green tea: i think somebody else mentioned this one already. so i'll just add my agreement. it seems to work very well on my system both in terms of calming my gut and reducing odour, (whilst still giving me a bit of a boost in the morning). parasympathy: the parasympathetic part of the nervous system is the 'brake', it's what calms us down after the 'danger' has passed and we can unwind from the 'fight or flight' reflex. for me i find this part of my nervous system doesn't function very fast..... i take a long time to chill out after my stress buttons have been pushed... well anyway, i went to a one day course on cardiac coherence (which shows you how your heart can be controlled (mainly through rhythmical, even breathing) to produce states of harmony and wellbeing in your body/mind). one thing that they emphasized at the course (it was run by a qualified medical doctor) was that it doesn't actually matter that much whether we're pumped up or slowed down - in terms of our breathing and heart rate. what matters is whether our breathing is maintaining an even, rhythmical quality (think of your breathing following the movement of a ventilator used to help patients in intensive care)... this in turn encourages our hearts to become more harmonious and rhythmical in the way they speed up and slow down (rather than being chaotic and all over the place)..... the result? you can be breathing 6 times a minute or 60 times a minute and still feel good, and of course you can practice controlled breathing in any situation... dogs, humans and wolves: a counsellor a while back came out with this little gem of a quote one session: "the difference between dogs and humans is that when you pat a dog on the head it won't bite you..!" it tied in with what a friend remarked on a little while back... there's a school of thought that suggests that as we grow up in 'civilised society' we are taught to suppress that part of us which 'bites' (represented by the image of 'the wolf'). we are taught to be nice, and kind and pleasant (especially if our parents are christian or we go to a christian school).... which is great up to a point... except that when it comes to situations where we really need to 'bite' (instead of lick) we are no longer able to because we have never been allowed or encouraged to express that part of ourselves. so either the wolf never gets to bite at all (in which case our boundaries get encroached on AND we still feel pissed off inside), or on the occasions it does overcome our inhibitions, it goes over the top in an inappropriate way... so the idea is to start exercising the wolf a bit more in our day to day interactions, so that it can be reinstated to it's rightful place in our being... ....then maybe if we're better able to protect our boundaries, we'll be less socially anxious generally, and in particular, less anxious about shitting near other people.... that's the theory...! another friend told me about a nifty little technique for getting angry if you're not used to it: ......fake your anger before you feel really angry: that way you've got more of a chance to express your anger in an appropriate, healthy way because you're very much in control... (rather than leaving it too long and then feeling like you've got a pressure cooker of emotion inside you)............
Responses