Dana Hookins
54 York Drive
Flagstaff Hill
ph. (08) 8270 8045
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I recently spoke to a support group for people who suffer with various degrees of anxiety / anxiousness / panic attacks or other debilitating responses about how the neurology and the body respond to a person’s perception of the stresses around them.

I know I have discussed this before, however I thought it might be appropriate to revisit this topic in this newsletter.

 

It is important to remember that STRESS itself is not our “evil”. Stress is simply the challenges in our life that motivate us to get up and accomplish things.

A better descriptive word for what we relate to as stress is – DISTRESS.

Distress is our reaction to the stresses / challenges in our life.

 

The “symptoms” resulting from constant perceived DISTRESS described to me, and those I observe in people, are many and varied, ranging from mild to extremely severe.

And yet the neurological and physiological beginnings are the same for all.

 

Neurologically when someone is in a state of perceived DISTRESS, the fibres, (neural connections), that send messages to the two hemispheres of the brain and housed in the Corpus Callosum, bunch up to preserve the amount of blood used in the brain, (30% of the body’s total).

 

This blood is needed by the body’s muscles to do “Fight” or “Flight”. An old primitive response still programmed in us. This means that the brain is programmed to “run on minimum” when in a state of “Fight/Flight”.

 

When in “survival mode” the brain has minimal signals and blood being sent to the right hemisphere and the frontal lobes of both hemispheres. In fact the brain is now responding mainly from the back left hemisphere which is from memory based neurology.

 

What this means is that when someone is in this “Fight/Flight” or DISTRESS state, they are not able to access NEW or BETTER neurological solutions or ideas.

They are in a state of DEFENSE and defending, (mentally, emotionally, and/or physically), the same way they have time and time again, therefore making the same mistakes they did time and time before.

 

There are also other responses in other parts of their body.

Blood from the stomach is also reassigned to the limbs to help with “Fight/Flight”.

And a number of different hormones and chemicals are released throughout the body.

If the stomach continues to have minimal blood to aid the digestive process, the person’s digestion will be impeded, thereby causing all sorts of “digestive issues”.

 

All of these neurological; biochemical and physical reactions are designed to stop and revert back to normal once the source of the DISTRESS has gone.

In primitive times once the danger had passed the person’s neurology and body would have gone back to a state of homeostasis.

However, in these “modern” times, people can perceive that they are in a constant state of DISTRESS, constantly under attack – juggling work; finances; family, etc.

The result being that they become well practised at being in this DISTRESS pattern, or patterns, of reaction.

 

As the person becomes better at “defending”, they get into the HABIT of being in defense reaction mode ALL the time.

 

This means when they want to use some other function of their brain, like learning or completing relatively complex tasks for example, they find it difficult because the two hemispheres are not working together in their entirety.

They can find it difficult to concentrate; think clearly; remember; even to coordinate simple tasks.

They may find that they are constantly tired; perhaps experiencing sleeplessness, headaches.

Their moods may fluctuate; may be experiencing stomach issues.

The range of experiences; behaviours; emotions; “symptoms” are varied and many.

 

The person’s reaction to DISTRESS may have begun at an early age, however at that time they had enough “available energy” to compensate and continue on without any ill-effects.

However, as they get older and have less “available energy” to continue compensating for their inappropriate reactions then they may notice “symptoms” to what they think is a new “issue”.

 

In clinic we work with breaking down Mental; Emotional; Physical and Energetic defense patterns stopping people from expressing their true selves.

We do this by re-training the neurology – hence the name of NEURO-TRAINING with Kinesiology.

 

A simple tool I have mentioned to many, if not most, of you to help you to allow your neurology to come up with new ideas, or better options, during times of perceived DISTRESS, is to gently place a hand on your forehead and one at the back of your head, the occiput (just above the back of your neck).

 

This action will help to bring the blood back to your frontal lobes, where we do our rational thinking and formulating our new and better ideas and options.

The other benefit is that there are two reflex points on your forehead that, when held lightly, help to increase blood flow to the stomach. Therefore helping with digestion and calming the stomach.

 

The hand at the back of the head brings the blood back to the bottom part of your right hemisphere further acting to create integrity between the two hemispheres.

 

You may also like to visualise the positive outcome to your perceived distress at the same time, thereby allowing your neurology to believe that the positive outcome is achievable.

This can have some fabulous outcomes.