When people first seek me out to help them get to the root of their dis-ease, what comes up often is breath work. As soon as I get this message, I know chronic stress is an issue. They have forgotten how to breathe. How is that possible? It’s not only possible, it’s common.
Watch a baby or an animal breathe. When they inhale, the belly expands. For many, this is not what is happening. Take a deep breath right now. Pay attention to what expands. The chest? The diaphragm? Do your shoulders come up? Does your belly constrict?
I had forgotten how to breathe. This can happen when we are chronically stressed out. Or, like me, you may have been taught, as a woman, it is not at all ladylike to let you belly pooch out. Or, a combo of both.
When under stress your first response may be to hold your breath. I remember, when I started practicing yoga in 2007, how hard it was to breath correctly. Thank goodness I stuck with it! Still, when under stress, breathing hasn’t always been my first response. It is a necessary response to stress if you want peace.
“If you can breathe through life – You can breeze through life.”
You may be holding your breath more than you realize, cutting off frequently the very source of life, causing the body distress.
Unless you or a loved one is in imminent danger or you are about to hurl yourself out of an airplane, or ski down a black diamond slope for the first time, your anxiety is probably based in past experience. The moment at hand is just reminding you of what you have “learned” to be afraid of, and your thoughts are taking you down a rabbit hole of fear or judgment.
If you are not in real danger, anxiety is the body’s way of saying you are thinking about what you do not want and are afraid you might get it. It has been proven your body responds the same to a real or imagined threat.
Systems shut down to conserve energy and adrenalin is released, all to get your body ready for fight of flight. A system that was divinely designed to save your life, in the rare occurrence that you may really be in danger, has become a way of life. Chronic stress is telling you that you are focused on what you DO NOT want much of the time.
And sometimes the thoughts that are causing the stress don’t even belong to us; that goes for many of my clients that are healing facilitators. If you are reading this, you may be one. These individuals are very sensitive empaths…sponges. Empaths possess an amazing gift that can feel like a curse when there is no barrier and no break from the bombardment of energy all around. This is the root cause of life-long digestive dis-ease for many gifted empaths. They cannot digest the scope and magnitude of the information coming in. There is a way to receive what you need to know without receiving all the rest. Reach out for more info.
“When the root cause is uncovered, so are the solutions.”
Sometimes the thoughts are just a bad habit. So ingrained, like any other bad habit, you may not even be aware you are thinking these negative fearful thoughts.
Regardless of the source of negative, stressful thoughts, the result is the same…anxiety and dis-ease.
There are ways you can nip stress in the bud, before it wreaks havoc on your body.
Before you do anything! Stop, breathe, and drop!
1. Stop what you are thinking and doing immediately. Be still. Take a big deep breath with the intention of clearing your head and any non-beneficial energy you may have attracted. Yes, whatever you are putting out there, you are attracting.
The breath serves many purposes besides keeping us alive. It has the capacity to clear our head. How many have heard this saying, “Take a deep breath and count to 10”.
With intention, it can clear non-beneficial energy. It brings us into the peaceful present.
Our breath has the power to lower our blood pressure, raise our pH, and regulate systems in our body. It is a healing force.
In serves in other mysterious and magical ways as well. I’ll save those for another time.
The book Breath: The New Science of a Lost Art by James Nestor is a fascinating read. In the back of the book are many, breathing techniques serving different purposes.
The breath always tells us when we are anxious. It is one of our first signs. It is hard to take a deep breath. Or, we may even hold our breath, compounding stress. A panic attack is a good example of stress that is out of control. Simply taking a deep belly breath at the first sign of stress can stop stress in it tracks.
2. Drop your roots and ground:Being ungrounded means your energetic body is not quite grounded in your physical body. This happens under high stress and high excitement…like jumping out of an airplane or riding the high of a roller coaster. It happens at night in our sleep and with drugs and alcohol. Extreme ungroundedness can result in passing out, seizures and blackouts.
Take your shoes off. Place all your attention on your feet meeting the surface under them. Feel the sensation of being supported. I love this visual grounding technique passed down from my mentor:
See your pure white roots growing from your feet like a tree. Drop them deep into Mother Earth connecting with a ball of white light at her core. You should start to feel heavy in your feet or lower extremities. Your feet may even tingle. Enjoy the sense of calm and stillness that comes with being grounded. Remember how it feels, so you know when you are not grounded.
3. Protection: See a bubble of the brightest white light you can imagine coming around you, encompassing your body and entire energy field (if you have been introduced to your Sword, you may use it for this). This light you see around you is your protection…Source Love. I call it the Armor of God. Sit and experience how it feels to be secure in this embrace so you know when you are not protected.
Once you are clear, grounded and protected you are ready to question what has caused the stress. Is it your own “stinkin thinkin” as my mentor calls it? Does it belong to someone else? If it belongs to you, you now have a chance to heal a sore spot or begin to break a bad habit.
“If you are going to question anything, question your thoughts.” Fiona Moore
The Tools:
“The Work” by Byron Katie: A great way to gain insight and new perspectives on what is happening in the present moment.
One Command by Asara Lovejoy: A powerful manifestation tool to align your thoughts with what you want: https://a.co/d/3JEBbM5
One Minute Meditation audio: To help you become aware of unconscious thoughts and processing corresponding emotions.
Tools for Staying Clear, Grounded & Protected audio
Welcome to the Evolution of Free Health where we leave the prison of the mind and chronic dis-ease behind.