Self Care – What we can do to take care of ourselves in these uncertain times
As I talked to my young friend today, I realized just how much of an impact this current situation is having on people’s mental state. To say that the world as we know it has changed is stating the obvious and a gross understatement. Yet what is truly unsettling is that we don’t know how long things will continue to play out and in what manner and to what extent every aspect of our lives is going to be impacted.
A lot of people have started noticing higher levels of anxiety, cases of panic attacks or worse, depression. The Fight or Flight response or the acute stress response is a physiological reaction to a perceived threat to survival or danger. In such a reaction, our bodies produce different hormones which affect how we react to stress. Elevated levels of some of these hormones lead to elevated levels of stress which result in a host of health conditions.
It is therefore, in our interests, to do what we can, as we hunker down in our homes, to learn to care for ourselves. And as we are told repeatedly on flights by the cabin crew, it is important that we put on the oxygen masks ourselves before we can take care of the children or other passengers we may be responsible for. In these trying times, it is important for each of us to learn to manage our stress levels as we care for our families, our children and our seniors.
A simple and effective method is to allocate some time to a breathing practice. The simple act of diverting our attention to our breathing creates interference in our Fight/Flight response. At the risk of sounding prescriptive, I am actually going to detail the steps taught by a couple of my Yoga teachers. A shout out to Malathy Chandrasekhar of Healthy Indian USA who taught me one of these tricks, which really works.
Stand with feet hip width apart in a relaxed manner. You can do so on your carpeted floor if you do not have a yoga mat. Loosen your shoulders by rotating them a couple of times. Then, as you inhale deeply, raise your shoulders towards your ears; then exhale loudly and forcefully, while releasing your shoulders back down and relax. Repeat this sequence of inhaling and exhaling three or four times. This can be done anytime there is a feeling of stress building up.
The second set of breathing exercises involves finding a quiet corner. Sit in a comfortable chair or cross-legged on the ground or mat. Close eyes. Rest palms softly on the knees, open and facing upwards. Close eyes. Inhale slowly to a count of four; hold the breath to a count of two; exhale slowly to a count of six. If at first, it is difficult to inhale to the count of four, reduce it to three and exhale to the count of five. The idea is to get into a rhythm. Try this for five minutes or longer as needed. This is especially effective, if there is a rising sense of anxiety. I have personally, been able to overcome sudden anxiety attacks which I used to have for many years, using this very effective technique. Listening to soothing music certainly helps. I am providing a link to some calming and meditative music in case you are interested. Or listening to a soothing chant or prayer will help as well.
'Sound Healing' by Dean Evenson
Stay safe, stay healthy and nurture yourselves, my dear friends.
As I talked to my young friend today, I realized just how much of an impact this current situation is having on people’s mental state. To say that the world as we know it has changed is stating the obvious and a gross understatement. Yet what is truly unsettling is that we don’t know how long things will continue to play out and in what manner and to what extent every aspect of our lives is going to be impacted.
A lot of people have started noticing higher levels of anxiety, cases of panic attacks or worse, depression. The Fight or Flight response or the acute stress response is a physiological reaction to a perceived threat to survival or danger. In such a reaction, our bodies produce different hormones which affect how we react to stress. Elevated levels of some of these hormones lead to elevated levels of stress which result in a host of health conditions.
It is therefore, in our interests, to do what we can, as we hunker down in our homes, to learn to care for ourselves. And as we are told repeatedly on flights by the cabin crew, it is important that we put on the oxygen masks ourselves before we can take care of the children or other passengers we may be responsible for. In these trying times, it is important for each of us to learn to manage our stress levels as we care for our families, our children and our seniors.
A simple and effective method is to allocate some time to a breathing practice. The simple act of diverting our attention to our breathing creates interference in our Fight/Flight response. At the risk of sounding prescriptive, I am actually going to detail the steps taught by a couple of my Yoga teachers. A shout out to Malathy Chandrasekhar of Healthy Indian USA who taught me one of these tricks, which really works.
Stand with feet hip width apart in a relaxed manner. You can do so on your carpeted floor if you do not have a yoga mat. Loosen your shoulders by rotating them a couple of times. Then, as you inhale deeply, raise your shoulders towards your ears; then exhale loudly and forcefully, while releasing your shoulders back down and relax. Repeat this sequence of inhaling and exhaling three or four times. This can be done anytime there is a feeling of stress building up.
The second set of breathing exercises involves finding a quiet corner. Sit in a comfortable chair or cross-legged on the ground or mat. Close eyes. Rest palms softly on the knees, open and facing upwards. Close eyes. Inhale slowly to a count of four; hold the breath to a count of two; exhale slowly to a count of six. If at first, it is difficult to inhale to the count of four, reduce it to three and exhale to the count of five. The idea is to get into a rhythm. Try this for five minutes or longer as needed. This is especially effective, if there is a rising sense of anxiety. I have personally, been able to overcome sudden anxiety attacks which I used to have for many years, using this very effective technique. Listening to soothing music certainly helps. I am providing a link to some calming and meditative music in case you are interested. Or listening to a soothing chant or prayer will help as well.
'Sound Healing' by Dean Evenson
Stay safe, stay healthy and nurture yourselves, my dear friends.
