🔵 By Shane Espinoza. Photo by lauragrafie.
I’ve spent the past 5 years helping my fellow Adults in custody with their physical ailments. As I educated them in proper exercise techniques, better sleeping habits and proper nutrition. I’ve become aware of how stress effects us all. The body truly bears the burden. All of the pains of the past, all the regrets and all of the times we revisit those past errors in judgment manifest in our bodies. The more we hold on to the memories of those experiences the worse we tend to feel. You may relate them to the tense knots of tissue in the traps, the daily headache at 10:00 am, the hip pain that shoots down the leg, or the stomach pains that never seem to go away. Until we change our perspectives we will always think our pain came from somewhere outside of us. I fix faulty movement patterns in the body, then I teach people how to keep things working properly. However, there are times when the pain pattern is different. It’s more tense, more painful and sporadic. I can actually feel something different. I start asking questions about what has changed. I usually get the “nothing has changed”. People get used to stress in their bodies. When they do notice the pain they engage in pain avoidance activities instead of pleasure seeking. Why don’t we do things that feel good? We become tentative and avoid anything that would disturb the manner in which we live.
So I keep asking probing questions. “Did you eat something out of the ordinary?” “Did you sleep last night?” “Are you constipated?” “Have you had any problems with your teeth?” “Did you have an intense conversation with a loved one?” Eventually I get a yes and show them how their body has changed as a result of the change in stress. Life throws us all sorts of curve balls. How we choose to handle it is what we are in control of. We have a choice to keep holding on to old regrets and resentments, to the past, to unhealthy relationships or to learn how to let them go. As I help their physical ailments heal I discuss the techniques to decrease the stressors and let go of the burdens.
Take 10 deep breaths into your belly. Pause for 2 seconds after the inhale than exhale. Stop and become aware of how you feel. Your whole world can change by taking a few moments to center yourself. Try walking briskly for 20 minutes every day. If you do it for 90 days straight you will lose 10 pounds without changing anything else. So, take a moment. Breathe and let go of what is weighing you down.