In this hectic world in which we live it can be so hard to give ourselves permission to simply stop – before we stop dead or drop dead!
We can see our central nervous system as being a continual dance between our Sympathetic Nervous System [SNS] – the one that’s linked with our stress response of Fear: Fight Flight or Freeze, which is mediated by the hormones cortisol and adrenaline, having us ready to fight the marauding invaders or flee the sabre-toothed tiger – and our Parasympathetic Nervous System [PNS], which is more dominant when we are feeling at peace.
‘Stressed‘ or ‘Peaceful‘ – this is an easy way to remember them.
When patients‘ tummies gurgle during a relaxing session of cranial osteopathy, I reassure them that this is a good sign. It shows that their bodies are relaxing, and feel safe enough to digest their food. A gurgly tum is a happy tum.
My earlier article touched on Rest as an essential part of caring for our bodies. I would add that it’s an essential part of caring for our minds and souls – and our hormones.
And Rest is not about sitting idly scrolling through your social media feeds . . . do you ever pause to observe your emotional (ie hormonal) response to the world’s outpourings?
“It’s easier to keep going rather than to stop for a break, because if I stop, then there’s all the energy of getting started again. So it’s easier just to keep going…“
Does this sound familiar?
Earlier this year I was concerned at my poor patterns of sleep and low levels of energy so, after a particular test had been mentioned more than once in some of the nutritional seminars I go to, I went to see the lecturer in question, who is a naturopath, homeopath and nutritionist.
We did the 24-hour cortisol saliva test, with 4 samples of my saliva from different times of the day. Our cortisol levels should be high in the morning to help us wake up, and then tail off in the later part of the day and the evening to help us sleep.
Mmm, mine were flat-lining in the daytime, and then going up in the evening. Ah yes, that would explain that familiar lift of energy around 9-10 o’clock at night. Not very helpful for getting my 7-9 hours of joined-up sleep. Heaven only knows what my sleep debt was like.
Needless to say, these last few months I have been paying a lot more attention to my daily routines:
– aiming for a curfew for any evening on-line activity
– trying to give myself time to ‘decompress’ at the end of the working day
– a short nap in the afternoon: if I am at home then I might stick on a hypnotherapy CD – these are very helpful to distract from whirring thoughts.
– sadly I have cut back on my dancing for the time being, since this is mostly in the evening when I am trying to calm my cortisol levels down, rather than ramping them up with vigourous exercise.
– aiming to meditate more often, and to take time to reflect on the day, possibly with a journal
– trying to remember that I am a Human Being, not a Human Doing
On Sundays I quite often go to Quaker meetings – I love the silence. A good friend of mine also goes to his local Quaker group, and has started a daily practice at home of what he calls “Quaker Time“ – sitting in technology-free silence, eyes open or closed – and that’s it, simply listening to whatever sounds there are, being open to Spirit in the broadest sense of the word, whatever your faith. It might be for 5 minutes, it might be half an hour. Wonderful permission to simply STOP.
This simple practice is one I have begun to pass on to my patients – and they love it.
Silence can be rare in this hectic world, and some people find it unnerving – after all, it can be where we meet ourselves, face to face.
What about you – do you give yourself time to just BE?
If you live or work in or near Baldock in North Hertfordshire, or Bromley in South East London, and would like to have a chat about how my kind of thoughtful osteopathy might be able to help you, then do get in touch: text me or call me on 07535 350 343. I may be with a patient, so a text is best, and I can call you back.