The ‘fight or flight’ stress response!

The average person spends 70% of its time in the fight or flight mode. In this mode, your immune system is suppressed to gather all your strength to either fight, hide or escape from imminent danger.To recover you need to learn to recognise your stress response and calm your nervous system.

Thousands of years ago, the stress response of the nervous system was only activated for short dangerous events. Because society was calm and people lived connected in tribes, the nervous system was able to switch back quickly to the state of calmness. In our society however, we have learnt to suppress our own needs and to compete with each other constantly. Our movies, jobs and sport activities are extreme and the global population is addicted to their stress hormones. We would even create stress in order for our addiction to continue. Being stuck in the fight or flight mode will drain you and your adrenals.

In the state of stress, you will feel a higher heart-rate, agitated, in need of distractions, scrolling on social media, watching action movies, thinking very analytically, and having negative thoughts about life and yourself. This is what we need to change. Stop resisting your body and how you feel. Merge with it and check if your heart-rate gets lower.

Treat the cause, not the symptoms!

The fight or flight energy is created due to extreme situations that cause anger and fear. The body creates an energy to either run or fight. By not using this energy for what it is intended, this energy stays stuck in the body. By not processing the events properly we have difficulty accessing the memories. In my work it is crucial to release this energy instead of masking it. In order to do that, you will need to prepare with all of the underlying skills.

Meditation

Becoming aware of your urges, thoughts and beliefs and learning to act differently.

Nature

Grounding, calming down in nature, focussing on the beauty around you.

Go slowly and don’t pressure yourself.

The more peaceful and less pressured you feel, the more you can do. Take some extra time, stop rushing.

Pacing and protecting the baseline

In order to connect with the body and to release emotions, it is crucial to build some safety in your routines with a good rhythm and pacing

Trauma release

Changing your inner dialogues and finding the root causes. Be Careful to rewire yourself afterwards and don’t stay stuck in the overwhelming sensations that trigger the ‘fight or flight mode’.

Tuning in to your body

Establish a new relationship with your body. This might be uncomfortable at first. Therefore take baby steps and stroke your body while feeling this or go faster with body scans.

Neuroplasticity

Rewiring yourself is crucial to balance the nervous system again.

Mental rest

Limit screen time and other stimulating imput.

Learn to access ‘the here and now’!

When I first put all my attention on ‘the now’ and my mind stopped talking to me, I thought I was in heaven. Colors were brighter, everything was much more intense. Here I was, I arrived, and I laughed at myself, because this is what I had always been searching for. My thoughts were always about reaching this state and now it became clear that my thoughts were the only thing that prevented me from being here.

Connect with what is and feel your body and symptoms. Merge together. No need to “fight or flight” it any longer.

At first it might be weird, be strong and keep choosing to be here now. You will feel better fast. Can you feel a switch being turned off after a while? This is the switch in the nervous system.

Do you dare to stay present an entire day and see what changes?

Just be you, there are already plenty of others!

Feel into the potential that you can remove any form of pressure from yourself. You don’t have to achieve anything! You don’t have to worry about anything! You don’t have to be a certain kind of person! You don’t have to do things in a certain way! You don’t have to please anyone! You can release any form of responsibility that is not directly associated with yourself. Release the need to rescue others.

Pick one of the above lines, feel into it and embrace the idea. Notice the body sensations and stay with these feelings. breath slowly and deeply, embrace these feelings. Observe how they flow and move!

The emotional body

I can often tune into the emotional body of others, I can then sense what it is and where the emotional weight is buried. This can make it easier for you to start discovering what your issues are. The things that I feel are often so suppressed that you are not consciously aware of it.

Usually people escape from these feelings via coping mechanisms. Involving yourself in coping mechanisms is stressful and enhances stress. Asking yourself what your coping mechanisms are is not the right question. Instead, ask yourself what is not?