Stress Control: Yoga, Meditation and CBD
January 13, 2019
It’s amazing how the tiniest bumps in the road can start to bring in physical stress that starts in the legs, creeps up the spine right into the shoulders, settles there and camps, then spreads up the neck into the jaw and lands in the temples. Pain, fatigue & irritability are just a handful of symptoms caused by holding on to stress. Below is some information about stress: what causes it, what are its effects and how to manage or control it.
What is Stress?
Stress is a measure of your mental and physical resistance to circumstances beyond your control. Stressors are threats, demands, or changes to which you attach special, significant importance, and with which you may struggle or feel uncertainty.
Common stressors include the loss of a vital connection through death or the emotional longing for someone who is unavailable, especially a spouse or family members; financial distress; being overworked at your job, at home, or in your studies; caretaking; workplace and personal relationship struggles; divorce; and other fears of loss and inability to meet external demands.
Or a culmination of all the little “irritants” that occur for most of us every day of our lives.
Why is this bad?
Acute stress is the leading cause of sudden death, especially in young healthy people with no evidence of coronary disease. But it can fell people at any age. Chronic stress causes heart disease.
It is a clandestine cause − not fat or cholesterol − of heart attacks and arterial disease. It contributes to high blood pressure (hypertension), a risk factor for cardiovascular problems such as heart failure and sudden cardiac death and heart enlargement.
Long-term depression significantly increases the risk of heart disease. Among other effects, it actually triples the disease producing effect of smoking.
In cardiology, stress is a grim reaper that abruptly ends life by rupturing unstable plaque in a vital vessel or by triggering a lethal disturbance in heart rhythm. When you get fired up emotionally, you’re putting a torch to your arteries.
Medical research has repeatedly documented the danger of anger, chronic stress, and the negative emotional states. Yet these risk factors are rarely addressed by doctors.
What can I do to lessen my stress?
There are many simple and effective ways to calm the mind and control strong reactions to stressful situations:
Physical Activity
Exercise is a wonderful way to “get out of your head” and positively harness energy that could otherwise be directed towards an emotional reaction to stress. The physical activity doesn’t have to be high impact. Yoga, a brisk walk, or an hour of gardening can do the trick to burn off excessive emotional energy.
Meditation
Sitting quietly for even a few minutes every day can help you filter through the mind’s clutter. One objective of meditation is mental clarity: the ability to differentiate between real concerns and issues vs. becoming reactionary to small incidents that don’t really impact life in any meaningful way. In other words, meditation can help you stop making mountains out of mole hills.
Return to nature
Escape the urban jungle by finding a natural place. It could be the greenbelt behind your office, a walk though the woods or on the beach, or sitting in your back yard under your favorite tree. Nature views and sounds are grounding, and natural elements of earth, wind and water are calming for the mind and relaxing for the body. This yogi loves to spend time watering the garden while listening to the sounds of the bugs and the birds and watching the little lizards and frogs frolic in the grass. I feel more relaxed just writing that statement!
Me time
With all the demands of family, work, school and community, it can be challenging to carve out that me time. Unfortunately, nobody is handing out me time…you have to take it for yourself by setting aside the time to read a book or engage in your favorite hobby. Pamper yourself with a massage, or attend a sound bath meditation. Soaking in a nice hot CBD Oil-infused bath can do the trick too – more on that next!
CBD Oil
A recent study showed that cannabis oil may regulate the emotional response to trauma and therefore prevent further stress. This is because it minimized the stress receptors in the hippocampus and amygdala (areas in the brain) that combined, are both responsible for processing our senses and emotions. This writer starts every day with 1000mg CBD Oral Drops to keep her hippocampus in check!
Artisanal Apothecary recommends soaking in the bath with one of our 30mg CBD Bath Bombs, or 100mg Bath Crack Bath Salts for easing tension and stress. The Staycation Bath Bomb is ideal to combine Me time, Meditation and CBD Oil therapy all at once!
So in addition to your yoga practice, try complementing your routine with CBD oil or CBD bath products. You really can do a lot for yourself , and actually take control of your mental and physical well-being.
The term wellness has become such a catch phrase lately, but we’re hoping that it turns into a lifestyle, not just a passing fad. Laura Beth is one of the owners of Artisanal Apothecary (along with her long time yoga friend Iris).
You can catch her on the mat teaching at Uptown Yoga’s Austin Ranch location every Tuesday, 4 pm and 5:30 pm. for an all levels vinyasa flow. She would love to see you there.
You can find her line of CBD self care products and tinctures at: www.artisanalapothecary.shop
