Lifetime Art Impressions, LLC painting exercise
Click on
the below article link to obtain background information to this blog post:
I did
this exercise in my Expressive Art Therapy course and I believe it has made a
difference in my life. Even the pain from a migraine lessons its hold when I
practice this process.
I realize
it might be a bit hokey pokey for some but if there is a chance it can help,
why not give it a try?
I’ve
included my photo above when I first did the work; I used the exercise to
depict my migraine and it did soothe it; the drawing is prior to the
meditation/release.
While I
was researching my topic, I came across the below detail about stress, I found
it worthwhile to share.
“Stress Spot: Your Nervous System
When you're stressed, hormones flood your body, helping you
focus your attention, sharpening your vision, and preparing your muscles to
take action.
The Fix: Tap the power.
For short periods, facing adversity
can energize you to handle challenges. Recently, University at Buffalo
researchers monitoring 2,398 people found that those who'd experienced some adversity
scored higher on measures of mental health and life satisfaction than those
who'd seen either high levels of adversity or none at all.
‘In moderation, whatever doesn't
kill us may indeed make us stronger,’ says study author Mark Seery, Ph.D.
Stress Spot: Your Muscles
Neck and back tension caused by mental stress, plus long days
spent hunched over a computer keyboard, can trigger pain.
The Fix: Try the corner stretch.
Stand facing the corner of a room.
Raise your elbows to shoulder height, and place your forearms, elbows, and
palms against each wall. Lean in to flex your chest and back muscles. Hold for
15 seconds, breathing deeply. Do this every 2 hours or whenever you feel tight.
Stress Spot: Your Gut
Increased stomach acid from stress can churn your gut and loosen
your bowels. Stress can even alter the way your body processes fat, causing you
to store more of it in your abdomen.
The Fix: Twist yourself into a pretzel and laugh, laugh, laugh.
"Laughter yoga" practitioners
swear that combining yogic breathing and stretching techniques with forced
laughter helps them cope better with life's stresses. Studies have already
demonstrated the ability of yoga to ease stress and lower blood pressure. And
laughing appears to do the same. For example: Two reports presented at the 2009
American College of Sports Medicine's annual meeting showed that people who
watched comedies had more-pliable blood vessels and improved bloodflow for up
to 24 hours after the chuckling commenced.
Stress Spot: Your DNA
Not only can stress make you flatulent, but it can screw with
your DNA too. A 24-7 bath of stress hormones can cause telomeres to shorten.
Telomeres are genetic structures that protect the ends of chromosomes; if they
shorten too much, cells can no longer multiply.
Fix: Meditate.
A recent Harvard study found that
the physiological response from meditation, tai chi, and breathing exercises
can counteract cellular damage from stress.
Just breathe: How to
meditate.” [How to meditate is linked to information
on meditation]
