Do you know where your stress is? Do you want to know?

I am almost at the end of my meditation teacher training. I’ve learned to teach 10 different meditations and have 2 more to go.  I’ve learned so much on this journey. In particular, not only how ignorant I was to the wide range of meditations there are, but how much I didn’t know about stress.

I’m not talking about the feeling of stress. You know, when you’re overwhelmed by the amount of things you have to accomplish by the end of the day. Nor the feeling of being overworked or the pressures put upon you from your job whether that’s a deadline or other people counting on you. No, not that kind of stress.

I’m talking about the kind of stress that lives deep, deep without our brains. The kind that effects our health in ways modern medicine is only beginning to understand.

Every time we experience a traumatic event or intense feelings (grief, anger, fear) our "fight-flight-freeze" response (stress) gets turned on and when it does our body is flooded with adrenaline.

The only way to get rid of the fight-flight-freeze chemicals from your body is by counteracting them with positive chemicals - dopamine, serotonin or oxytocin. So, if we don't deal with those intense feelings, our body literally stores the adrenaline deep, deep inside our bodies and brains.

The stress hides away until it’s ready to be managed. But sometimes we don't even realize it's there.

It’s like that closet or basement where you bring all the things you don’t know what to do with. Eventually things pile up so high that you can’t even move in there anymore and you don't even know what's there and what's not. So you get a dumpster and purge it all, keeping what serves you and what no longer does and you find the one thing you forgot you had but totally need and maybe you find a dead mouse or two. It’s like that. Stress is the dead mouse. Meditation is the dumpster - the vehicle that will carry away the stress.  

I think the aversion people have to meditation is that it’s boring, or hard, or they feel they aren’t doing it right. All that is true and until you are properly taught the technique, you will feel like you’re failing. Another reason, and a pretty big reason, that people don’t stick with meditation is because it stirs up feelings and sometimes those feelings aren’t fun.

We’ve become a society that believes feelings shouldn’t be felt, definitely not talked about, addressed in any way, and feelings should most definitely not happen unless I want them to happen.

Silly human.

We are humans who feel. We are humans who are supposed to connect with each other - and sharing feelings gets you there. We are humans who try to run from our problems - only they don’t ever leave. I once worked in a group home for adolescent girls and my boss would say to the girls, “You can run away, but when you get where you're going, you still need to look at yourself in the mirror.”

In other words, you can run from what you think your problems are and not deal with your stress, pain, or feelings but just because you don’t want to see them doesn’t mean they aren’t there.

Meditation, even just five minutes, can change your life - and your health - significantly. Sure, you can use meditation apps and videos but I do encourage you to find a meditation teacher to help guide you. Now I know this sounds like a shameless plug but I don’t care if you use me or not. Just find someone you feel comfortable with. That said.... I graduate in about three weeks and I would love to help you once I do!

Seriously. Go meditate. It will change your life.