Stress – not necessarily a negative. It occurs when the physiological load on the system is beyond the resources that are available to deal with it.
The load though, can come from any direction. This is how people get stuck, as a source of stress can exist where they are not aware.
Then we have relaxation. We know that in a state of relaxation, we recover faster from training or other stressors, we learn better, remember more, are generally happier, live longer…
But, “Relaxation,” in our modern terminology is more often associated with ways of “masking” or distracting from tension, rather than it’s true meaning of “release.” (From RELAXARE, to “let go”, to “loosen.”)
We need to understand and treat the chronic cause of the tension – ie remove it, or give people the means to deal with it, or show them how to go beyond the stress – if we are to create true relaxation.
How? We need to start with a level of awareness of what’s going on in our autonomic system.
We look at:
- Food
- Meditation/Breath
- Habit and Lifestyle factors
- Movement and exercise habits
Through these, we can influence the level and nature of cellular metabolism, restore balance and work to find the relaxed state.
