomic nervous system. That requires a perfect balance between the sympathetic and parasympathetic where the sympathetic only activates when needed. If we are operating in sympathetic mode, our parasympathetic nervous system is taking a rest, and when we need our body to function in parasympathetic mode we give our sympathetic nervous system a much needed break.

If we are living tranquil lives and are at peace with ourselves this could occur naturally. But most of us are living out our undischarged trauma patterns that cause us to live in sympathetic mode all of the time, undermining the extremely important job of the parasympathetic.

Imagine a life in sympathetic mode only. Either we’re on active alert, continually anticipating for danger, or we have become numb and immobilised. How many people do we know who are just like this? So many youngsters these days are described as hyperactive, they have allergies to many foods, they’re bored and disruptive and they need constant stimulation. Adults have highly powered roles which give them constant surges of adrenalin, which excites them. They become dependent on these adrenal surges and can only function under constant pressure. When they get home they collapse.

Our society today provides for those who are living in sympathetic mode. Everything needs to be fast. Stress, the daily grind, thrilling movies and even cartoons excite them. They love theme parks, with roller coasters and high adrenal activities. When they’ve reached 40 or 45 they can’t handle it any more.

The other kind, the inactive person living in the sympathetic mode, is just as bad. This type is so numb that he/she is living “unconsciously”. He has had to unconsciously develop a character for himself, a learned behaviour pattern just so that he’ll survive. Therefore he reacts in precisely the same way to a given situation and is unlikely to be able to cope with “innovative” decisions or changes in his life.

These other types are common and we almost certainly have friends like that. They “switch off” when asked for viewpoints or to participate in a discussion about something new. They can readily talk of what they have read in the papers or magazines, or what they have learned from someone else, but aren’t able to explore their own feelings or viewpoints.

So while we are functioning in sympathetic mode, what has happened on a parasympathetic level? Our parasympathetic nervous system simply shuts down. We lose the facility to properly digest our food, breathe deeply, and other ordinary bodily functions perform less efficiently.

We build up impacted faecal matter because of our trouble in eliminating naturally and we compromise all our natural development al functions. We “hold on” to our poisons and our old traumas.

Keeping a healthy colon is vital to our long-term health

Letting Go

We all all need to move forward in our lives. Stagnation on the outside means stagnation on the inside. Letting go of our defunct ways is the key.

People use products to help them eliminate daily and let go of poisons from the intestines and purge the body . We are still very good at holding on though. We love our established behaviour patterns. They are familiar and comforting. What will happen if we let go? Will we survive? Those internal parasites have become familiar, they’ve become our ‘friends’. The old patterns served us well during the past but what was it that started the pattern in the first place? Let’s explore the word “behaviour pattern”. The very phrase conjures up something we have made so we “know” how we should function. I believe in being natural. Looking at our developed habits is always a good starting place.

If we are really conscious then we respond differently to each situation, we do not have to depend on our memories to determine how we should react. Often a pattern has been established by a unpleasant occurrence in the past, an event that is no longer relevant but the “baby” or “child” part of us is still feeling unsafe and has to call on a tried and tested way of coping with this or a similar situation.

These old patterns no longer serve us. Not if we are living in the present. There isn’t any need to drag our past along with us, but that “little one” who is holding onto that pattern will be a part of Sympathetic Nervous system. We would like to bring our little one with us though not the unpleasant event. Search out the safety in your life, today. Know that your loved ones are around you; know what your resources are. When you can identify those sensations of foreboding, look for something else that makes you feel safe. Feel that safety, name the feeling, hug the baby part of you, apologise to yourself for what happened and let go.

If we don’t do this work, our old patterns that have long outlived their purpose stay with us for evermore because we’ve not yet eliminated the trauma. A newborn infant cannot express discomfort or shock. Until recently it was believed that babies do not feel discomfort. Even circumcision operations were performed without anaesthetic. Are you able to imagine any person putting a baby boy through this archaic and needless procedure? Yes, of course. Every father who has been circumcised! Parents have their own wounds to resolve. Children always increase the parents’ injuries and so the cycle continues until someone says “enough”. When stress goes unacknowledged and undischarged we remain in our sympathetic nervous systems for the remainder of our lives.

Without really letting go, we will only ever heal at a superficial level. This explains why the supplement market is so lucrative. It keeps us feeling good at that superficial level. So do drugs like Valium and Prozac, but they don’t heal. They only work for the period that you are taking them; then they dump their toxins in the liver, making your body work overtime. Without safety and good resources we will only live at an insubstantial level. Make today the day you make a decision to Live Your Life.

When we can balance the nervous system, everything in our lives can change. Living in a calm place in the body invites miracles to happen and our lives to flow easily. When we are in active alert, we cannot even see what is happening around us that’s good; we only look out for the danger. The danger is only a perception, only an idea that many unscrupulous people have used for their personal gain. If we are not alert to this people may abuse us. Active alert doesn’t imply awake, it only means looking for danger.

Awake means aware and enlightened. It suggests conscious, calm and in tandem with the planet we live on. It implies knowing what has happened in your body, and not making sane, logical decisions from the head.Being awake means listening to our body and each other. It means love.

Phylipa Dinnen is a mother of 4 children a Human Design Professional and a Practitioner of Pre and Peri-Natal Birth Stress. Along with her husband Graeme they run Resources For Life a natural health business in Chichester, West Sussex. For more information on Inner Calm and the other Ancient Herbal Remedies click here

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