Worn Out or Renewed? Returning to a Resilient Baseline
By Mary Louise Muller, M.Ed, RCST, RPP

This week, two of my friends informed me they are losing their homes and moving - not by choice, but by the pressures of the current economic downturn. What a shock for these normally hard working people to face the challenge of lack of work and loss of home. What amazed me in both situations was the sense of relief of finally giving up and taking the pressure off after months of valiant struggle.

It is important in times like these to understand stress and its long-term effects. The body is a self-regulating organism, continually seeking balance. To meet external pressure, it re-organizes. Ideally, when that pressure is over, it returns to a "resilient baseline," a place where the system is comfortable and relaxed, with plenty of energy and resources to meet the next challenge. Sustained pressure without a return to the resilient baseline results ultimately in exhaustion.

Stress researcher Hans Selye's realized that lab animals had a non-specific reaction to any form of stress. He chose to call it the General Adaptation Syndrome (GAS) and identified three stages: Alarm, resistance and exhaustion.

The key understanding here is that the body's adaptability is finite. After the initial alarm reaction, the body resists and adapts to the stressor, whatever it may be - a change in temperature, an emotional challenge, an internal infection.

The length of time the body can resist depends on its innate adaptability and the intensity of the stressor. Eventually, it becomes exhausted. To quote Selye, "...one would think that once adaptation has occurred, and energy is amply available, resistance should go on indefinitely. But just as any inanimate machine gradually wears out, even if it has enough fuel, so does the human machine become the victim of constant wear and tear."

Selye's research clearly demonstrated that sustained stress ultimately saps our energies, compromises the immune system and may result in death. Symptoms of GAS include:

Thymus and lymph node shrinkage
Adrenal enlargement
Heart stress and hypertension
Raised corticoids and sugar in the blood
Breathing and muscle tension
Digestive Imbalance
Emotional/Mental Tension

In this day and age, self-nurturance and the return to a resilient baseline is often a forgotten aspect of life. We must find the balance between using our resources to meet the pressures of everyday life and taking the time to replenish ourselves. To return to our resilient baseline we need time, rest and the removal of causative pressures.

Here are some Stress Busters to help reverse GAS:

• Thymus Thump - With a fist, tap over the upper heart in a waltz beat.
• Adrenal Massage - Make a fist with both hands. Reach behind and massage the lower ribs.
• Neurolymphatic Massage - Vigorously rub with the finger tips both sides of the sternum, a half moon under each breast, outer/inner thighs, shoulder cap and crease of the arm, back of the head. Reach behind and get either side of the spine. Get a friend to reach where you can’t.

Have fun. Relax. Enjoy.

Mary Louise Muller is an authority on Energy Medicine. She and her husband have a private practice in Murrieta, California and teach internationally through LifeShapes . You can see her upcoming classes on www.lifeshapes.org. Mary Louise is co-author of Energy Exercises: Easy Exercises for Health and Vitality.