Driving With The Brakes On

The Fight or Flight response is a great survival mechanism as long as it stays that way – the response to a dangerous situation in that specific moment.

It’s important to remember how important it is to let your body “go back to zero” and not stay in that reactionary place.

Recently, Sensei Tristan demonstrated for some students in his Dojo exactly how their bodies were holding onto a “ready for danger” stress level:


Conquer Stress with Meditation

It’s always eye-opening in these demonstrations to see how many of us think we’re walking around relaxed but then we see how our body is responding as if it’s tensed up to brace for an imminent attack.

That’s literally the definition of stress.

In the video, you can see Tristan holding Brandon’s arms up, telling him to relax the whole time but when he lets go of his arms, he is still holding them in place. He’s not TRYING to hold them in place. His body is just failing to release and relax – even though it’s perfectly safe.

Do you ever catch yourself in a state of unwarranted stress?  Where are you and what causes you to notice that you’re tense?

How do you de-stress in those moments?

It could be as easy as shaking yourself all over or a deep exhale… but it’s important to train your body to return to a centered, peaceful place as quickly as possible.

Feel free to share where you find yourself stressed and how you deal with it in the comments below — you never know who might be helped by hearing YOUR story.

Oh, by the way… the book that Tristan refers to is “Why Zebras Don’t Get Ulcers” by Dr. Robert Sapolsky – a Professor of Neurology at Stanford University.

There is actually an audio where you can hear his lecture (the one that became the foundation of that book.)

Click the play button below to check it out… We think it will inspire you to “chill-ax” 🙂

Audio

A free download of this audio file can be found at: http://itunes.stanford.edu/

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