Trash the Stress
De-stress, or Distress? Each is the cause of the other, and as Danzae Pace has said,
“stress is the trash of modern life - we all generate it but if you don’t dispose of it properly,
it will pile up and overtake your life.”
In most societies, stress is a status marker because it proves that you are ‘action-oriented
and result-driven’ and those are key to ‘successful living.’ Unfortunately, we have filled
our ‘trash bags’ to overflow, and even success means very little if you are not around to
enjoy it!
So how do we dispose stress? By looking at the causes of stress, you’d say…easier said
than done. Most of the stress we bring upon ourselves is due to bad habits and a bad
attitude. The desire for things to be other than they are, defines this malady.
One tried and tested method is to keep a ‘desire-journal’. Every day or every other day,
just write a sentence or two about your particular desire in that moment. It may be as
innocuous as ‘I wish I could eat a slice of pumpkin pie just now’ to a wild desire - ‘I want
that red Porsche in my garage by tomorrow!’ Often, by the time you finish writing the
sentence, it would have worked itself out of your system and you may even laugh at the
very thought.
But sometimes, it may hang on in your mind all day and night. That is when it is getting
to be serious, and we now move to the next level/approach. This is the moment to ask
yourself, ‘Which part of me wants to fulfill this desire? Is it an emotional need, a mental
idea, a physical longing….? What purpose does it serve by fulfillment? Am I a better,
more desirable, more successful person then? Am I defined by my possessions?’
A self check-in does wonders in diminishing our unnecessary desires. It’s also a great way
in learning self-observation skills and mindfulness. Keeping a check on desires through
journaling is one way to de-stress.
The second method is to get the stressful energy out of one’s system through regular
yoga practice, with breathing exercises. Even if one cannot do a regular practice daily,
as long as one is consistent, yoga with breath practice helps in overcoming stress. Some
yoga asanas are Sun Salutations, followed by other Hatha yoga asanas, or deep relaxation
poses, restorative yoga, shavasana, nadi-shodhanam, and pranayama. Chanting and/
or meditation that follow a good yoga workout are equally beneficiary. It must be
remembered that though yoga (specially in the west) is seen as a physical benefit, it is
much more than the obvious. Patanjali begins his famous sutras by stating, ‘Yoga is the
stilling of the modifications of the mind’…and the mind is the storehouse of stress, just
as the body suffers its ravages. Learning to ‘still’ the mind and prepare mind and body for
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