How to Deal with Stress?

A client's friend died of heart-attack at 40 years of age. A fellow golfer mentioned the other day that his colleague in Australia, inspite of being a vegetarian and enthusiastically following his rigourous fitness routine, had cancer and died at 45. A friend's sister was advised a heart bypass surgery at 42. My sister was diagnosed with Diabetes at 35. What do you think is happening here?

Each of the above diseases is referred to as a 'Lifestyle' disease. Our species, it seems, has self-created these diseases because of our modern past-paced, high-stress Lifestyle.

What is Stress? The dictionary defines stress as a state of mental or emotional strain or tension resulting from adverse or demanding circumstances.

Sure, one can blame the corporate world for creating stressful work environments with long hours and high pressure targets, causing so many young people to succumb to loss of productivity and creativity, or diseases, or death; depending upon the severity of stress. Though, that would be giving away one's power to the environment; as if to say we have no choice in the process.

If we were to have a choice, if we were to be responsible for our own health and well-being; what would that mean? How do we deal with stress powerfully so that it does not lead us into dis-ease? Is there something else we would need to deal with, besides stress; so that right till we breathe our last, we have a great quality of life, high fitness levels without having to manage any age-related or any other diseases, our mental faculties are in top order and we continue to contribute through our work that we are passionate about. Or, is it that whatever we may do, we will still fall prey to diseases because that is the natural cycle for our species? If that were the case, should we then simply saunter along life with unhealthy habits just because it is easy to live with unhealthy habits instead of working hard to embrace growth habits?

Let us walk together to find answers to some of these questions.

Fundamentally, it is important to understand that if our intention is health and wellness, then we have to consider four bodies instead of the one that we see - physical, emotional, intellectual and spiritual. Working on only the physical body is not a sustainable way to create health and well-being because the physical body houses the other three bodies. Any dis-ease in the other three bodies will show symptoms at the level of the physical body.

Therefore, to be effective in creating long-term health and fitness, it is wise to not only work inwards from physical to emotional to mental to spiritual body, but also to work outwards from spiritual to mental to emotional to physical body while also working simultaneously at all levels. Let us walk further to explore how.

1. The physical body is directly impacted by what we eat, how we eat, when we eat, what fitness regimen we have to ensure that the physical body is fit, agile, flexible till our very last moment. Yes, it is possible. My karate coach's super coach is a young 73 years black belt Dan 10, which is the highest level of recognised expertise. He is as yet actively coaching students from across the world to mastery in Karate.  

The physical body is indirectly impacted by the fitness levels of the other three bodies. If they are not healthy, dis-ease shows up as symptoms at the level of the physical body.

Should it not be our business to determine what kind of diet, exercise routines and fitness regimens for the other three bodies would keep us at the highest levels of energy, giving us an elite athlete's fitness instead of creaking joints and cracking organs as we add days to our life?

2. The emotional body holds, at the level of cellular memories, all the emotions that we have ever experienced and did not process because it was too painful. It was so painful that it seemed easy to push them under the carpet and our emotions ran away like little kids to hide in different parts of our body.

Creating fitness at this body requires you to connect with your deepest emotions and find ways to access emotions lying hidden to finally face them, embrace them, viscerally forgive all the actors in that memory including yourself and find inner peace, that now allows you to connect authentically with yourself and all beings. 

I have worked with clients who had relationship issues because they never experienced their mother or father's love and appreciation as they were growing up, clients who had abundance issues because they did not experience themselves worthy in response to a humiliating incident in childhood which the conscious mind does not remember but the unconscious mind is still burning up with that emotion of 'not being good enough', clients who had self-esteem issues inspite of being super successful but all that money and success does nothing to fill the emptiness inside because the emptiness is way back from the past, clients who are leaders in their industry but are lonely and know not how to love or receive love because they did not receive love as they were growing up.

Would it not be worthwhile to explore how to heal the emotional body to the highest levels of happiness because your blood pressure, diabetes, obesity, cancer, heart-disease etc. is likely to have its source at this level; besides the dis-ease at the emotional level making it difficult for you to create success and prosperity in the material world.

3. Mental / Intellectual Body: We are rational, logical beings. Without engaging the intellect in the whole game of creating the highest level of health and fitness, we will find the journey an arduous one because of the nature of the mind. Its default state holds limiting thought patterns, has a tendency of either lamenting about the past or worrying about the future, has deep aversions and cravings, and runs in million directions simultaneously. This default state creates continual upheaval in the emotional body and comes in the way of accessing the power to fulfil one's intentions. 

Health and well-being at the level of the mental body means purifying the mind so that there's stillness, tranquility, equanimity, clarity, purposeful focus, acceptance and non-judgement within. This unleashes the unlimited creative power of the mind to give us enhanced productivity, performance, effectiveness, creativity and innovation. As the mind purifies within, we begin to effortlessly create success and prosperity in the world outside.

How would it be to be on such an adventure to cross the frontiers within to create a whole new reality in alignment with our deepest desires?

4. Spiritual Body: The spiritual body seeks purpose, growth to our highest self and transformation from evolutionary fear to compassionate love for oneself and for all beings.The health and wellbeing at the level of the spiritual body means living with purposeful passion making a difference through our work; living with a visceral experience of love, gratitude, reverence, integrity, mastery consciousness, joy, abundance;  with a full-blown access to our inner Power to Create to fulfil our highest intentions and realise our greatest dreams which may have seemed scary, unimaginable, impossible before.

What would being on such a journey make available for you?

Love and reverence,
Jyoti.