Are you sitting right now? Standing? Do you feel the ground beneath your feet or the support of a chair behind your back?
Pause.
Breathe in and feel how your chest rises and then falls in rhythm with your inhale and exhale. Mindfulness, meditation, yoga, and breathwork are all wonderful pathways to exploring the connection between the mind and body- but why is this important? How do these practices impact our well-being?
Fight or Flight Response
Nowadays, many people are familiar with the mechanism known as the ‘fight-or-flight’ response to stressful stimuli. Fight-or-flight is the mechanism that triggers an immediate reaction to a given threat. It is why someone either fights or flees as a means of self-protection. It’s not at random that this happens- it is programmed into us as a part of our autonomic nervous system (ANS) response.
The ANS has two main parts: the parasympathetic nervous system (PNS) and the sympathetic nervous system (SNS). The PNS is active when we’re calm and relaxed, often called the ‘rest-and-digest’ state. It’s when our body focuses on things like digestion and healing. In contrast, the SNS kicks in during stress. It’s all about quick reactions and survival, pumping adrenaline to speed up our heart rate and get us ready to act fast.
There are many implications behind this scientific evidence; one is that responding to stressors reactively is not ideal. What is a reactive state exactly? It’s the state someone is in that causes them to react to a situation from fight-or-flight (SNS) rather than having the foresight or clarity to think their actions through as they may in rest-and-digest (PNS). This primitive survival mode often makes it harder to deal with whatever triggered the fight-or-flight response in the first place since it is designed for fighting physical threats. In modern times, most stressors aren’t physical threats or even related to our survival at all. Being in one’s fight-or-flight state may cause individuals to act more aggressively in order to ‘survive’ when in reality it would be more beneficial to think through the situation with a steady mind. This is why calming down is important- it helps us switch back into our PNS.
Another important implication I’d like to talk about is the impact of being in states of stress for prolonged periods of time. When the SNS is active, all resources in the body are allocated to survive in the moment. This means that other processes in the body become neglected that are important for long-term survival, such as remodeling (the process where bone density is regulated), healthy digestion, and more. Additionally, when periods of stress are sustained, the body suffers numerous other health imbalances (as a result of overused processes) such as adrenal issues, high blood pressure, and more.
So… What can we do about it?
Understanding how the body reacts to stress can be empowering because it allows us to manage and also combat the negative effects of stress. When we feel stressed or overwhelmed, recognizing physical responses—like rapid breathing or a racing heart—can be the first step towards calming down. We can do this through various mindfulness practices such as breathwork, yoga, and meditation.
What is mindfulness practice? It is the discipline of being aware of the present moment through sensation and feeling without judgement or interpretation (Shapiro, 2017). One beautiful aspect of mindfulness practice is the power it gives us over ourselves; more specifically, it gives us a level of control over our nervous system. Simply by breathing out longer than breathing in, we can lull ourselves into a sense of safety, activating our PNS. Yoga practices breath to movement, syncing poses with breath. Meditation helps us practice detachment from stressful thoughts. Ironically, it seems to give us power by forcing us to let go, in a way. These are just a few simple ways we can induce healthy emotional regulation through mindfulness. These practices give us the power to protect ourselves from the negative impacts of stressors as well as keep a steady mind throughout the day.
Resources:
Waxenbaum JA, Reddy V, Varacallo M. Anatomy, Autonomic Nervous System. [Updated 2023 Jul 24]. In: StatPearls [Internet]. Treasure Island (FL): StatPearls Publishing; 2024 Jan-. Available from: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK539845/
Sapolsky, R. M. (1994). Why zebras don’t get ulcers: A guide to stress, stress-related diseases, and coping. W.H. Freeman.
Shapiro SL, et al. The Art and Science of Mindfulness: Integrating Mindfulness into Psychology and the Helping Professions. 2nd ed. Washington, D.C.: American Psychological Association; 2017.
