How to use relaxation to reduce the negative effects of stress, handle traumatic events, prevent overwhelm, and feel safe and secure.

How to use relaxation to reduce the negative effects of stress, handle traumatic events, prevent overwhelm, and feel safe and secure.

This chart has been put together by Ruby Jo Walker and is based on the work of Stephen Porges. It clearly explains in visual form what happens to us when our stress builds to intolerable levels as it does in trauma.

Yoga, relaxation, and meditation are powerful tools that are now being used by clinicians to help patients gain control over the residue of past trauma and return to being the master of their own lives.

They have shown that along with talking therapies and the appropriate use of drugs that dampen hyperactive alarm systems, traumatic imprints from the past can be transformed by having embodied experiences that directly contradict the helplessness, rage, and collapse that are part of trauma.

Embodied experiences deal directly with traumatic memories that are held in the body. This is achieved by using systems, such as yoga and meditation, that build feelings of relaxation, of being grounded and safe, of being able to trust the present moment, and thereby enable you to restore your ability for connection and joy. As a result, the old traumatic memories are stripped of their emotional intensity so that you are freed from the past and are thereby able to regain a degree of self-mastery.

All the knowledge in the world is not going to help you unless you develop the skill of embodied relaxation. Without developing relaxation your body will remain stuck in tension and hypervigilance, and feelings of relaxation, safety and intimacy will be vague memories.

Porges polyvagal theory

Stephen W. Porges, Ph.D. is Distinguished University Scientist at Indiana University where he is the founding director of the Traumatic Stress Research Consortium.

He is Professor of Psychiatry at the University of North Carolina, and Professor Emeritus at both the University of Illinois at Chicago and the University of Maryland.

In 1994 he proposed the Polyvagal Theory, a theory that links the evolution of the mammalian autonomic nervous system to social behavior and emphasizes the importance of our physiological state, our body, in the expression of behavioral problems and psychiatric disorders. The theory is leading to innovative treatments based on insights into the mechanisms mediating symptoms observed in several behavioral, psychiatric, and physical disorders.

The old view

Prior to the work of Porges, our autonomic nervous system was thought to be divided into two main parts. One handles stress, the sympathetic nervous system with its fight or flight response, and one that handles relaxation, the parasympathetic nervous system with its rest and digest, and stay and play response.

The parasympathetic system is controlled mainly by the vagus nerve, which travels through the body controlling the heart, lungs and digestive system. The word vagus means wandering in Latin and is the root of English words vagrant and vagabond.

How to use relaxation to reduce the negative effects of stress, handle traumatic events, prevent overwhelm, and feel safe and secure.
How to use relaxation to reduce the negative effects of stress, handle traumatic events, prevent overwhelm, and feel safe and secure.

The new view

Porges work showed us that we actually have three parts of the autonomic nervous system, that the parasympathetic nervous system and the vagus nerve have two parts:

  • one that is in charge of social engagement, connection, and safety, the ventral vagus,
  • and one that is involved in managing unavoidable and intolerable shock and trauma, the dorsal vagus.

Note: Ventral means closer to the front of the body and dorsal means further back.

This new understanding of how the autonomic nervous system works is shown in this diagram by Ruby Jo Walker

How to use relaxation to reduce the negative effects of stress, handle traumatic events, prevent overwhelm, and feel safe and secure.

How this works is, we want to spend as much time as possible in the green zone, relaxed, grounded, present, joyous, open, compassionate and mindful. However, day to day stresses, represented by the squiggly line, takes us into the mild stress zone (red) until we can get back to a more relaxed state.

If stress builds up, then we turn on the fight and flight response and either travel up the fear axis towards anxiety and panic, or along the anger axis, towards frustration, irritation, and rage.

If we experience some kind of trauma and stress spirals out of control we move into the blue zone, governed by the dorsal vagus. Here we move through the stages of feeling helpless and overwhelmed, depressed, numb, and dissociated. This can lead to a frozen state in which we lose our self-awareness and spiral into shame and a sense of hopelessness.

In order to get out of this state, we need to be able to regain a degree of self-awareness and regain our ability to self-regulate. The combination of self-awareness and self-regulation enable us to restore a degree of balance and harmony, and the foundation of this process is relaxation. The deep relaxation that enables you to handle old traumas held in the body in contracted states is not as simple as it sounds. It requires theory, understanding, and practice.

Relaxation is a skill that requires repetition to attain mastery so that when you are facing your old traumas you can remain relaxed, grounded and aware. Only then can you digest and metabolize the old trauma, reaping the wisdom inherent in the experience and removing the old pain and suffering.

Big Shakti’s Relaxation Mediation Course

Big Shakti’s Relaxation Meditation Course will put on track to managing stress as it occurs and undoing the lingering effects of past trauma. It goes beyond simply resting, recuperating and recharging the body and mind. This course is designed to enable you to become a more relaxed person, to reduce the negative effects of stress, to better handle traumatic events, to prevent overwhelm and to feel safe and secure. You will spend more time in the green zone and less in the red and blue zones.

The relaxation meditation theory and techniques in this course are universal and form the foundation for success in any meditation practice from any tradition.

What others say:

“I have been applying what I’ve learned from the course for 3 days and I am very much energized by what I have been learning. I am discovering exactly what has been stressing me, emotionally, physically, and time-wise. The meditations have are both relaxing and energizing. Honestly, I am amazed by the course so far and look forward to the major parts yet to come.”

Martin McKenzie

“The relaxation meditation course gave me excellent skills to pinpoint and release stress from my body and mind, and superb coping strategies for high-stress situations. I loved the interactivity – creating/uploading my Sankalpa (resolve), and monitoring my stress (and relaxation) levels throughout the course. My growing awareness and ability to let go of stress at will is a godsend. Having direct contact with Swami Shankardev and Jayne throughout the course was a blessing.”

Gemma Perry

“A short note of appreciation for your online Relaxation Course. When I enrolled, I expected to learn about relaxation and relaxation techniques. I did not expect to be given such a valuable resource that will stay with me for the rest of my life! And this is what the course has turned out to be for me. The helpful suggestions, the techniques, and the stress diary have all encouraged me to carry what I have learned into my daily life making every moment so much more enjoyable and alive.

The course is beautifully presented, easy to follow and most generous in its sharing of knowledge and techniques. I certainly encourage others to undertake this study.”

Sagar Obrien

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