Why I advise caution around using meditation for stress relief

I have spent more than half my life as a practitioner, student and (more recently) a teacher of yoga, and have gone through the fairly standard range of relationships with meditation: from "meditation is so hard, this sucks" to "I know I SHOULD meditate, but..." to "this is amazing, everything is amazing, meditation is the best!" and back again.

There are undeniable scientifically-proven benefits of this ancient practice.

But certain styles of meditation are not the best fit for everyone at all times.

In fact, forced stillness can be an absolute disaster for a dysregulated nervous system.

A little history

Yoga asanas (the physical practice) were traditionally designed as preparation for meditation. They help move energy through and calm the body, and were often practiced for years before someone began meditating as well.

So going from a day spent at the desk or in high stimulation environments (which is, let's be honest, most modern environments) to sitting still in meditation misses a HUGE step.

Preparing the body.

The nervous system

You may have heard of the fight-or-flight stress response (technically fight, flight, freeze or fawn). In brief, this how your nervous system reacts to a perceived threat to survival.

It has a valuable purpose: to respond to genuine threats to your life. However, the pace and pressures of our modern lifestyles very frequently trigger this response when there is no survival threat.

And this often lasts for long periods of time. While our nervous system is designed to return to a regulated state as soon as the threat is gone, these days we either do not 'come down' from each activation before another one comes along, or we get stuck in the survival response.

Current levels of #stress, #anxiety, #depression and #burnout suggest that many of us are likely to have dysregulated nervous systems. This is especially the case if you are experiencing or recovering from trauma.

Everything from tense emails, work pressure, traffic and internalised social expectations to broader economic pressures, racism, sexism, social disconnection and marginalisation can lead to us operating in a near-constant survival mode.

Meditating on a dysregulated nervous system

Trying to force the body to sit still when the nervous system that is in low-key (or full-blown) fight-or-flight response goes against every natural impulse to run or fight.

Because the body is reacting as if it is facing a tiger (even though it may have been a passive-aggressive email), and we are telling it to sit still and be quiet.

You can imagine why that's not an effective way to return to a sense of safety.

Instead, we want to switch out of fight-or-flight by activating the parasympathetic nervous system ('rest and digest').

Meditation needs preparation

Sit-still-and-quiet-the-mind styles of meditation (obviously not the technical term) may not be appropriate for you at this time. There is absolutely nothing wrong with that, and there are so many other ways that you can use to de-stress.

If you want to try that style of meditation, try points 1-3 before meditating to work WITH your body for a calmer, more focused session.

If you suspect that your nervous system needs some additional care, just focus on balancing the body through points 4-6.

1.????Practice deepening the breath, focusing on long exhales.

2.???? Relax the face, jaw, belly, hips, legs, back. Consider trying progressive muscle relaxation too.

3.???? Use a guided 'arrival' visualisation to bring you into a state to meditate.

4.????Shake out excess energy by gentle jumps up and down and shaking the limbs.

5.????Practice mindful movement. This may be yoga styles that releases excess energy and facilitate mindfulness and calm (online practices coming soon)mindful walks, moving to music, stretching etc.

6.????Practice other activities that help activate the parasympathetic nervous system and create a sense of safety in the body. (e.g. yin yoga, deep exhales, yoga nidra (also known as Non-Sleep Deep Rest by Stanford scientists), social connections that feel safe, laughter, massage, play.)

Final thoughts

Whichever approach or combination of the above you choose to apply, remember that it's important to find what works for you. And that could be totally different to what works for others.

And the second thing to remember is that while there are things you can do to mitigate the effects of everyday stress, it is not your fault that current norms and systemic pressures are less than supportive of collective wellbeing.

We need to start looking at self-care and wellbeing from a communal, organisational and systemic perspective. If there are small ways that you can progress this communal approach in your workplace or circles, I'd love to hear your experiences. And if you need support around strategy, communications or coaching on moving this forward, let's chat to see how I can help.