When perfectionism, fear of making mistakes, being success-oriented, or some similar thought patterns are added to the factors that make daily life stressful, such as business life, traffic, and air pollution, we can make it a habit to feel constantly under threat . In this case, the nervous system learns to give flight/fight responses, sometimes when there is no need. Then come heart palpitations, go away stress-related psychosomatic diseases...

Rooting in Life and Yoga to Overcome Stress

Ahh amygdala, it's all because of you!

The amygdala, the part of the brain responsible for emotional reactions and especially fear, is an emergency button that allows us to take action in emergency situations. In response to this emergency alarm of the brain, physical reactions occur; muscles tense, heart rate increases and breathing accelerates. The amygdala continues its activation by accepting these bodily reactions as evidence that there is an emergency. So the nervous system prepares us to flee or fight.

When looked at, it seems like a very good survival strategy; And so it is. However, this part of our complex brains can sometimes be activated in unnecessary situations, causing us to detect a threat that does not actually exist and cause us to worry. When the stress reactions in the body come into play, a vicious cycle begins: worry - your body tenses - worry more.

What does this mean, rooting?

Being rooted helps us get out of that vicious circle when we experience stress. This term, which is referred to as 'grounding' in English and is not used much in everyday language in Turkish, is most frequently encountered in yoga classes. When I say rooting, the yoga actually invites you to leave aside the day, your worries, and what you have to do after class, and get into that moment.

But I don't do yoga. How do I root then?

When the thoughts that rush into our minds, the anxiety we experience and, as a result, what we feel in the body distract us from the moment, using the five senses helps us notice the sensations in the body and our physical environment, and brings us back to the present moment and our body . By feeling the objects around us, the colors, the sounds around us, the smells coming to our nose, the taste in our mouth, the place where we sit or the wind touching our face, we can get out of the thoughts that flock to our minds and return to a clearer mind and a calmer body. And yes, we use these five senses in yoga classes.

However, taking nature walks , getting a massage, listening to soothing music, taking care of animals, loving babies, eating healthy , being together with our loved ones are some of the things we can do to 'root in life', that is, to keep our feet on the ground.

Trauma analysis

Still, life sometimes confronts us with some traumas . There are some recommended techniques to reduce the emotional tension experienced after an accident, a surgery, a loss or similar situations. For this purpose, working with specially trained Trauma Therapists and benefiting from techniques that take physical-mental functioning mechanisms into consideration, such as Somatic Experiencing, are among the common trauma analysis alternatives that are applied more frequently these days, thanks to the trainers and experts trained in our country.

In simpler and more everyday situations of anxiety or increased stress reactions, some grounding techniques can be applied , such as looking around carefully and focusing on the colors and textures of different objects seen, hugging yourself and patting your shoulders with your hands, or paying attention to your breathing .

If you still want, consider starting yoga.

In Holistic Yoga Therapy classes, we adapt similar techniques to yoga sessions and work compassionately and gently on the trauma reactions accumulated in the body. With regular yoga and meditation practice, our daily endurance and grounding ability increases over time, and our ability to 'disconnect from the moment' by unnecessary worries decreases.

Escaping from life's difficulties is not the solution, but it is possible to learn to be less affected.