Stress and trauma is at the top of all of our minds these days. I’ve got a pretty good handle on my understanding of how stress works, and even so, I feel my stress rising daily when I look at the news, or my work schedule, or at the smoke from distant wildfires drifting overhead.
In my new book The Energy to Heal: Find Lasting Freedom from Stress and Trauma through Energy Medicine Yoga I share tools to support you in reducing your stress.
You might think, “It sounds great. This is just what I need. If only I had the time. And I wonder if it would even work for me…”. I get it.
If that’s you, pull up a chair and listen. That was me too!
I care about you feeling better. Because I’ll let you in on a secret, if you feel better, I’ll feel better. That’s how energy works!
I’ve spent my life exploring energy, from the scientific angles, from the spiritual angles, from the personal angles. It is far more than what I’d thought. Most people think: “I have a lot of energy.” Or…. “I’m tired all the time.” And that’s the extent of energy.
But energy is actually what you’re made of. Really. Bits of vibrating information, light and sound. Ok, stay with me here. Because this is where that stress relief comes in.
If you can talk to the body (energy), in the language the body speaks (energy), then you can shift any pattern you have: disease, stress, trauma, sadness, grief, etc. Anything. But more than that. Once you start working with your energy and bringing it into harmony and coherence, everything in your life starts to work better. You feel calmer, more centered, more balanced. And you have more time and space in your day because you’re accomplishing your tasks with ease.
This really works. I wouldn’t have three bestselling books on the topic if it didn’t work.
There are so many tools I offer, that you can use anytime, anywhere, whether on a yoga mat, or in the office, or in your kitchen while cooking dinner surrounded by your kids.
The stressors in life will not stop. But if you have tools to deal with stress and release it from overtaking your nervous system and your life, you’ll be able to show up day after day with grace. You’ll be able to see a clear path forward. You’ll be able to be the calm in the center of the storm.
Here are two of the most powerful, and easiest tools to use, right now. They’ll calm your stress response down, almost instantly, and keep you centered and grounded.
- Calming Points on the Head: Put your hand to your forehead like you’re taking your temperature. You’re covering a set of points here that help interrupt the Fight/Flight/Freeze response that we all have to stress and trauma (which, by the way, act in the body in nearly identical ways). Keeping your hand here while you take a few deep breaths – in the nose, out the mouth – allows you to remain present, calm, centered and to think creatively and act intelligently. It’s a game changer!
- Calming Points on the Neck: Put two or three fingers in the hollow at the base of the throat and take several full deep breaths – in the nose and out the mouth. This point relates to the energy system in the body whose job it is to deploy your Fight/Fight/Freeze response. Yes, you have an entire system devoted to stress! This is a simple way to talk to that stress system and tell it to calm down. Anytime I’m about to speak in public, I’m holding this point.
Try these two tools. See how you feel. And if you feel calmer, you’ll know, that energy works for you too.
