Stress Stuck

Flexible vs Rigid Thinking

Mind Body Connection

When I’m stressed, I freeze up.  Like, literally.  It feels like my brain hardens and my thoughts become slow as molasses.  And when I’m in this rigid way of thinking, one little bump in the road becomes a ditch.  I get stuck.  I obsess on one thought or one idea or one problem, and I can’t see a different way out.  I am spin-my-wheels-but-get-nowhere stuck.

Yoga, with its focus on the mind-body connection, points out that a rigid mind results in a rigid body.  As our mind tenses up, so does our body.  Awesome. 

But wait for it…  This connection also means that if we can melt the body, we can melt the mind.  We can use the body to get our flexible thinking back! 

One powerful way to do this is through the breath.  Yoga teaches breath techniques that are full-body experiences.  Try this one. Close your eyes and imagine breath entering your lungs, warm as a spring breeze.  On your next breath, imagine that warm breeze up, under and around your ribcage.  On the next breath, let that warm breeze into your chest.  Continue moving the breath through every part of your body.

Flexible thinking means we can once again see from different points of view, see more than one way to solve a problem, see that this is a momentary thing not a forever thing.  Our thoughts can flow again.  

Stress Stuck is real.  But it’s also temporary. 

Until next time,
Laura