Week 1 – Introduction to Stress and the different bodies.
Stress is not an unfamiliar concept to most of us – we’ve all experienced stress to some degree in our lives. Before 2020, stress was more or less subjective, with individuals experiencing stress about different things and in different ways. However, after the pandemic hit last year, this has changed. Not only is the new virus itself a major source of stress, there are other new causes that, despite experiencing at different levels, we are collectively feeling as a society. These new causes of stress can be extremely overwhelming, which is why it is important to shine some light on the darker experiences we are going through in these highly testing times. We are less alone than we think we are.
At surface level, we know that stress is a feeling of physical or emotional tension. It can come from an event that results in frustration, anger or anxiety. We might believe that the cause of this stress, also called the stressor, is external. Just as our physical body is quite literally the surface level of who we are, dealing with stress only at the physical level will not help us get closer to the deeper truth.
To find this deeper truth, one must go deeper into the topic, and also, into the human body.
So where does stress ACTUALLY come from then?
Contrary to what most of us might think, stress comes from within. It happens when you don’t know how to conduct your body, mind or emotions. It creates an inability to do things and function in a ‘normal’ manner.
So it’s safe to say that a lot of times stress can be created, designed and orchestrated subconsciously by ourselves. At the end of the day, it is us who choose to respond to any challenging situation through the mode of stress. Only you can determine the nature of your experience!
If we can address the fact that we create our own stress, we will also be able to use tools to help us stay in a state of peace, love and joy rather than stress, anxiety or misery.
The first tool we can use is : RESPONSIBILITY = Response + Ability.
When you are in a stressful situation, start off by taking some time to understand what you are made up of internally so you can understand why you experience things the way you do. This will then give you the Ability to Respond (Responsability) to the situation probably in a calmer manner, be it physically, mentally or emotionally.
When it comes to our Physical and Mental body, we can understand it more easily because of its dense nature that can either be felt or seen. The emotions, or Energy Body on the other hand, is not so dense and is made up of more energetic layers. It is a luminous body, consisting of energy vortexes, known as the chakras.
Chakras
Understanding the chakras can help us introspect a little more literally. It is believed that chakras are the energy centers of the body. They are located along the spine, starting at the base of the spine and running upwards to the crown of the head. There are 7 chakras, each coinciding with a gland in the physical body and each radiate a specific color and energy. Since each chakra relates to specific spiritual, emotional, and physical aspects of our being, the imbalance, blockage or malfunction of the chakras will also affect us and our stress levels. Being aware about the importance of balancing these energy centers lead to well-being and good health.
So Let’s start this journey of taking our Physical, Mental and Emotional health in our hands, using tools that lie within us to try and overcome any challenging and difficult situations without taking the path of stress.
