5 Tension & Stress Remedies

COVID-19 + Stress = Tension

We are living in unprecedented times, never has our generations lived through a pandemic, a faltering economy, or the kind of stress many of us are facing on a day-to-day basis. It’s so easy to just push through all of it and cope, till your body starts hurting and you realize you are holding a lot of tension. Each of us tends to store tension in our bodies in different ways and different places. It’s learning where we store stress or tension and how it manifests in our own bodies that holds the key to releasing tension from our bodies.

Where Do You Hold Tension?

Each of has a different area where we hold tension or stress. Holding onto to stress that creates tension in our bodies can have effects on your body, mind, spirit, and ultimately the quality of your life. There are basically five areas that most people hold their tension; jaw, neck and face, shoulders, stomach, back, hips including your pelvic area and sciatica. We all have the ability to become aware of how we react to stress, we can then take steps to eliminate stress or tension where it is stored in our bodies.

When we hold tension in our bodies we are blocking the energy flow of our body or in Chinese medicine the Chi of our body. Stuck energy can create disease that first shows up as TMJ, or headaches and migraines, stomach and digestion problems, back aches, sore hips, or a sciatic nerve that makes it tough to walk. Stored tension in our bodies is held in our joints and tissues, especially stress and emotions from the past that we haven’t dealt with yet. Letting go and being present in the moment is a vital key to releasing tension in your bodies.

Do You Hold Tension in Your Jaw or Neck?

Do you wake up in the morning with your jaw or teeth hurting? Your reaction to stress could be that you grind or clench your teeth at night. When we grind our teeth or clench our teeth it then tightens our neck and in extreme cases can be harmful to your teeth and cause you migraines, frown lines in your forehead and tighten neck muscles. Mouth guards can help with the teeth grinding, but that only helps the symptom that shows up and doesn’t remedy the cause. You need to figure out what is setting your teeth on edge, what do you have a tough time saying to yourself or others. Do you speak your truth or do you swallow it to keep the peace?

Once you understand what triggers your teeth clenching or grinding you can then do some simple exercises to remedy jaw and and neck pain. Humming is a great way to release tension in the mouth region and self massage of the jaw and TMJ point can also help release tension. Deep breathing is also good to release tension or stress in the jaw area; done from the diaphragm with measured breaths it can help you release tension.

Do You Hold Tension In Your Shoulders?

Many people when life gets stressful and hectic find that physical tension and emotions are stored in the shoulders. Do you feel you have the weight of the world on your shoulders? Are you always saying “yes” to requests. Do you have a tough time with boundaries? Are you an over-doer? You find if you hold tension in your shoulders that your shoulders start rounding forward or lifting towards your ears, your head starts jutting forward and you can develop a compressed and rounded posture. It doesn’t help that many of us sit at computers much of the day, many times not at the right height for our bodies or that we have exorbitant demands on our time.

If you hold your tension in your shoulders, shoulder rolls are a great way to release tension. Also making sure your computer is at a level that works for you, that you take breaks at least every 30 minutes to move around will help you not store energy in your shoulders. Also proper back support, wrist support for your computer, and a possible back brace can help you retrain yourself from hunching over and curving your back when working. Alternative nasal breathing can also help alleviate tension in the shoulders, as does a good massage, or using roller balls in your upper back area.

Do You Hold Tension In Your Stomach?

Many people store their tension in their stomachs. Our stomachs are sensitive, smart and powerful. Do you shy away from your personal power? Are you afraid of change? Do you tend to be a worrier and get into “what if scenarios”? Do you tend to gobble food, rather than savor your food? Do you tend to do marathon projects and forget to eat or snack all day when making deadlines?

Many of these behaviors will have energy getting stuck in your stomach or diaphragm area. Healthy eating, probiotics can do wonders, but if you notice that you hold your tension in your stomach area, it’s best to be in touch with what is taking your power away. Better yet, who or what are you giving your power to? Once you get to the root of why you hold tension in your stomach yoga is one of the better ways to work tension our of our belly area. Deep belly breathing is also a good technique for releasing stress for our stomach.

Do You Hold Stress In Your Back?

Do you find after a long day that your back is where your pain resides? Do you feel that everything depends on you? Do you have a hard time delegating? Do you find it difficult to find competent people as employees? Would you describe yourself as rigid or a perfectionist, maybe your own worst critic? Do you have a committee in your head that is always giving you their two cents worth? So many people with sore backs are also over-achievers.

Try to let go of over-planning, stay in present moment and enjoy the small things each day. Learn the why behind storing tension in your back and try doing one thing different for a week to see if it can change the dynamic in how you drive yourself. Back stretching exercises can help stretch the back, as does yoga, or using a foam roller or roller hoop under your back to help release tension.

Do You Hold Tension In Your Lower Back or Hips?

Holding stress in your lower back, hips or sciatica area can be so painful. Holding stress in these areas can cause lower back pain, tight hips, and twinges in your tailbone area. Your lower back is usually associated with survival issues; including home, work, money, and safety. Our root chakra is what connects to our basic needs being met, our sense of security, physical freedom, and capability. Many people carry tension from years gone by, even their childhood in their lower back and hip area. Be kind with yourself and breath, try doing a whole body relaxation meditations where you tense and then release the muscles starting with your toes and working up your body. In breathing slowly and doing this progressive relaxation technique you will come to understand personally where you hold tension.

Awareness is the first step in understanding where you hold stress. Then realizing what your patterns are that are short term fixes for coping with stress that haven’t worked well for you is second. Third is trying to change just one thing for 21 days as to how you approach stress in your life. Fourth is coming up with stress reduction techniques that work for your personally, that help you release tension and empower you. We wish you good health and healthier ways of dealing with stress.