Can You MANAGE Your STRESS?

There is a general misconception that “YOGA” stands for “PHYSICAL CULTURE”; it means certain physical exercises like stretching, bending, compressing etc. Also, that one can keep fit by exercising one’s legs, hands body or by making certain body movements like jumping, jogging, walking, swimming etc.

ย Yoga recognizes very well that it is not a body, it is not a mind, it is not a soul that we are training, ” it is a man and we must not divide him”. The human body is made of a physical body, a mind, and a spirit, and the three parts are so dependant on each other that any disturbance in one part affects the whole system.

ย Very often the “mental part” i.e. emotions are ignored. At the Ochsnerย  Clinic in New Orleans, a report was published reviewing 500 consecutive admissions to that institution – 77 percent of the patients were sick with one disease usually called “PSYCHONEUROSIS” – now known as “PSYCHOSOMATICย  ILLNESS”.

ย Psychosomatic illness results from the circumstances of daily living. There are people who are attacking themselves continuously with emotional bombardments like cares, difficulties, troubles and never try to get up above into a realm of joy and pleasure. Such people are more prone to psychosomatic illness.

ย A friend of mine built a beautiful bungalow amidst natural surroundings ofย  Sahyadri Hill at Khandala, which was meant to be used for weekend holidays. I drove past one summer day and I thought to myself, “that bungalow ought to make Patel happy”. So I said, “Patel, that’s a wonderful bungalow” and Patel said, “Yes, but the caretaker does not maintain it properly. Every week I have to send my nephew to get it cleaned and keep it fit before we plan a weekend holiday”. Once I happened to take Patel to the bungalow unplanned and on a sudden visit. He hesitated but made it. When we reached there we found the place was kept perfectly in order. I said him “see how nicely the place is maintained.You need not send your nephew in future to set it in order before you come here”. And he said, “Oh, the caretaker was specially interviewed by me and recommended by my in-laws but you know how much he cost me”.

ย People like Patel invariably get a psychosomatic illness, and when they get it they are invalid for rest of their lives.You can do nothing about it.

ย Then there are people who keep on being too much concerned about each and everything, anxious, worrying all day about something or the other. If there is nothing to worry about business or at home they worry about Miss Bela, down in the same lane. Why does she come home late? Where does she go? How does she manage so much of fashionable clothes or makeup? What is going to happen to this girl? Who will marry her so on?

ย And lastly, there are people who are entrapped in some kind of a mess – financial loss, domestic troubles, loss of some kith and kins.

ย How do this “cares, worrying or troubles” bring illness? We normally suppose that “thinking is a process taking place in the brain only”. But it is not true, thinking involves the entire body in a number of nerve impulses centering in the brain. Particularly it is true when an emotion colors our thinking.

ย As the Psychologist William James defines, “Emotion is the state of mind that manifests itselfย  by a perceptible change in the body.”

ย It need not be told that when a man is angry, his face gets red, eyes widen, muscles tighten up. That is the state of mind manifesting itself by a perceptible change in the body. Most of our negative emotions produce muscle tightness. It begins to hurt. It produces pain. Tension is shown in the back muscles of the neck, upper end of the esophagus – causing difficulty to swallow, lower esophagus causing intolerable pain like an ulcer, sometimes muscle spasm can occur in any part of the colon and sometimes intestinal tract or muscle of blood vessels respond to emotional stimuli which may even cause skin diseases. Skin reacts to anxiety, worry or disgust, and serum is actually squeezed out through the wall of the blood vessel and into the skin.

ย Muscle tension is just one-way symptoms of a psychosomatic illness. Another way is the effect on the endocrine system. Sometimes we start breathing fast, heart starts breaking and we get a little faint. Acute fear in mind produces these bodily changes. An impulse is sent to adrenal glands which squeeze adrenalin into the bloodstream which when hits heart, the heart starts to thumb and when it hits the respiratory center in the brain we start to gasp and we feel like fainting.

 

There are other organic effects of psychosomatic illness. If it happens to be the blood vessels in your heart that squeeze down every time you get excited or angry, it is dangerous. I know a physician – M.D. He tried to walk out of a medical meeting to express his disagreement over an issue which he did not like – and anger produced such a contraction of the blood vessel in his heart that he fell dead.

 

We may find many victims of psychosomatic disorders up and around, in hospitals, bedridden at home and so on.

 

Yoga believes that in order to prevent Psychosomatic illness one must think right. We must learn to live a better life. We must change our attitude and thinking to make us pleasant and cheerful. Here are certain Yogic Tips for bringing such change:-

 

LEARN TO ACCEPT FACTS OF LIFE AS IT IS:-

 

A cousin of mine got married to an executive who had to go on official tour very often. He sometimes had to keep away home for days together. She was a beautiful girl conscious of her figure. The husband was fond of children. He raised one child and wanted the second one. The girl could not accept her husband keeping away for days and also felt that raising children would spoil her figure. She wanted to return to her parents home. This made the situation worse and their married life turned miserable until she learnt that it is just as easy to be satisfied as to be dissatisfied and she discovered it was much more pleasurable.

 

Hence one should be satisfied with the situation one can’t easily change.

 

Dr. Jayadeva very often says that having born in India there is no point in dreaming of pleasures you might have enjoyed had you been born in a foreign country. You can’t change facts of life. Rather, such an attempt or even desire may imbalance your equilibrium.

 

LEARN TO ACCEPT ADVERSE SITUATIONS:-

 

In course of day to day life, you may meet a lot of adverse situations. I know a person whose wife died when he was 40. The following year his only son was killed. He started thinking, “I am very unfortunate. All this happens to me only”. And he fell seriously ill. He had not learnt to accept adversities of life.

LEARN TO LOVE PEOPLE:-

Like & dislike can create havoc in body mechanism. There was a man who was hospitalized because he did not like the behavior of his boss in the office. He said, “I don’t like the way he shouts at his juniors. I don’t like his taunting smile & also the way he starts a sentence like ‘Do you understand’”. It was found that he did not like even his parents, his wife, his children or any of the family members for one reason or the other. We meet a lot of people and have got to live with them. So we have to learn to like and love people.

 

LEARN TO LIKE WORK:-

 

Most of the people accept work as having been imposed or as something to be got over with. If you start liking “WORK AS WORKSHIP” you can certainly avoid tension.

 

  1. QUIT FREQUENT ANALYSIS:-

 

Quit analyzing your feelings all the times just to look for trouble. Rather give a direction to your emotions.

 

 

  1. HAVE A HOBBY:-

 

Whenever you are tensed, take your mind off the work, close your eyes and think of projects you are interested in, some pleasurable moments, some of your pass time creations etc.

 

  1. LEARN TO SMILE:-

 

We rarely feel cheerful. Mostly we are serious. We are very miser even in smiling. If you learn to say cheerful or humorous things, emotions will not bowl you over. For example in the morning when you get up, look at your spouse and say, “My dear you look good this morning”. It will make her (him) feel better, and it will make you feel better too.

 

  1. LEARN TO RELAX:-

 

Relaxation alters the state of consciousness. This is achieved by shutting off the mind from external thoughts to produce mental solitude. There are techniques like “SAVASANA” whereby you leave the weight of your body to the gravity of the earth and develop a let go feeling. Another technique is known as “NISPANDABHAVA”, a state of no movement whereby you withdraw & control all your senses and with closed eyes, concentrate on a single fading sound. An Even simple act ofย  PRAYER can bring you relaxation.

 

  1. DIVERT WHEN CONFUSED:-

 

At times you feel disgusted, tensed, emotional particularly when you are unable to solve a problem in spite of best efforts. You have to learn to leave the problem then and there. Divert your activities. When balanced, you re-start the same work. You will get easy solutions.

 

  1. DEVELOP FAITH IN HIGHER REALITY:-

 

Faith works wonders. There are limitations of your intelligence. When happenings are rationally unexplainable – maintain the belief that “WHATEVER HAPPENS, HAPPENS FOR THE BEST”. It will help you from a nervous breakdown.

 

  1. LEARN TO MEET YOUR PROBLEM WITH DECISIONS:-

 

Have clear motivation. When you get a problem, decide what you are going to do about it and then quit thinking about the problem, rather concentrate and work on your decision.

 

If you decide to manage your emotions, you have to keep your attitude and thinking as pleasant and cheerful as possible.

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