Reduce stress with this simple technique
Reduce stress and release old trauma with this simple technique
Nobody escapes stress. It is a fundamental part of being human. Every day life brings with it events and situations that cause physical, emotional and mental stress, whether it’s a problem with your boss at work, conflict with loved ones, or unexpected house repairs.
Many of us also experience significant, stressful events throughout life, like divorce, people we care about being ill, bullying or being involved in a road accident.
Any of these types of events can leave us chronically stressed, and sometimes struggling with anxiety or depression.
These feelings do not have to be a life sentence.
Let’s talk about Neurovascular points!
Neurovascular Reflex Points
Neurovascular reflex points are points we hold that help to stimulate blood flow and calm down the nervous system. They work by activating the parasympathetic nervous system, which is the “rest and digest” branch of the nervous system. Neurovasculars help a person to relax by calming down the fight-fight-freeze response.
The main Neurovascular points are found in the middle of the forehead above each eye.
Have you ever had a shock or been upset, and without thinking, brought your hand to your forehead? Well, you are instinctively bringing your body into balance! You are naturally supporting your body to relax, let go of stress and return to a place of feeling calm, centered and at ease.
How to work with the Neurovascular points:
When you are feeling stressed:
Using one or both hands, hold the main Neurovascular points with gentle pressure. Hold for several minutes, or longer.
You may find this deeply relaxing like a meditation, and it may feel right to continue for as long as 15-20 minutes. The longer you hold the points, the more benefit you will get. Trust your inner guidance and hold the points for as long as it feels right for you.
After several minutes, you may feel light pulsing under your hands. This is a wonderful sign, as it indicates that you have stimulated blood flow to come to the forebrain.
Why is this a wonderful sign? When we’re stressed in our nervous system, up to 80% of the blood flow can leave the front part of the brain. This is a part of the fight-fight-freeze response and allows us to escape dangerous situations.
However, we rarely need to escape or run from a fight or attack. In our modern world, it is rare to be faced with a bear in the woods!
If your boss is shouting at you at work, there’s a good chance you’ll get stressed in your nervous system and go into fight-flight-freeze. But the fight-fight-freeze response is often not an effective way to deal with our problems, as the lack of blood flow leaves us less able to think clearly and process emotions.
To let go of old stress
You can also hold your frontal Neurovascular points while thinking about an event, situation or emotion from the past.
Again, you simply hold the points with gentle pressure, while bringing to mind whatever the stress is that you’d like to release.
You may need to do this several times and by doing so, will help to shift the energy around the stress.
One of the loveliest places to hold your Neurovasculars is relaxing in a hot bath. A double benefit, where you activate your own healing energies at the same time as deep relaxation in the bath!