What is stress?
Stress can be damaging
Many of us are very surprised when we hear that we can do damage to ourselves.
Not intentionally, not maliciously, but through ignorance.
And often we are not even aware that we are damaging ourselves.
There are many things that we can do to improve the quality of our lives if we are skillful. And they do not cost much money to acquire. What is required is a strong desire to improve, continued effort, will power, courage and endurance.
The playing field on which this transformation of self takes place is our lifestyle, and the challenge which we must address is ?stress? and the effects this has on our lives.
By not tackling and not reducing stress, we are allowing our habits and wrong thinking to wreak havoc with our lives. By allowing stress to build up, and not actively tackling the problem, it can turn our world from being enjoyable to being unbearable, it can eat away at our health and it can produce ulcers, and leave us much more vulnerable to being susceptible to stress in the future. It can contribute to heart disease and can be a huge factor in many death-related conditions.
Before we go any further lets define a few terms which will be used in this document.
Different definitions of Stress
Stress is a term that can have different meanings in different contexts.
The word
stress is used widely and often and many of us assume that we know what we mean by stress. We assume that the listener also knows what is meant by stress and that the two meanings concur.
However,
stress can mean many different things and can be used in a number of different ways.
For example the term stress is used in all the following ways;
- I feel stressed because my exam is tomorrow
- There is a lot of stress in our world today
- My body is being stressed because of all the fitness training recently
- I don?t feel stressed so that must mean I?m not stressed.
Things which can trigger stress reactions
For the sake of common understanding I will use the following terms when talking about stress; External Stressors, and Internally Perceived stress, and Bodily changes which take place as a result of the interaction of the external stressor and the inner state.
External Stressors are anything in the external environment which may be interpreted as requiring a reaction inside. This may be anything from a tiger, to an angry partner, to a smell of burning.
Internal Stress Response
When we perceive such an External Stressor, we may or may not become stressed depending on our reaction to the stressor. The total response may be very extreme or very subtle and hardly noticeable. One person may see a mouse and simply smile; another may jump on a chair with a racing heart, shooting blood pressure, and many other reactions.
The Internal Stress response is the actual changes which take place inside the body as a result of the interaction between the external stressor and the person?s disposition and internal state at the time of the event.
Perceived Stress
Perceived Stress is the feeling which we are consciously aware of. It is used to refer to whether you are aware of any of the internal responses to stress such as heightened attention on the stressor, increased heart rate, a feeling of being ?hot and bothered? or stronger feelings and so on.
But do we always know when we are stressed?
A person standing on a chair shrieking at the mouse will almost definitely agree that they are stressed, but a person who is jogging their usual 5-mile run may not feel that they are stressed. However, their body is definitely acting in a ?stress mode? and there will almost certainly be adrenaline in the blood and a higher heart beat among many other stress responses.
What the person means is that ?they feel good? rather than they are not feeling stress.
We tend to associate a connotation with stress that it is bad. However, the stress reactions of the body are neither good nor bad, they are simply our natural reaction of stepping up the state of readiness of the body. Depending on the severity of the reactions or the extended time or the accompanying fear, the situations may be perceived differently.
Causes of stress
Satyananda says that stress is caused by samskaras. ?The root cause of tension and the inability to relax lies in the mind. The cause lies with conflicts and fears which are embedded in the subconscious mind and whose nature we are not aware of. The method of eliminating these samskaras is to know the mind.?
This message of ?Know thyself? has been repeatedly given by most great spiritual leaders. This path not only reduces internal conflict and reduces stress, it also leads to clearer states of mind, which ultimately help lead to self-realization or union with the one.
Managing stress
A very good idea is to attend a yoga course which is specially tuned to help reduce and manage stress such as
Satyananda Yoga
