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Take the heel of your palm and press firmly down on the top of your head around |
your hairline or on any patch of scalp that feels sore |
Move your hand in a circular motion while pressing very firmly You should feel |
like you are stretching the skin away from its attachments to the underlying bone |
Try to move your hand in wide circles attempting to stretch the scalp as far as it |
will go in each direction |
Take about one seconds time to complete a full circle |
Repeat this all over the scalp focusing on the sorest areas for a total of five |
minutes Also use other forms of massage including compression and percussion |
When started five pounds of pressure from a single knuckle at the top of my head |
provoked unbearable discomfort The sheer amount of pain suggested to me that the scalp is |
another anchor for trauma So felt compelled to try to get the pain out Within fiveminute |
sessions of the exercise above it went from puffy and dimpled with inflammation to smooth |
and sleek Aside from the scalp there are other areas without underlying muscle that can be |
affected by poor circulation |
often use headphones to listen to audiobooks when take walks After a few years of this |
my ears hurt every time took off my headphones They were so painful one day that figured |
would have to stop wearing them Frustrated with this cupped my palms over my ears and |
bent them forward firmly This stung so spent seconds bending them in different |
PROGRAM PEACE Self Care Exercises to Reprogram Your Mind and Body |
directions It ached but it also felt good When wore headphones the next day it was much |
less painful Three more sessions like this and the pain was gone completely |
With age and uneven use our tissues develop a condition called hypoperfusion This is also |
known as diminished blood flow and is the reason my ears hurt Reduced perfusion of blood |
can cause pain all around the body As you know pain exacerbates stress and drives the |
production of cortisol so we should be finding these areas and massaging them |
Hypoperfusion develops when tissues and organs receive reduced circulation due to |
diminishment in the number of small blood vessels Pinching and bending my ears for less than |
five minutes overall provided the mechanical deformation of the tissues necessary to stimulate |
the creation of new small blood vessels angiogenesis All our hypoperfused tissues including |
dormant muscles need this kind of tender loving care If it aches and itches target it further |
want to encourage you to use compression percussion and vibration to address |
hypoperfusion anywhere you can find it because it will scale down your stress |
Drug Use Leads to Frailty and Chronic Distress |
In my early twenties had between one and five alcoholic drinks on weekends a cigarette every |
Saturday night and a cup of coffee most weekdays wanted to stop but couldnt help myself |
When was taking them the drugs created the illusion of helping manage my stress Taking |
them leads to relief because they mitigate distressed breathing for a few minutes but in the |
long term they actually contribute to it It took me years to realize that even these uncontrolled |
substances lead to compulsive use relapse after abstinence and physical dependence |
Both nicotine and alcohol create a sense of euphoria that lasts a few minutes However |
the accompanying withdrawal from even a single use can lead to minor dysphoria that lasts |
days Whether you are aware of it or not this discomfort affects you emotionally and increases |
your bracing shallow breathing and emotional distress never noticed the withdrawal |
symptoms in my twenties but after developing sensitivity to my inner states discussed in |
depth in the next chapter they became very apparent Alcohol withdrawal symptoms include |
irritability fatigue shaking sweating nausea headache and difficulty concentrating |
But these symptoms dont just affect alcoholics who go cold turkey They affect everyone who |
uses alcohol in a dosedependent manner The symptoms of smoking cessation can be worse |
Withdrawal from any drug robs a user of diaphragmatic mobility and believe the resulting |
shallow breathing is a primary mechanism in addiction |
When you use psychoactive drugs every week you experience fiendish cravings realized |
that two shots of liquor made me feel fearless for thirty minutes and a cigarette extinguished |
my anxiety for an hour but for the next few days the subtle pain from withdrawal made me |
slightly more introverted and submissive Situations that would consider to be minor hassles |
before became calamities that would make me think My God Ive got to have a drink When |
you feel you need a cigarette is precisely when you shouldnt smoke Instead of masking the |
pain work through it by spending some time with your breath metronome |
Intense social interactions that go on too long create loads of tension Drugs amplify this |
This is why after mixing the two otherwise known as partying you wake up feeling achy and |
nauseous with a headache and stiff breathing It is also why rock stars and child actors often |
burn out so fast You cannot consume caffeine alcohol tobacco or marijuana and hope to |
Chapter The Amygdala Cortisol and Chronic Stress |
keep your latent trigger points from flaring up in social situations Instead intoxication makes |
you intensify your social displays without awareness of the increase in bracing |
When people use drugs recreationally it makes them feel immune to social stress for a |
short time This inevitably leads them to go too hard on their bodies It proceeds like this |
as you work the room you strain your trigger points and chakras to the limit until you reach |
the point of needing another drink or cigarette Using dulls the discomfort and allows you to |
continue to push your chakras further deranging and abusing them Soon you are in so much |
discomfort that youre turning to a third drink a fourth drink or possibly even harder drugs |
Imagine that you badly strained your neck Friday afternoon Would you go to a party that |
night drink and do drugs If you did do you think it would make your neck better or worse |
Would you go to the party if you had a fever What if you were years old would you do it |
then offer these hypotheticals to help the reader see that social drug use is characterized by |
postural neglect zero muscle refreshing shallow breathing and mounting tension recently |
heard a yearold friend who stayed up all night drinking and partying say something the next |
morning that stuck with me As she practically limped to her car she said My entire body feels |
bruised Episodes like this contribute immensely to frailty and muscle dormancy |
Most recreational drugs legal and illegal increase dopamine making you feel eager and |
rewarded Thus drug use pits two different sections of the brain against each other One finds |
the drug stimulating and exhilarating while the other finds it depleting and impoverishing As |
mammals we are designed to choose whatever increases our dopamine This is why for most |
people the fleeting reward of drug use outweighs the longterm costs Drug use tricks the |
brains pleasure centers into being delighted at the cost of tightening the vices around our |
chakras In the long run it also saps our dopamine Within a couple of hours the dopamine dips |
below default and the person feels understimulated and restless compelling them to want to |
use the drug again Moreover studies show that longterm drug use can permanently lower |
dopamine and serotonin levels |
thought would always crave cigarettes and alcohol but diaphragmatic retraining |
abolished my urges In fact studies have shown that paced breathing can help addicts maintain |
sobriety Cigarettes and alcohol brought so much relief to me before but no longer did once |
started breathing diaphragmatically believe that this is simply because there is little to relieve |
now Instead cigarettes generally just make my body feel weak while alcohol makes me feel |
slow and tired |
There is a growing community of people who believe they can use drugs to achieve |
spiritual entheogenic growth Sadly almost all these people are oblivious to their shallow |
breathing while doing drugs For this reason most heavy trips are bad trips even if the person |
does not realize it believe that if you want to do drugs you should only do them while paced |
breathing Otherwise they will inevitably increase the extent of bracing going on under your |
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