When Life Feels Like Too Much

Feeling overwhelmed is a universal experience, whether it be in response to world events, relationships, work, or changes in our health.  Overwhelm, real or perceived, has a physiologic toll on our body.  It affects our nervous system and stimulates the production of stress hormones.  It can profoundly compromise our energy, our memory, and our responsiveness to a particular situation.

So what can we do when we feel it?

There are three strategies I turn to when life feels like too darn much:  They are breathing, moving, and shaking.  What I love about these strategies is that they are free, they require nothing from anyone else, and they are available to us almost all the time.  There is also scientific evidence to support the effectiveness of each one.

Breathing

Pranayama, box breathing, alternate nostril breathing to name a few are methods of breathing that can activate the part of our nervous system that slows and calms us down.  Slow breathing techniques are documented to increase heart rate variability, decrease EEG theta activity, and exert emotional control and psychological well-being.   

Moving

Bessel van der Kolk writes about how trauma roots itself in our bodies when we are unable to move in response to a stressful situation.  For example, if we are being attacked and can hit or kick, our experience of that event will be entirely different than if we freeze and/or are pinned down.  So, when something stressful is happening, we can prevent it from lodging in our body by moving.  Maybe we do an embodiment practice in a room with a door closed, music playing, and a yoga mat on the floor; maybe we take a walk outside;  or maybe we have a dance around our bedroom.  Stress has a physical energy to it and discharging the energy in a conscious, productive way can prevent it from lodging in our body or being discharged in a way that harms ourselves or others.

Shaking

Shaking, also known as therapeutic or neurogenic tremoring, involves shaking the body to release tension and trauma, ultimately regulating the nervous system.  It’s possible that on occasion, I have closed the door to my office, put on a tune, and shaken the weight of a difficult visit away to clear myself before my next patient.  Shamanic, indigenous and religious traditions have used shaking and vibration to heal the body, mind, and spirit.  I love this from the world-renowned Mayo Clinic:  “Advocates say that as little as 15 minutes a day of whole-body vibration three times a week may aid weight loss, burn fat, improve flexibility, enhance blood flow, reduce muscle soreness after exercise, build strength and decrease the stress hormone cortisol.”  What pill can do all of that?

So, when it all feels like too much, remember to breathe, move, or shake. 

Lock yourself in the bathroom for a few minutes if you have to, but take care of your nervous system in a way that supports your health as opposed to ways that hinder or destroy it.  We can minimize trauma, build resiliency, and show up in our lives as we want to.