Impact of Stress on Health
As a way of welcoming the New Moon today, a great opportunity for self care, we would like to bring awareness to a factor of our lives which can often make it quite difficult for us to align ourselves to our highest purpose. Stress, a very powerful energetic emotion, can have profound and complex effects on the mind and body. There are many different ways that stress can influence our thought process, productivity and overall well being. The hormones in the body responsible for responding to stress are serotonin and dopamine.
Our brains release these two hormones when we experience emotions such as happiness or euphoria. A similar process occurs with regards to stress and negative emotions, except there are different levels of these hormones present. And instead of helping the body, like when we are feeling happy, these emotions and direct hormonal changes may cause pain and other ailments that deteriorate our health. Our brains have some incredible abilities, many of them we have yet to master or discover. Experts agree that humans have the ability to discern or intuit for ourselves. As such, we are the ones responsible for giving the moments in our day a meaning of positive or negative connotation. There are many techniques and tools we can learn to use to help us in transmuting the energy forms of stress.
Practical Tools to Manage Stress
Embracing stress as negative thoughts and emotions is simply a part of our journey as evolving Souls here on planet Earth. We all have different ways of managing our stress, yet no matter how difficult or insurmountable our challenges may seem, it’s always important to think as positively as we can. It is all about our perspective and our ability to relax into a gentle state of compassion for ourselves and others.
Each morning upon waking up is a wonderful opportunity to prepare our minds and bodies for the new day. If it helps, imagine for a moment that your brain is a super computer and your thoughts are the codes for the programs that are active. Holding the belief that you are in full control of these programs running, which ones do you think would be in your best interest to open first? By using your thoughts to open the programs of Self Love, as well as Unity with Infinite Source, one can align their computer processes (brainwaves) and therefore the rest of the system (body) with vibrational aspects of Infinite Divine Love. This can be imagined as programming a computer, but it can also also be thought of as a form of meditation. Meditation is a great way to enhance the dialogue and relationship between oneself, one's body, and one's higher Self or Infinite Source. I have been taught that when we combine our imaginative capabilities with the quantum power of positive thinking and feeling, we not only have the skills necessary for efficient and effective stress alleviation, but also for the many other aspects of life including our overall health, creativity, career, finances, and also our relationships.
There are many botanical allies which can aid our minds and bodies in processing the stress that we hold so preciously within. A few that are well known and studied for their ability to alleviate the effects of stress include Ashwagandha, Holy Basil, Kava, Skullcap, Passionflower, and Rhodiola. All of these herbs can be taken on their own or a blend in the form of teas, as well as made into a tincture. Here at Dragon Herbarium, we have a tea already blended with these potent stress-relieving herbs, appropriately called Stress Free Tea. We also carry a variety of other tools and resources for managing stress such as smudge sticks, bath salts, and essential oils to include in your stress-free ritual!
