We all have a breaking point—a threshold where stress overwhelms our ability to maintain balance within our bodies and minds. This equilibrium, known as homeostasis, involves regulating and sustaining a balanced internal environment despite external changes or stressors. It’s a complex interaction between processes that manage various aspects like body temperature, blood sugar, emotions, and other physiological and psychological elements within a healthy range.
One factor that can affect homeostasis is called allostatic load. Allostatic load is the cumulative burden of ongoing tension, anxiety, and challenges. If our allostatic load surpasses our threshold, the delicate balance of homeostasis becomes unsustainable, causing our bodies and minds to break down. Stressors that add to our bodies allostatic load can be metabolic, biological, chemical, physical, or psychological. If these stressors are too many or persist without relief, our Sympathetic Nervous System (SNS) remains activated, leading to allostatic overload. This overload is linked to declines in both our mental and physical health.
Some of us may turn to outside measures in an attempt to manage allostatic overload. We can find temporary relief in prescribed or non-prescribed medications, alcohol, technology, food, online shopping, or Netflix. Consuming some of these coping mechanisms in a balanced manner may have minimal to no effect on our health. In contrast, over use and reliance on them may add to our allostatic load rather than address the root problems, exacerbating the cycle of stress and imbalance.
The Stress Solution
Perhaps turning to outside sources to help offload our stress and remain within our stress threshold is not always the best option. Instead, we may need to turn inward and utilize the faculties of our bodies and minds to restore and return to a state of balance.
In this blog post, we will explore how yoga can be one measure to effectively offload our stressors and return to a state of balance within our bodies and minds. Yoga may be one source that can teach us how to intentionally shift between cycles of activation and rest and phases of arousal and de-arousal to help rebalance our nervous system and restore health, balance and stability within our bodies and mind.
But First, Let's Explore The Soldier's Heart
Before we explore this yogic system, let us first examine one group of individuals who have faced overwhelming stressors beyond what most of us can imagine. Soldiers.
The toll of war on the human body’s ability to cope with stressors has been carefully documented since the US Civil War. One documented account included work from Jacob Da Costa, a physician at Satterlee Hospital in Philadelphia during the American Civil War.
Da Costa studied over 400 patients with non-specific cardiac complaints that resembled symptoms of heart disease. These symptoms included tiredness during physical activity, difficulty breathing, rapid heartbeat, sweating, chest pain, and breathing challenges like dyspnea and sighing respiration. Additionally, he observed neurological symptoms. Da Costa coined a new term for this condition, calling it “Irritable Heart Syndrome,” a term that would later be known as “Soldier’s Heart.”
After World War 1, British psychologist Thomas Lewis cataloged similar symptoms observed during the Civil War. Lewis had a deep understanding of respiratory physiology, gained through studying the breathing patterns of individuals returning from high altitudes. The symptoms he observed in World War 1 veterans resembled those in individuals returning from high altitudes, manifesting as irregular, upper thoracic breathing, and heightened sensitivity to CO2 levels.
Lewis concluded that these symptoms were not the result of heart conditions but rather a psychophysiological overwhelm disorder. He emphasized that these soldiers weren’t broken, nor did they suffer from a post-traumatic disease. Instead, their bodies were overwhelmed by the rigors of war, causing a systemic imbalance.
To reduce stigma, Lewis chose to term this condition “Effort Syndrome” rather than “Soldier’s Heart.” Unlike Da Costa, Lewis felt these soliders could recover by restoring equilibrium within their bodily systems and minds. Da Costa developed a 6-week treatment program for symptomatic soldiers that focsed on restoring their sleep, implementing structured activity-rest cycles, and providing breathing instruction.
After the 6-week program, Lewis noted remarkable improvements in patients who had previously seemed incurable, demonstrating that basic human actions like rest, physical exertion, and mindful breathing could alleviate complex symptoms and help restore balance and health in the body and mind.
Window of Tolerance
While most of us will never experience the tragedies of war, we still face daily stressors in our civilian lives. Our capacity to endure stress has its limits before homeostasis is disturbed. We now understand that our experienced stressors do not naturally dissipate over time. Instead, stressors accumulate within our bodies and minds and can result in allostatic overload unless we actively take measures to unload them.
Dan Siegal introduced the concept of the Window of Tolerance, which defines the ideal level of arousal for individuals to function optimally. The idea poses that we have an optimal state of arousal where we find ourselves within a balanced range. Within this range, we feel calmly alert and capable of managing challenges without fatigue or anxiety. We can navigate the natural fluctuations of emotions during our day, including hurt, anxiety, pain, and anger. We may approach the edges of this window due to internal or external stressors. Likewise, we might sometimes feel excessively fatigued, overwhelmed, sad, or emotionally withdrawn, but with the right coping mechanisms, we have the ability to move beyond these states and remain within our tolerance window.
The dimensions of our individualized window and our ability to bounce back from challenges reduces by factors like stress, trauma, and dysfunctional breathing patterns. Siegal explains how we can respond and recover when we face a stressor within our Window of Tolerance. However, when we exceed our tolerance level our sympathetic nervous system (SNS) activates and remains active. This ongoing activation of our SNS leads to sustained hyperarousal even after the stressor has subsided. Conversely, we can also shift into a state of hyperarousal and shutdown.
*** You can read more about the concept of the Window of Tolerance here.
Staying Within Our Window
Turning inward and recognizing our state of arousal may inform us if we have reached our stress limit and need to take measures to return to a state of balance. When we find ourselves in a state of hyperaroual, we can counter this with periods of relaxation and rest. Hypoarousal states can signal us to exert ourselves by moving our bodies Achieving a balance between activity and rest may be the secret to unloading stress- resulting in improved health, enhanced psychological resilience, and restored homeostasis. Yoga can be a tool to help us restore and maintain this balance by use of our breath, movement and relaxation.
Balanced Breath Modulation
The breath is one of the main tools used in the physical practice of yoga. Breathing is both a regulator and an indicator of our stress levels, state of arousal, and allostatic load. How we breathe can tell us if we have exceeded our Window of Tolerance,entering into a state of hyper or hypo arousal.
For example, hyperarousal emotional states like fear, stress, anger, excitement, overwhelm, guilt, or irritability often manifest as hyperventilation (breathing too much), upper rib cage breathing or chest breathing, and rapid-shallow or irregular breathing. On the other hand, hyperarousal states like fatigue, overwhelm, or depression, can result in lower, excessively regular, or irregular breathing, either hyper or hypo-ventilating with shallow-rapid or slow breaths.
At the beginning of each yoga class, practitioners are encouraged to observe their breath. Is it quick and shallow, suggesting a state of heightened arousal? Or is it slow and strained, often indicating a state of lowered arousal? Then the practitioner can adjust their breath accordingly by either extending the inhalation or exhalation to rebalance their physical and mental state.
We can take longer exhalations to shift us out of states of hyperarousal. Slow, steady exhalations help activate the parasympathetic nervous system, promoting a state of relaxation and calm. Exhalations are often associated with releasing tension, stress, and negative thoughts. As we breathe out, we are encouraged to let go of any physical, mental, or emotional burdens, allowing us to move deeper into poses and feel lighter in the mind.
Conversely, extended inhalations help to normalize states of hypoarousal. Prolonged, deep inhalations help activate our sympathetic nervous to enhance energy and alertness. Our inhalations are associated with expansion, stretching, and opening up. Physically, we can use our inhalations to expand the chest and create space for deeper movement and flexibility. Mentally, breathing in signifies an opening to new possibilities and experiences.
As the class progresses, the aim is for practitioners to progressively establish a consistent rhythm and balance between the lengths of their inhalations and exhalations. By the end of class, the hope is that the practitioner’s breath to effortlessly flow in and out of their nostrils with a balanced rhythm, reflecting a state of balance in the body and mind.
Mindful Movement
The physical aspect of yoga involves engaging in postures that require a delicate interplay between activating and relaxing muscles, all while finding the balance between effort and ease. Striking this balance during our yoga practice allows us to challenge ourselves yet relax and move deeper into poses.
Putting forth too much effort can heighten our arousal states and leave our bodies excessively sore, overly tired, possibly injured, and irritated. But, if we use too much ease, we can leave feeling sluggish, unmotivated, and unchanged.
In addition to noticing one’s breath, the practitioner is encouraged to notice how their physical body feels at the start of class and throughout the practice. If the practitioner is experiencing physical states associated with high drive, then they can slow down their movements, make modifications, or take rest in an alternate pose. Or if the practitioner feels a depletion of energy due to lack of movement, they may decide to challenge their bodies throughout the practice.
The physical practice of yoga requires practitioners to use awareness to make movements deliberate and purposeful. This attentiveness allows us to put in effort where needed and ease off when necessary. The practitioner is also instructed to be aware of unsteady breathing patterns to signal when to back out of a pose and when to move deeper. Deep, mindful breathing helps to maintain a sense of ease even during challenging poses while energizing us for the effort required.
*** You can read more about how to relieve stress and tension using the physical practice of yoga here.
Complete Rest
Engaging in conscious breathing and movement throughout the duration of the class is all preparation for the final pose- savasana- which is a form of surrender or letting go. Savasana gives the student’s mind and body a chance to integrate the effects of balanced breathing and mindful movement into their system. This final pose allows the student to release any last bit of mental or physical tension and stress. Then the student can leave their mat with a renewed sense of alert calm and an expanded window of tolerance to navigate life’s demands.
** You can read more about rest here.
Balance On & Off The Mat
Just as a soldier must stratagize, adapt, and persevere to succeed in a battlefield, we too must develop effective coping mechanisms to navigate the complexities of life. We all face challenges, struggles, and trials that add to our allostatic load and can disrupt balance of our bodily systems and mind. Life can be demanding, and learning how to navigate its various complexities can be challenging. Some of us encounter diverse obstacles, conflicts, and adversities that can start to wear on us, resulting in carrying a load that is much too heavy for us to manage. Exceeding our limits can result in a breakdown of homeostasis, allostatic overload, and declines in our mental and physical health.
Luckily, there’s yoga.
The yogic system offers a pathway to restore health, enhance resilience, and reclaim a state of equilibrium in both our bodies and minds. We can practice yoga to help us regulate and sustain a balanced internal environment despite external stressors. We can manage our window of tolerance and maintain optimal arousal states by turning inward and using our body’s innate faculties to offload stress and restore balance.
Yoga provides a structured framework to shift between states of activation and rest. By utilizing the breath as a regulator and indicator of our stress levels, adjusting movement to strike a balance between effort and ease, and embracing moments of deep relaxation, we can effectively offload stressors and expand our window of tolerance to lead a more balanced and fulfilling life.
Contemplation Points
- Without judgement what is your current emotional state? Do you feel calm, clear headed, motivated, inspired, content? Do you feel emotions associated with hyperarousal like agitated, anxious, annoyed, angry, irritable, overwhelmed, or overstimulated? Or do you feel emotions associated with hypoarousal such as fatigued, exhausted, depressed, worn down, or numb?
- If you are in a state of hyper or hypo arousal, can you adjust your breathing and body as described above to help you offload stress?
- What other measures do you take to help you return to a state of balance?
- Can you do one thing right not to help you release stress? For example, breathe a little slower, soften through areas of tension in your body, focus on your breath and body to slow down your thoughts. You don’t have to do anything drastic to restore balance. Just take consistent, effective measures each day.
- *** All you need is to tend to your body, mind, and breath to release stress, which we can access at any time!
