Wednesday, February 16, 2011
The Stress Train
As I write this I'm sitting on the subway on my way downtown for a massage gig I do every Wednesday. When I ride the subway I assess people's gate as they get on and off the train. (I promise I'm not a creepy lurker!) A lot of the time you can tell if someone's shoulder, hip, knee or ankle is bothering them. The way that a person walks and holds their body on the train also tells you a lot about their state of mind. Some people read, others pretend to sleep, some actually do sleep (or are better pretenders!), others are in their own little world caught up in some internal monologue about whatever is causing them stress. I know they are stressed out and it doesn't take any sort of special training to know that. Chances are they'll be agitated with an abundance of nervous energy, or their posture will be hunched over and their face will look worried. It could be any one or all of these signs that prompt me to think someone I see on the subway is stressed. The point is that when I see people like that my heart goes out to them because I know I can help them. You see, stress is a vicious cycle: you feel stress so you tense up and your posture suffers, then after the thing that caused you stress is done, you continue to hold the posture you adopted when you were stressed. Now your body says, "well this is what it felt like to be stressed so this seemingly un-stressful situation must actually be very stressful!"
And then it tenses up a little bit more. The problem is that your body can't distinguish between the cause of stress and it's symptoms. It just feels tight and sore. The good news is that when you get a massage, your body loosens up. The knots in your muscles un-tie allowing you to have better posture and your body sighs a big sigh of relief. Once you know what it feels like to be de-stressed it gets easier to return to that state after a stressful situation. You can't avoid stress completely, but you sure can develop strategies to better manage it! Here's to Feeling Good! Andrew
Sent from my BlackBerry device on the Rogers Wireless Network
And then it tenses up a little bit more. The problem is that your body can't distinguish between the cause of stress and it's symptoms. It just feels tight and sore. The good news is that when you get a massage, your body loosens up. The knots in your muscles un-tie allowing you to have better posture and your body sighs a big sigh of relief. Once you know what it feels like to be de-stressed it gets easier to return to that state after a stressful situation. You can't avoid stress completely, but you sure can develop strategies to better manage it! Here's to Feeling Good! Andrew
Sent from my BlackBerry device on the Rogers Wireless Network
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