Humans did not evolve to face rush hour traffic, 24/7 news alerts on our phones showing us the worst things that are happening in the world, or to live half our waking lives at work with bosses and difficult coworkers. It doesn't matter who you are or where you live, there are times in our lives where we feel overwhelmed, stressed out, and exhausted from the constant barrage of chaos.
Luckily, there are several things we can do to decompress, relax and recenter ourselves. We can train our mind and body to release the fight-or-flight stress response. And most importantly, we can retrain our mind to not take on new stress and to see overwhelming situations in a more peaceful way.
In today's episode, I share those secrets for letting our bodies heal from the damage of stress. I share tips for activating our body's healing mechanisms. And I share how we can nourish our mind, body and soul so that we don't let unprocessed emotions turn into mental anguish, physical chronic pain, cancer, heart disease, and so many other stress-related ailments.
Please enjoy other episodes where I share meditation techniques, tips and spiritual lessons from around the world for peaceful and stress-free living. Remember to subscribe to stay up-to-date.
*****
If you ever feel like my words brought a change in your life, and want to show your SUPPORT for what I am doing, click here.
Find all of my BOOKS for wherever you are on your spiritual journey: https://www.eastwesticism.org/spiritual-meditation-books/
Want to gift a book to a prisoner? Go here.
Humans did not evolve to face rush hour traffic, 24/7 news alerts on our phones showing us the worst things that are happening in the world, or to live half our waking lives at work with bosses and difficult coworkers. It doesn't matter who you are or where you live, there are times in our lives where we feel overwhelmed, stressed out, and exhausted from the constant barrage of chaos.
Luckily, there are several things we can do to decompress, relax and recenter ourselves. We can train our mind and body to release the fight-or-flight stress response. And most importantly, we can retrain our mind to not take on new stress and to see overwhelming situations in a more peaceful way.
In today's episode, I share those secrets for letting our bodies heal from the damage of stress. I share tips for activating our body's healing mechanisms. And I share how we can nourish our mind, body and soul so that we don't let unprocessed emotions turn into mental anguish, physical chronic pain, cancer, heart disease, and so many other stress-related ailments.
Please enjoy other episodes where I share meditation techniques, tips and spiritual lessons from around the world for peaceful and stress-free living. Remember to subscribe to stay up-to-date.
*****
If you ever feel like my words brought a change in your life, and want to show your SUPPORT for what I am doing, click here.
Find all of my BOOKS for wherever you are on your spiritual journey: https://www.eastwesticism.org/spiritual-meditation-books/
Want to gift a book to a prisoner? Go here.
0:02
Welcome to path to peace with Todd Perelmuter. I'm your host, Todd Perelmuter. Our world is a projection of our collective consciousness, the more peace we bring into our lives, the more peace we bring into this world. So let the transformation begin.
0:24
In modern society, there are constant stressors. We are constantly overstimulated, from car horns, to people yelling, to constant email dings, and all of the stress that that brings up. And it is so important that we become aware of how these little stresses affect us. So that we can give our bodies the chance to heal from these stress, and I use the word heal, because stress is damaging to the body, we may not feel it.
1:22
We may not even be aware of it when we are stressed. But it activates our sympathetic nervous system, which is that fight flight, or play dead stress response.
1:41
And it constricts our blood vessels, our organs, and muscles don't get the blood flow they need, which means they don't get the healing oxygen they need. And we have to activate that parasympathetic nervous system, which is the rest, digest and recover system. And it is essential in order to avoid all of the inflammatory diseases, all of the chronic pain and digestion issues, from irritable bowels to chronic pain, and so many other diseases and disorders that stem from this tension that we hold on to our body.
2:34
And this stress that we hold on to in our mind. And it manifests in so many ways, from fibromyalgia, to carpal tunnel syndrome, to anxiety, depression and addiction. We have to give our bodies and minds the time to recover. We are not immune.
2:58
And I even say that so much of this is subconscious and unconscious, we are completely unaware of it. And it is these repressed emotions that endure day after day that we'd never processed from we're never aware of and we never let heal that manifest in these psycho genetic disorders. So the first step to healing from this overwhelming, stressful response in our body and mind is awareness.
3:35
And what that means is paying attention to our thoughts, which can be negative, as a sign of this overwhelming stress response, noticing our breath, and how it becomes shallow and choppy, and how we can even hold our breath to the point where we take such a huge sigh of relief. When we even begin to notice we've been holding our breath, which is really a point where it's too late.
4:06
We've really gotten too stressed as it is. And we've been holding our breath for so long that we laid out this huge sigh and it's noticing how we tense our body up how our muscles constrict.
4:23
And even if we're feeling pain pretty much anywhere in the body, but we don't have a real cause of that pain like we weren't just in an accident.
4:39
Then we know that this is a stress response. And this physical pain is one way that our subconscious mind tries to divert attention away from the thoughts feelings and emotions of the mind into the physical body and this is how 90% of all pain and disorders come from stress, you can look that statistic, up 90% of doctor visits are related to stress, I would say caused by stress, because that is the commonality in all these things.
5:17
So I would, I would say that that's the culprit. If it's there 100% of the time, then I think we can say that that's the, that's the guilty person. Now I say 100% 100%, of the 90% of stress related disorders and diseases. So that's step one is awareness. Pay attention, be a detective of your feelings, and look for those stressful situations. So many times our brain will say, you know, it's no big deal.
5:54
That is an indication that something is going on, and that your mind and even you would rather suppress and repress the real emotions going on. When you have to say something's no big deal. That is a sign that something stressful just happened. And you're now implementing a coping mechanism, which is fantastic.
6:18
And it can be very necessary when we're in the middle of a meeting, or we're talking to our boss, or having a difficult conversation where it's not a good time to feel those emotions. But at the end of the day, or even sooner, if possible, we have to rest, we have to take a breath, take one minute, where you know, you can do it in the bathroom, if you're at work, you can do it at your desk, if that can be a peaceful place.
6:53
Go outside for a walk, if you can do that, you know, on a coffee break. But take one minute to just get away from everything. Close your eyes, if that's possible. And just take a few minutes to breathe.
7:08
And the best way to do this is called the box breathing method, which is count to four as you inhale, take a four second inhale, hold it for four seconds, exhale for four seconds, and then hold the exhale, empty lungs for four seconds. And that's the four sides of the square.
7:29
So it's four seconds, in, hold for four seconds out for four seconds, hold for four seconds, and then repeat that for a minute. And it works wonders at lowering your heart rate, lowering your blood pressure, regulating your body temperature, and just creating the opposite of a stress response. And it is very healing and restorative.
8:02
The second thing we can do, and this is super important as well, every hour, take a minute to just be fully present. Just to breathe, just to check in with yourself. Relax every muscle in your face and in your body.
8:21
And just take some conscious, relaxed breaths. So essential so that that stress doesn't build up so that it doesn't manifest as heart disease or cancer. And we are always checking in not letting any emotions fester.
8:42
And we are reminding ourself that no matter what's going on in this chaotic day, with these peaceful moments, we are reminding ourselves that we can relax that it's not so stressful.
9:00
And the third tip is super important. As you start to bring in these moments of peace, there is no better practice for doing that than meditation.
9:14
This is the ultimate communication to your subconscious and unconscious parts of your brain that say the day is peaceful. Even if there's chaos, you had 10 minutes or five minutes or 20 minutes to do nothing which signals your deeper levels of your consciousness that there is space in the day, in your life. In your mind. It's not so full, so overwhelming. So complicated. There is plenty of time you're not rushed. There is no impatience.
10:00
You're communicating to your mind and to your body, it can relax, and you begin to make that your habit. And then you can make 1000s of little moments in your day, where you're just conscious of your breath, you just become fully present.
10:18
And it is amazing. And how that can transform your day with just moments of peace, a brief moment, can just completely stop your negative or downward spiral of thoughts and give you a whole new train of thoughts that become conscious and positive.
10:42
And the very last tip, and this is so important as well, I mean, each of these is essential to preventing so many diseases, so much chronic pain symptoms. And that is, when you are in a very stressful situation, sometimes the best thing we can do is just lie down, not with your phone, not watching something on TV, just lie down, you can have your eyes open, her eyes closed, but you are putting your body in that rest position.
11:22
And just five minutes can completely shift your body into the rest, digest and recovery mode. And this is really crucial, when really big things happen, when a really stressful situation happens. So often, when we're standing, it's much harder to turn off that fight or flight response.
11:54
You know, we're in that stressful hyper vigilant mode. And one of the quickest ways to tell your body and mind that you're safe. And it can calm down, is to just lie down. Now, obviously, that may be difficult at work. But you know, it's also probably difficult while you're driving.
12:17
But as soon as you can do it, it will truly help you relax every muscle because you're not using any muscles to balance or stand or core muscles to hold up your back, which is one reason why so much of the stress response leads to chronic back pain.
12:44
And I know that when most people hear psycho somatic disorders, they think that the symptoms are all in your head. But that is not true at all. It is just that it starts in the brain. And it contracts the blood vessels in our body from that tension where we contract our whole body, you know, our shoulders hunched over, we get smaller, and our literally our blood vessels contract and we don't get enough oxygen to parts of our body. And this is what leads to so many disorders.
13:21
And it's very foreign to a lot of people when they first hear that they say no, I know it was this car accident from a few years ago. And the doctor showed me the X rays that prove it. But in so many studies, they've shown that people with very disfigured, skeletal structures actually can have no pain. And people with perfectly normal skeletal structures can experience pain. And that shows us that it's not the skeleton that leads to pain. It is the muscles being deprived of oxygen.
14:04
And we have been able to see this time and time again, from people who are able to cure their back pain simply by acknowledging that it is from holding on to tension in the body. And other evidence that shows this is we see disorders spread like contagious viruses. And these are not contagious things. But what happens is the subconscious mind sees commercials or hears the doctor and it says oh this is a excellent place where I can divert attention away from the mind and put that physical manifestation of pain in the body.
14:50
And no one will suspect that it originated in the mind which is what the mind is subconsciously hoping for. So in the 50s and 60s
15:00
This ulcers were the epidemic. And once we realized that it was stress related, ulcers disappeared almost completely. And in the last 20 to 30 years, back pain has been the new epidemic. And not just back pain, but shoulder pain, knee pain, and so many other things.
15:26
And we are now realizing that people are curing their chronic pain they've had for years that's been debilitating, and oftentimes starts after a car accident, or an athletic injury. And the mind says this is the perfect place to put this physical pain to avoid looking at the mind.
15:48
So these are just a few ways that the mind creates physical manifestations. Another epidemic was carpal tunnel syndrome, after the advent of computers, suddenly, people were able to put that mental stress into physical pain in the wrists, and it spread like wildfire.
16:12
However, typists who had been, you know, secretaries working on typewriters did not have carpal tunnel at the rates that people started to with the electric keyboard, the computer keyboard.
16:28
And so these are all instances where something can originate in the mind and create real physical symptoms. And you can even see evidence of this when you go to different parts of the world. And there aren't 1000 chiropractors per city, and they don't have problems of widespread chronic back pain.
16:55
And that is a current problem of the United States, mostly, and also some other Western countries. And is largely, if not entirely, stress related. So it's important to be aware of that. And when we feel that pain come up, we look at what may be stressing us. And that is really the only thing that most people do who can cure their back pain.
17:25
That's really all they do is instead of thinking of what's wrong with my back, if they think, what's my mental state, then the diversion no longer works. And physical symptoms will no longer be created to divert the mind to looking at some physical problem instead.
17:48
So how do I know all this? Well, basically, since I was 22, when I entered the workforce, I had chronic, sometimes debilitating back pain. And doctors had told me it was because I sat at a desk for work. Or maybe it was because of a car accident I had had.
18:10
Or maybe it was because I played football in high school. And so I thought, something's really wrong with me. They showed an x ray of discs, or cartilage grinding down and they pointed to that as the cause. And basically every single week, for about 10 years, I would have to see a chiropractor, a massage therapist, and an acupuncturist. And I spent 1000s of dollars. And I had to have a lumbar pillow and a special chair and so much money spent.
18:52
And separately, or I thought separately, I had immense pain in my left side and I was terrified, and I thought I had some horrible intestinal problem or organ failing. And both of those things I later found out were causes of stress. And basically, I saw a few doctors for the side pain. And they wanted to run a bunch more tests. And my back was just getting out of control.
19:31
And I happened to hear on the radio a long time ago that there was this Dr. John Sarno, who cured Howard Stern and Larry David and hundreds of 1000s of other people by simply convincing them that this pain this chronic back pain in their case in my case, but so many other conditions are from holding on to tension in the body. Just the awareness has cured mine and so many others from chronic pain.
20:14
And similarly to the side pain, in my case, this psycho somatic disorder, these physical manifestations that start in the brain oftentimes will move from one place in the body to another, like, maybe you've experienced, you're worried you're gonna get knee pain from something and then you get knee pain from that thing.
20:40
This is one of those perfect examples where the mind says this is the place to put it. And if you've gone from this disorder, and then moved on to some other disorder, and you find yourself going from one to the other, and when one gets cured, it's replaced by something else. This is often a symptom of this psychosomatic disorder.
21:07
And the only reason I bring all this up is because this is one major way that being stressed and overwhelmed in life can manifest. And it's one way that we recognize that we are suppressing a lot of our emotions, and that it's important to acknowledge them, and allow our bodies and minds to feel that emotion so that we can release it. And awareness is really where that starts.
21:37
So if you have had no any physical pain or mental or physical disorders, thank you for bearing with me on that story.
21:50
But the same rules apply. Allow your body to take the time it needs to rest and recover. It is vitally important. When we just give ourselves a moment to pause, we are able to see our situation clearly, we're able to create some space and distance between ourselves and the stressful overwhelming situation. And it won't seem so stressful and overwhelming.
22:25
Too often, our instinctual response is to avoid, suppress, and distract ourselves. And I have to say that you know that urge to pull out our phone. And scroll is the most compelling urge when we want to avoid disturbing emotions.
22:50
But I like to say that if we are pulling out our phone, to avoid what we're feeling, we're not ready to pull out our phone. Because whatever we do on our phone turns that phone activity into dependency, we become addicted to it, and we're using it as an escape. It doesn't matter if it's a drug, which so often we want to use a drug or alcohol to escape that feeling as well. Or our phone. The phone's just the most convenient because it's always in your pocket.
23:29
And all of that entertaining, compelling content on our phone that we know is really just junk food for the mind is creating more mental disturbance and more mental noise. And to truly rest we need to give our mind arrest which means stop feeding it constant content. You know, close your eyes, if you can look up at the sky if it's able and convenient for you.
24:02
And just reconnect with that slow pace of nature. If you have that access, or connect with your nature within that oceanic quality of your breath, like the waves coming in on every inhale, waves going out with the exhale because you are in nature and you can slow yourself down in tune into that natural rhythm.
24:36
It just takes a few moments and the more the better.
24:43
So just to recap, check in with yourself. Check in with your thoughts. Check in with your breathing, notice, You know what just happened? Was it a stressful situation? Or was it a relaxing situation and if it was stressful, take a minute to just take some deep breaths, conscious breaths, try to stay present and just focus all your attention on your breathing, doing the box method of counting the for.
25:22
Lay down when things get really overwhelming, five minutes, 10 minutes without distractions. And just let your body know in these ways that there is nothing so overwhelming that we can handle.
25:40
And if you can sandwich in all the chaos of your day with little meditation in the morning and a little meditation in the evening. Five minutes, 10 minutes, anything. If you can do a minute, every hour. These are the ways we invite peace into our lives and whatever we find overwhelming won't even seem so overwhelming.
26:01
And we won't need to try so hard to deal with those things because we will already be in a much more peaceful and joyful place. Thank you so much for listening, peace and love.
26:16
You've been listening to path to peace with Todd Perelmuter. Being here and putting in this important and noble work is one of the greatest gifts you can give yourself and others. If you found this podcast even a little helpful. Please make sure to leave a review so it can reach others who may be in need. And remember, the path to peace starts with a single step.