GrowingFROM STRESS TO

Strength

Natalie Fee looks at how day-to-day stresses can be used as a way to increase your health and happiness, resulting in a peaceful and balanced atmosphere in the home.

Iremember reading a poem over at a friends house when I was a little girl. It was framed and hung in their downstairs loo. I don’t remember it’s name, but it was about peace and happiness. Not being overly concerned with either of those things aged eight, I didn’t think about it much. But it obviously made an impression on me as I remember it often. Over the years it’s meaning goes deeper, as I slowly start to realise its power in my day to day life. It said something along the lines of; if you create harmony in yourself, you create harmony in the home. If you create harmony in the home, you create harmony in your street. If you create harmony in your street you create harmony in your town... and so on. Thinking back to the family who had the poem hanging in the downstairs loo, they did have a harmonious home. It was a madhouse, three girls and their mad Welsh parents - but there was a real sense of harmony. And they seemed to spread it wherever they went. Was it all down to the poem? Probably not. But definitely something to do with it. I was about 16 when I became interested in matters of the Spirit, and also in the environment. Since then I’ve been through various life-styles - the business executive turned hippy, the eco-warrior, the workshop junkie, the aspiring yogini and motherhood. My energy changes as I grow, so naturally some things get left behind, and some things stay on.. motherhood obviously being one that endures! But my focus has shifted a lot in the past few years, away from feeling frustrated about the state of the planet, to a place of

real change and awareness. The more I became aware of my energy and how my energy affects others, the more I realised that the biggest form of pollution in my life was me. My reactions, my stress - and how these things cause a negative chain of events around me (something annoys me, I blame someone for it, they feel bad etc). So I remember Gandhi’s famous quote - “Be the change you want to see in the world”. If I wanted a greener planet, I’d have to start going green on the inside first - and taking responsibility for my stress. Well, at the same time as recycling and eating organic, of course! I want my child to grow up in a harmonious home, and take that experience out into the world. To do that, I have to create harmony in me. And what’s stopping me doing that? Stress. When we think of stress, most of us think of being stressed at work, or being stressed out by someone we know. Stress comes up in all kinds of situations and, for many of us, fairly frequently throughout the day. I’m not going to go into the physical effects of stress, as there’s been plenty written on that subject. What gets less attention is the effect it has on your energy, and how that in turn effects the energy of those around you. Basically, anytime you feel out of balance - for example, when you are frightened, angry, hurt or confused - you’re under some kind of stress. And when you feel stressed about something, it’s simply a sign that one or more of your chakras is lacking in a certain energy. Chakras are recognised in Eastern medicine as energy centres within and around our bodies. If you’re

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paranoid about your child falling over and hurting themselves you’re lacking energy at your third chakra, the solar plexus, resulting in fear. If you can’t stop questioning your partner over where they’ve been and who they’ve been with you’re lacking energy at your fourth chakra, the heart, resulting in jealousy. Every form of stress corresponds to a lack of energy within ourselves. It’s a pretty radical way of seeing things, as suddenly no-one else is responsible for how we feel. Sure, someone can be acting in a negative way towards us, but does that mean we have to get angry or feel hurt? No. If your energy is strong you won’t feel stressed by their actions. If you feel stressed then they’ve done you a favour by showing you a part of you that needs to become
stronger. Which chakra it’s stemming from, although fascinating, isn’t of any particular importance. What is important is what you can do about it. For example, the other day I was feeling extremely low. It doesn’t happen to me that often, but there were a number of ‘good reasons’ for my feeling bad (we get very good at finding a reason for feeling bad!). I’d been sick for ten days, my period was due, and my partner had just told me that the romantic weekend away without the kids wasn’t happening. Great. I felt uncontrollably emotional. But I knew in that moment that I had a choice. Either I could wallow in self-pity, make my partner feel bad for not taking me away (ignoring the reality that we just couldn’t afford it right now) or I could do something to change my

“What gets less attention is the effect that stress has on your energy, and how that in turn effects the energy of those around you”

energy. I sat down to meditate and calm my breathing, bringing my attention to my breath, but I was too disturbed to concentrate, so I put my coat on and went for a “power walk”. This is a walking meditation which uses a mudra (hand position) to eliminate stress from the energy body. After power walking for about 25 minutes I was much calmer. My energy had changed. I still felt some stress over the situation, but I was able to see what I needed to do. Doing an energy practice doesn’t necessarily >

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Energy Awareness Exercise

Cultivating your energy means choosing to act differently, to not be taken over by your reactions. Here are some ways in which you can begin to take responsibility for how you feel - making it easier to keep your balance!

Shining Sun

The Shining Sun is a simple weave, or movement, that strengthens your energy body’s ability to let go of its weakening connections with other people. In other words, it helps you to free yourself from any negative influences on your life. The weave involves a circling, sweeping movement of your arms, coordinated with your breath. 1 Stand facing the direction of the sun with your feet one shoulderwidth apart, outer edges parallel. 2 Breathing in through your nose, raise your straight arms, with wrists crossed, up and forwards, fingers splayed, until they naturally uncross and open out wide above your head, with your back arching back as far as possible, without strain. Head looks up and back. 3 Breathing out through your mouth - bring your straight arms down and out sideways, shoulders pulling back, then down to the floor between your feet, keeping your legs straight, wrists crossing in front of your ankles until your palms touch the floor. 4 Repeat steps 1-3 twenty or thirty times each morning - and anytime you feel the need. 5 At the end, briefly touch your fingertips together in front of the lower half of your chest - like in a prayer position. Make the ‘high’ and ‘low’ positions as big a stretch as possible, but without strain. If you can’t touch your palms to the floor, just go as low as you can.

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