The Antidote to Stress
We often talk about being productive.
What I tend to mean by that is I’m getting stuff done.
But what if productivity was more than an activity. What if it was a way of being?
Productivity is a particular way of living in the body. We experience it as an inner feeling of calm focus, compassionate alertness, agile strength, creative possibility.
It’s not just an intellectual process. It’s an embodied activity. We do productive in our bodies.
Over the next few weeks, I want to share some ideas and techniques to help you be more productive from the body up. First up in this Embodying Productivity series is how stress stops us being productive and 3 quick and simple ways you can become aware of your state so you can make a choice about it.
Stress + Productivity
Think of a time you’ve been stressed - what do you do in your body?
If you notice some kind of tensing or tightening, congratulations you are human!
“The body responds to any form of distress by contracting. Contracting could be tensing and bracing as a preparation for strength and effort or tensing and hardening in anger; stiffening or constricting in fear; collapsing and becoming limp in defeat; numbing in specific areas of the body or overall state of dissociation.”
In short, to paraphrase one of my other teachers, Mark Walsh, stress stops us being smart, creative and kind. Basically, stress is the opposite of any type of productive, effective working or relating.
Overcoming this distress response is key to improving how we function in life. Luckily for us, since the distress response is a physical action of contraction, compression and tension, it is possible to replace it with an opposite physical action, one of expansion - namely centring.
Centring is a term for a whole bunch of techniques to help you self-regulate. Centring is the antidote to the distress response.
It is possible to prevent or overcome the distress response by deliberately bringing the body into a state of freedom, balance, and expansiveness. Contrary to how most of us live most of the time, action is much more efficient and effective when the body is relaxed, free and expansive.
Centring is a way to come back into a place where you are ready to do well. It’s the space between stimulus and response, where you are aware of how you are and can make a choice about how you want to proceed. Think of it like mindfulness plus - sensitive to what’s going on for you and then choosing the most helpful response available to you in that moment.
The good news is that it can be done quickly - especially with practice - and is useful in every activity I can think of. I suggest you use these techniques with your eyes open so you can use it whether you’re in a meeting, in traffic, or in the middle of an argument.
1. The 3-second version (from Mark Walsh)
Take a deep breath in. As you breathe out, relax your eyes, your jaw and your belly. Say “aaahhhhhhh”, like you’re getting into a lovely warm bath.
2. The 30-second version
Take a deep breath up the back of your body, noticing the length of your spine. As you breathe out, soften down the front of your body - relaxing your eyes, your jaw, your belly.
Breathe in again, feeling your strength, resilience and dignity in the back of your body. Breathe out, feeling kindness and compassion down the front of your body.
Breathe in one more time, breathing in anything that you need a bit more of. And as you breathe out, let go of anything that isn’t helping you right now.
3. Smiling Heart (from Paul Linden)
This can be used alone or in conjunction with either of the other techniques.
It’s a beautifully simple practice: think of someone who makes your heart smile. Allow the warmth of that care and love to spread throughout your body, softening your chest, belly and peripheral vision. You might also like to imagine the radiance of your heart expanding out in all directions like you’re a glowing lightbulb or star.
Putting it into Practice
These techniques can be used whenever you’re feeling overwhelmed, stressed, anxious, or simply need to be ready to do well again. They do become more powerful with practice - in the heat of the moment, our body defaults to what it knows best so the more you can practise self-regulation, the easier it will be to access when you need it most.
I’ve included more techniques to help you find that sense of calm in the chaos in my Tiny Course, Finding Calm - Essential Tools to Create Space and Reduce Stress. It’s a collection of simple tools and practices to help you catch your breath and focus on the things that matter most to you.