Is Mental Health is the New Revolution?

May is Mental Health Awareness Month - something I'm Extremely passionate about (keep reading to find out why), but what is mental health really?

Our current state of our emotional, psychological and even our social well-being all play a part in our mental health. The way we feel and think affects how we react, behave, relate to others, handle stress and the choices we make.

Although the Eastern world has known about this link of body and mind for thousands of years, the western world is finally coming around to exploring the wholeness of our human systems and the interconnectedness of body, mind and environment with one of the newer fields of science, psychophysiology.

They are now proving that the state of mind, emotions and feelings can manifest into physical symptoms, conditions and disorders (psychosomatic) and vice versa, the physical state and physical environment can influence the mind and emotional state and round and round the cycle goes.

I'll use stress as an example since I am convinced that it is the number one pandemic of the world.

Stress can be caused by both physical environments and choices of what we put in/on our bodies, and stress can be caused internally through unease in the mind, emotions and nervous system.

Either way, if the stress continues, compacting stress can cause strain on the nervous system, tension in the body, and cause things like high blood pressure, headaches, exhaustion, hormone imbalances, brain fog and more. If something like high blood pressure continues, it can cause damage to the arteries, the heart and lymphatic system and manifest into even more physical challenges.

A few more somatic (body) conditions that manifest from imbalances in the psyche: Asthma/obstructive symptoms, ulcerative colitis, rheumatoid arthritis, abdominal symptoms, irritable bowel syndrome, insomnia, exhaustion, depression, eating disorders, epileptic seizures, paralysis, debilitating pain, and the list goes on.

Some Back Story….

Growing up, I had chronic pain in my side for many years with no answers to the cause and absolutely no help for the pain that would drop me to my knees. I had irritable bowel syndrome, challenges with sleep and random allergies that would pop up. I was an emotional, spastic mess with no one realizing that my nervous system was maxed out, my mind was chaos and it was wreaking havoc on my body.

Suffering for more than half my life, and not receiving Any help until I went searching for it in the midst of a couple mental breakdowns in my twenties has been my drive to exploring the psyche, emotions, the nervous system and how trauma and stress affects our state of being in this human body.

I realized along the way that I was trying, and failing, to cope with so many overlapping traumatic experiences that were never properly dealt with and keeping me in a constant state of fight or flight with major bouts of PTSD. I now believe that most of us have trauma that we are carrying in our bodies.

I also realized that I am highly empathic and what they now call Highly Sensitive, so my senses, mental processing and nerves were/are on edge all the time. (Side Note: Through some studies, it is guesstimated that about 20% of humans and animals are highly sensitive.)

My studies and explorations have helped me to understand how important it is to gift ourselves time to relax, heal, reset the nervous system and learn the skills needed to become energetically resilient in today's intense world.

Get to the point, Sarah…

I share these things because I know I am one of BILLIONS of people who have their own share of trauma, stress, fear and an array of physical health challenges. Whether you have one of the listed or all, you are Not alone, BUT why is this and what do we do?

Why is the world experiencing so much stress, manic behavior, physical illness and exhaustion?

Besides the most current elephant in the room - the entire planet just went through a traumatic last 4 years with no time to truly comprehend or process the effects and are swimming in their jacked up nervous systems and anxiety-filled aftermath. All while the world speeds up with all its AI inventions and war-filled mentality (war = result of wound up nervous systems & lack of emotional intelligence), there are probably thousands of answers that we could blame on the outside world and societal pressures - and they aren't wrong.

However, the BIGGEST PROBLEMS AND ANSWERS are within our own personal home / environment, our own body and our own mind.

Your home environment - your physical house/apartment, your human body & your mind field - are your Core Foundations, and if your core foundations are unstable or strained, chances are the rest of your outside life experiences will either a) add fleeting feel-good moments that don't actually support you or b) cause even more stress and instability.

So, answer #1:
Call your attention hOMe.

You cannot create a strong foundation for yourself if your attention is everywhere else outside of you. Call yourself, your attention, your energy back to center. Even if it's for short bits of time each day.

There are very important components to creating a strong and stable foundation, and I will list a few more of those below. BUT, it becomes really challenging to make changes to our behaviors, choices and surroundings if our nervous systems are still in Fight-Flight-Faint-Freeze-Fawn mode.

(A great explanation on the F's Here.)

So, answer #2:
REST, Unwind & Reset our energy, our mind and the body will follow.

Creating space to let go of the outside world, to tune inward and gain skills to calm the mind, then offers space to relax the body.

From this restful space, you can feel and see more clearly, you can think more clearly and have more access to your intuition, and if not right away, with practice, you begin to feel better, more at home, in your body. This all equates to better decision making and the energy to take proper action.

The affects of this are 10 fold.

The author of The Relaxation Response has more than enough studies to convince anyone that resting the mind and body can heal the mind and body in profound ways. It can resolve (heal) Many of the stress-induced conditions previously listed, gift the person with a sense of inner peace and a resilience to the fluctuating stresses in life.

BUT There’s a PROBLEM with #2…

Most people have no idea how to rest and unwind, nor have they developed the discipline and self-care attitude to figure it out.

THE ANSWER to the Problem with #2?

There are SO many classes - in person and via online - that offer the space and the guided practice to support you. Some require pay, while some are free.

This includes my offerings!
From Diaphragmatic Breathwork, to Mindfulness, to Sound Meditations, to Yoga Nidra, to Gong Yoga, to HeartMath Breathwork, I do my best to give you an array of options to support you in your journey in coming home to your body, resting your mind and creating space for self-healing.

You can find free Sound Meditation recordings via YouTube, Yoga Nidra Recorings (Guided meditation into Yogic Sleep - deep rest) on Insight Timer App and YouTube that you can listen to as often as you find helpful.

Every so often, I offer Yoga Nidra live via virtual classes which you can find on my events calendar.

And, if You are in the Southern Maine area, I offer in-person paid and free classes - events calendar.

The options are there for You. The question becomes, when will you hit Your point where you realize you are done suffering over your own suffering and choose to create a different way for your Self - starting with gifting yourself time to relax?

If you ask me, Stress Relief and giving care to our mental health is the new revolution. Relaxation is the new (but ancient) self-empowerment tool that will support each of us in thriving - mentally and physically - in the days to come.

May you discover the ways that support you best and may you pass those ways onto your littles so they can learn to regulate their nervous systems from the get go.

Happy Resting.

Additional Actions to Strengthen Your Core Foundation at hOMe

As promised, here are a few other core foundation components within your immediate environment that play a huge part in helping you to feel and be strong mentally, emotionally and physically. (please note, these are simply my opinion based on my own personal research. You are Always encouraged to do your own research and come up with your own justified answers!)

Something I've learned about this process of 'bettering' our environments - TAKE ONE STEP AT A TIME. No need to cause more stress by trying to change too many things at the same time. Choose one thing at a time.

-Water filtration via drinking water definitely and eventually shower. To me, #1 is water resources, as most regular water systems have high levels of chlorine, fluoride, pesticides, PFAS, other people's medications and other things that aren't good for your body and chemical/biological makeup. There are lots of choices and it's based on personal budgets and needs, so research is required. Personally, I appreciate Berkey water filtration systems for drinking water.

-Less crap food. More real food with less added sugar, 'natural flavors' which includes things like aspartame, unnatural food dyes(known to cause cancer among other things), antibiotics, pesticides. Choosing food can be SO challenging here in the US where they allow all this stuff to get on the shelves that is absolutely Not good for our health, but I believe starting with more fresh foods is the right first choice - your body knows what to do with the fresh, whole foods more than it does with super processed foods.

-Less harmful cleaning & body products. Choosing more plant-based with less harsh chemicals is great. Think cleaning products, laundry detergents, bathroom sprays, toothpaste, body soaps, makeup, hair products. Again, one thing at a time. No need to overwhelm yourself.

-More stretching - unwind the tension from the muscles through more stretching. I also find laying on a foam roller, tennis, lacrosse or softball helpful to release points of tension (deep breathing helps with this process).

-More Nature & Sunshine. Nature helps us heal and recalibrate. Lots of science on that out there.

-Less screen time as the EMFs and blue light can be harmful to our energy, our health and our sleep patterns (as I type this at 11pm after 8+ hours on my gadgets today).

-Create a zen space. A space where you can just close your eyes, sit, breathe, observe and be. Instead of gadgets in this space, maybe you read, write, meditate, self-reflect. You may be more apt to rest if you have a comfy, supportive space that's ready for you.

Cliff Notes
For those that need the quick insights

Mental health is considered to include ones emotional and psychological state which can affect ones choices, behaviors and relations with the world.

More and more we are realizing that the physical world has an absolute affect on our mental health and vice versa - psychophysiology.

Some studies have proven that some imbalances in the psyche can create such things as asthma, high blood pressure, heart conditions, eating disorders, depression, pain, inflammation, ulcers, rheumatoid arthritis, seizures and more.

Compacting stress, one of the major health concerns across the planet, has been proven to be part of the cause of many of these conditions. Whether it be physical stress, emotional stress or mental stress, stress strains and contracts the body and mind which manifests into more problems.

According to the author of The Relaxation Response, the biggest solution to improving our mental and physical health is slowing down and resting our body, mind and nervous system.

Rest and Relaxation via quiet time, meditation, mindfulness, deep breathing and practices like yoga nidra have been found to bring profound rest to the nervous system and resolve many imbalances in the psyche and physical body.

My personal healing journey (read more about it above) has gifted me the skill set to offer these types of restful, self-healing opportunities for you (both free and paid options). Beyond myself, there are endless options for classes, retreats and skill-building via in-person or virtually from so many other practitioners to help you incorporate more rest into your daily life.

There are other ways you can eliminate stressors from your home and body, such as water filtration, eating more fresh foods, detoxing your cabinets of harmful cleaning and body products, more nature, less screen time and more.

Stress Relief is the new self-empowerment tool that will support each of us in thriving - mentally and physically - in the days to come. May you discover the ways that support you best.

Happy Resting.

(See links, more options and explanations in the full article above.)