Understanding Stress and Anxiety
When the body senses danger, the sympathetic nervous system produces hormones that trigger increases in heart rate and breathing, constricting blood vessels and tightening muscles to prepare the body to fight or run. Most of us experience this daily in response to emotional and psychological danger - fear of not being good enough, stress at work, unable to relate well or perform to the standard we think we should.
By becoming more aware, more in our bodies, we can notice this process happening and begin to make choices instead of acting automatically. There is research to show that slow outward breathing at these times can counteract the fight or flight response that many of us are operating in daily. When fear becomes too intense, we can slip into shock and be living in a state of immobilization, a depressive state and feel unable to socially engage.
Massage and some basic exercises can help to bring your awareness back to your body and breathe during treatment and in your everyday life.
