CAN STRESS BE GOOD? HOW DOES MEDITATION HELP YOU IN MANAGING STRESS?

With the Pandemic, the entire world is on the grip of unprecedented stress with myriads of negative thoughts. Each one of us is worried about ourselves, our family, our job, our future, and even about food. It may be worthwhile to spend a little time understanding what stress is all about and what we could do to stay calm in such situations. 

We are all aware that Stress is responsible for a host of diseases also since our minds are in a state of ‘dis-ease’. Why does it occur? The universe makes space for chaos, so we can grow and evolve. We cannot grow as individuals or as species without it. To prove this, I would like to draw your attention to a famous experiment, called the butterfly experiment.

As a butterfly began to emerge from its chrysalis, a biologist took a fine pair of scissors and carefully snipped the hard casing away, saving the butterfly from having to struggle out on its own. The freed butterfly made one huge effort to open its shriveled wings, which remained limp and useless. It then died because it had been denied the effort it needed to break out of the chrysalis which would have provided the vital circulation and strength for the butterfly to develop properly. Very much like, we are meant to go through a few things to turn ourselves to help us reach our best potential. As I said, almost everything that is happening to us is designed by the universe to bring us closer to our higher self.

What are the types of stress?

Eustress: Is “good’ stress that enhances human performance and well-being and gives us strength and belief and takes us toward enlightenment.

Distress: Persistent stress that is not resolved and leads to dysfunction and illness. It prompts us to seek deeper into the meaning and purpose of life.

What happens when we are stressed? 

• With an alarm, the Autonomic Nervous System gets triggered and Cortisol, Adrenaline, and other chemicals are produced which activate the Sympathetic Nervous System.
• Immediate changes occur in the Cardiovascular, Respiratory, Gastrointestinal, Renal and Endocrine functions.
• Breathing, heart rate, and blood flow increase. More blood flows to the heart and large muscles and correspondingly less to the digestive system, brain and other vital organs and a ‘fight or flight” response occurs.
• This results in a dry mouth, motor agitation, sweating, palpitation, increased blood pressure, enlarged pupils, sleeplessness, nausea and anxiety.

All this may be good for a life-threatening situation but if it occurs repeatedly then chronic stress is the result.

Chronic Stress affects our digestion, immune system, our endocrine glands, and triggers inflammation, leading to a host of other chronic diseases, like Coronary Artery disease, obesity, diabetes, etc. It may lead to poor healing, sexual problems, anger, rage, fear, distorted thinking, impatience, erratic emotional states, memory loss, chronic anxiety and depression.

We all have heard, people with anxiety, stress and depression are often asked to meditate. Does Meditation really help?

As we are all aware, our human body has seven chakras, which are energy transformers, and each regulates the physiological functioning of each and every system of our body. They are, as we know, derived from ‘Pranashakti’ or Cosmic Energy which gives birth to us. Normally the flow of energy is positive in this entire chakra system, but, if for any reason, this becomes negative or blocked, the imbalance in this energy system leads to disease. Stress is a very important cause for this and is, therefore, responsible for a host of diseases like heart disease, stroke, gastrointestinal problems, diabetes, cancer, neurological problems, fibromyalgia, menstrual irregularities, and many more.

All this happens because stress brings about malfunction of all the subtypes of the ‘pranas’ present in our astral bodies. (pranas are the modifications of Pranashakti and are of five types, namely, Prana, Samana, Udana, Vyan and Apan). As we are aware, each of these is based on the proper functioning of the various chakras, eg Apana is related to the Muladhar Chakra, Vyan to Swadisthan chakra, Samana to Manipur, Prana to the Anahata chakra and Udan to the Vishudhi chakra.

This also translates into the fact the entire balance of our ‘Doshas’, which decides our psychobiological functioning and personality also gets disturbed. These ‘Doshas’ are called Vata, Pitta, and Kapha in Ayurveda.

How Does Meditation help?

1 It limits distractions. These can be from the surroundings like traffic congestion, TV, music etc., or bodily distractions, like backache, stiff neck etc, or from myriad thoughts which keep flitting in and out. Meditation pulls the energy in the peripheral nervous system inward to the base of the spine and channels it up the spine through the crown of the head. This is called “magnetic pull”

This pull leads to a feeling of not having a body at all and the energy flowing to the crown of the head provides tremendous energy for the expansion of consciousness.

Meditation also silences the distractions arising in the mind through our thoughts, by training the mind to focus exclusively on one thing.

2 It provides energy to the mind to expand into higher levels of consciousness.

3 It strengthens the mind and body to handle the high levels of cosmic energy which will come pouring in.

Medical Benefits:

1 It lowers and normalizes our pulse and blood pressure

2 It reduces the levels of stress hormones in our blood

3 It reduces brain excitability.

4 It reduces the over-competitive Type A Behaviour leading to reduction in heart attacks.

5 It improves recovery from many diseases like Asthma, Arthritis, Fibromyalgia, Heart Disease, (as it reduces plaques in arteries) Hypertension, Ulcers.

6 It improves circulation, vitality, stamina, and resistance to disease and chronic pain as it increases pain threshold.

7 It has a positive impact on health as it decreases biological age and reduces the wear and tear of body and mind.

8 It substantially reduces fear, anxiety, and depression and is, therefore perfect for combating stress as it develops positive emotions, peace, happiness, love, compassion, kindness along with  mental clarity and intuitive insight making us cool, calm, collected and wise.

9 It helps develop harmony with nature and other beings.

10 It helps transcend the barrier between the three levels of our mind, thereby giving us insight and to finally help in the merging of the “atma” with “Parmatama”

Stress itself is not harmful but our response to the stressor is the culprit!

We need to realize that every so-called event which irritates us or causes stress is actually there to teach us a lesson! It will keep recurring until we learn that lesson, overcome that problem and rise above it. The challenge we are facing now too has come with very important messages. We need to learn from every event which occurs in our lives.