Every object, well contemplated, creates an organ for its perception" - Goethe
If you know me, you know yoga is my jam. My dear friend, Daana Potter, dragged me to my very first yoga class at Healthpoint in Pawleys Island and I ran with it. I am a huge believer that everyone should perform some variation of yoga, whether it be the stretching, breathing or simple meditation on a daily basis. For this reason, I am going to share with you some easy does it yoga poses and practices that you can incorporate into your day to day life.
When I think about stress, as a high school teacher, Ayurvedic student, kinesiologist and injury prevention specialist, I think of stress differently than most. Wollf's Law states simply that if the body isn't stressed, bones won't heal on their own. If we didn't "stress out" our digestive system, we couldn't absorb nutrients because certain enzymes wouldn't be secreted in their proper timing.
There is a difference between eustress and distress.
Eustress is the good stress. It's the stressor that procrastinators like to use to motivate themselves at the last minute of a deadline. It's the stress that intermittent fasting gives our system time to purge the bad stuff. It's Reading a book of knowledge and reciting it later for growth. Essentially, if we didn't have eustress, we would be slugs with zero forward momentum.
Distress is the shit. Distress is what leads us to weight creep, overwhelm, panic attacks, skipped periods, and everything associated with the bad vibes of "stress". Distress sets off a few hormonal imbalances mainly related to cortisol and adrenal fatigue.
Furthermore, there are ways to define stress by classifying them by Vata Stress, Pitta Stress and Kapha Stress. Luckily for Kaphas, they don't usually need to deal with stress, it's really not part of their constitution and disease pattern. If someone is Kapha and they're overweight, it's usually because of a Vata or Pitta imbalance.
Vata is the energy of wind, and it’s air moving through ether, air moving through outer space. It’s the universe expanding and it’s all the movement in the universe. Pitta is the energy of fire, it’s the energy of digestion. It’s the energy of intensity, of focus, of goal setting and moving towards a direction. It’s the energy of vision into action. So those energies are really super different. One expands and moves all around in infinite potentiality and the other goes towards an object. Think about it. It’s not the same thing at all. If you’re trying to put out a fire, that’s one thing. If you’re trying to calm down a whirlwind, that’s quite another.” – Cate Stillman
As we look at Vata and Pitta stress, Vata is the energy of wind, it's moving air through ether. Simply put, this is air moving through space. In Pitta, the energy is predominantly fire and digestion. They are two totally different and opposing energies, however necessary for each other promotion and growth. Fire needs air to burn, right? The way you calm the land is different than how to put out a fire.
When we look at our stressors, let's look at why we are suffering. Ask yourself, "What are the key emotions in my stress? Is it frustration? Is it criticism? Anger? Aggressiveness?" If the answer was yes to any of these, it's probably a form of Pitta overload.
On the other hand, if you are suffering from Vata stress, you will feel overwhelmed as if your list gets longer and longer and you can't get it all done. Incompetency, disorganization, and flightiness are all classifications of Vata stress.
Yoga Stress Management for Pitta Stress
Pitta stress looks like trying to get too much done in not enough time. When there is too much to be done but not enough time to do it, a fire inside starts to kindle and burn into frustration. This is classic Pitta Stress.
To get rid of that type of stress, it's best to find and create more space. Many techniques to reduce Pitta stress are to open up the third chakra - the exact space where your confidence, anger and ego are centered. Manipura chakra is lit up in a yellow color and it's centered in the will power of "YES!" and "NO!" - this is the stage right around the terrible 2s and 3s where "no" is the preferred word of the toddler. When things don't go your way, you need to give this third chakra some opening and space to have room to breathe.
Before actually starting with poses to reduce Pitta, there needs to be a surrendering. A surrender that it's not in your control, only your response is in your control. This is mostly likely the hardest part, to let yourself go and not put pressure into the practice of yoga itself. In order to reduce Pitta, it's more about a functional non-practice than holding postures. You should try to feel, move and breathe to open your body to space. Allow your breath to lead and your body to follow.
You should only allow water in. Try a lot of gentle backbends, like a simple bridge pose. Yoga can go up and come down as frequently or fast as you'd like, but coming down roll on to your belly and stretch the arms out in front of you and your legs all the way behind you like a superman pose. Think about how much space your third chakra has here with it grounded on the ground after your backbend, belly towards the sky.
The apex of the practice can be some hip openers which allow the energy to go up and down. It can be seated hip openers or standing poses that open the hips. Open hips allow the heat to transcend up and down, without getting trapped in the solar plexus. You may notice that as you do these hip openers you start to exhale more deeply.
As you create more space with y our practice you will notice different ways of going things. You will see where you can align to deeper ease and that's why you know your yoga practice actually worked for you.
Yoga Stress Management for Vata Stress
When we are suffering from the Vata style of stress, this usually starts with an overwhelm from the outer, where all these ideas are scattering around. Then, we try and move them downward (ground them) but they're in a disorganized fashion that creates more and more overwhelm. What we really need to do is after they're grounded, we can then organize them to our Vata perfect style and move from there. This type of energy has more to do with borrowing energies from tomorrow or at another time than the present moment.
to fix, allow the breath to do the moving. Bring the breath to attract the ideas to the hands and feet as the grounding forces. You can bring them in, in a coordinated fashion, by having them represented by your fingers and toes. When you so your sun salutations or even a tree pose, I encourage you to wiggle your fingertips to "expel the nervous energy" but really you are attracting that twig here has escaped you.
In the end, you are tapping into an ancient energy that allow you to practice and build universal energy. Inhaling and reaching for the sky is a simple yet energetically cultivating action that energizes the body the whole time. When you exhale, you push out all the air and bring your hands to the Earth, where your feet already are, which is incredibly grounding.
As the stress dissolved, the universal pulsation becomes a physical and emotional experience and you will feel the earth beneath you to pulsate in your rootedness. You will start to notice that heat generates and the fire and intensity is exactly what you need to actually navigate this clarity we are in such desperate need of.
After standing poses, hip openers can be used next but caution: It's my experience that if you are a hip stress keeper than usually you will lose the stress and tension from the hips to the the next so be mindful where you are dispelling the stagnation to. Using a weighted balancer can to wonders for annoy kind of hump opener as this is more of a water pose and to counter air and fire, water is necessary.
It's ultra important that you feel calm and relaxed after doing this. It's a sense of faith that the world and earth is supporting you and that all is well/right in the world. this gives you confidence, direction and solitude that "YOU GOT THIS" because you do.
I have a few classes, both online and in person that focus on these exact disciplines and that could help you go from wired and tired, to cool, calm and collected. Check the schedule and give a follow to my instagram account @Subala843 to stay up to date on classes!
Comments