Your reaction to a situation that you find a bit  threatening is your stress response. This is your survival mechanism that has helped us avoid dangerous situations for thousands of years. Remember The Fight or Flight response? Well there are 4 main stress responses, Flight, Flight, Fawn, Freeze. You can check out the image below and see if any of these sound familiar to you. 

In many animals, the stress response is like a light switch. It’s either On or Off. While in most mammals, the stress response is like a dial. This gives us more control over our response to stress in any given situation. Unfortunately, most of us rarely turn the dial down after the stress has passed. If we have been hurt mentally, physically, or emotionally it is hard to lower what guards you from pain, fear, or stress. Maybe you feel that keeping the dial turned up a little allows you to tolerate the world. 

Years and/or decades of holding this dial above the zero mark is difficult and can begin to show in your body, including it’s posture. It is natural to activate certain muscles in the body when you are stressed. Whether you clinch your jaw or tense the muscles in your shoulders. It’s also normal in our society to not turn the dial down and return to a calm state before the next response is needed. Think about it. When was the last time you reacted to a situation and then noticed what muscles are tense and release them before moving onto the next situation? I would bet, rarely, if ever do we do that. Usually we are running the stressful situation in our head over and over again. Reliving the moment for hours, months, or even years. And every time we think of that situation, our reaction is there. Maybe not as pronounced as the first time.

I have been studying Somatic Movements over the Summer. Learning how a few gentle physical movements can help identify where you hold onto your everyday and past stresses. Not only to identify them, but learn how to tune into those locations in the body. It’s possible to increase your range of motion, adjust your posture, and turn the dial down a little more. I look forward to sharing some of these movements in our classes starting October.

New Studio Update – Things are coming along on my yoga studio at my home. We have walls and I hope to have the roof poured next week. I’m still planning to start teaching Mid-October. You can find it one street North of the stop sign in town and up the hill. This space will help me offer new and different styles of movement classes that focus on body and mind awareness, helping you add mobility and balance in you life. 

Our second book for the Summer was given to me by my sister from another mister, Angie. She is a nurse that works in a cancer hospital. After she read it, she began buying copies for her loved ones to read.