In the previous article It Starts With Mental Health, I finished with what may be a new and somewhat radical idea for you: the part of your brain that does the thinking, the prefrontal cortex, is only partially in control of the choices you make, like whether or not to exercise today, which foods to eat and how much, whether to go to bed now or in 3 hours, etc.
When your emotions are elevated, or you sense a threat, the subconscious, non-verbal, feelings and sensory parts of your brain have evolved – over thousands of years – to take over. Please sit with that for as long as you need to, it is a big concept and I still wrestle with it sometimes.
A simple situation you may be familiar with is if you’ve ever been driving on the freeway and, being aware of the vehicles around you, sense that the one to your left is starting to drift into your lane. That feeling of stress is almost instantaneous, you can feel it without even thinking the words that describe the situation. “OMG that car is about to hit me” takes longer to think than the event does to happen…so you react instantly, without thought, with… fight, flight, freeze, or fawn responses. You may scream, or yell out an obscenity as you maneuver, or not. All normal and natural.
I don’t want to dwell too long on this scenario, because it is stressful, and not exactly like the daily, chronic stressors that affect your health. But the point is that we can’t get around it: stress and trauma are natural and necessary parts of being human. So is the resilience each of us can develop by learning from these experiences. What we can get around is living in that stressed state for periods of time long after the events have passed, and by learning how to release or “discharge” the stress proactively.
Easier said than done, but unfortunately too many people are completely unaware of the role the whole body – not just the thinking brain – plays in this process. And we do this not only by thinking happy thoughts, but by connecting with and soothing our total bodies via a practice that includes the nervous system.
In this series called Reconnecting With Your Body, I’m going to go through various types of mind and body stress releasing activities you can start practicing right now, and begin to transform the way you deal with stress, your awareness of your self, and with practice how quickly you can complete the stress response cycle and resume your otherwise practice of living a healthy lifestyle without being stuck.
Before I get into it, I think it is useful to set this frame: we’re going to review one technique today, which may or may not be your jam. What works for each person is as unique as you are, but I guarantee you there is something that works well for you, in the same way that you probably have a few foods that you like more than others, genres of music that you like more than others, and so on. No two people are exactly the same, so your job is to stay curious and engaged to try enough techniques that you have the chance to find the few that truly work best for you. And then lean into them.
Today we’re going to review humming. Below is an excerpt from “My Grandmother’s Hands” by Resmaa Menakem:
How did this go for you? Feel free to write me a reply, I’d love to hear it. For me, humming is a fascinating body experience, I feel much different after, maybe better :).
And if it didn’t do anything for you, that’s okay too. Try to stay curious a while longer for some more upcoming techniques! Either way, I think there is something amazing about the practice that silently says “this is for me, this time is for me.”
Coach Mauricio