The Stress Prescription: Turn Stress Into Strength

As a society, we are all too stressed. The majority of us spend our days rushing, dealing with one stressful event to another. But did you know that the most common type of stress is that which comes from our own thoughts? This talk with Elissa Epel will outline strategies you can use to not just manage your stress levels but actually change your relationship with stress.

Transcript

Hello,

I'm Alyssa Eppel.

I'm a professor at UCSF and a mind-body researcher.

I study how chronic stress can get under the skin to affect health,

And I've also been studying how we can reduce stress with mindfulness,

Meditation retreats,

And other science-based strategies.

I wrote the book The Stress Prescription,

Seven Days to More Joy and Ease,

Because we're all too stressed.

As a society,

The majority of us spend our days rushing.

We're dealing with stressful events in our days and our world,

But also the most common type of stress are our own thoughts.

This level of feeling stressed every day can lead to inflammation and accelerated cell aging.

Yoga,

Meditation,

And exercise are fantastic for stress,

But there's so much more than these.

The Stress Prescription summarizes some of the best strategies for changing our relationship with stress.

I'd love to tell you a few strategies in our short time together.

There are three types of strategies that I cover.

Change your mind,

Change your body,

Change the scene.

So change your mind or mindset helps us see beliefs and thoughts that can stress us out,

And those that can actually help us approach stress as a positive challenge.

Changing our body means creating intense short-term stress states or deeply relaxing low arousal states to get rid of stress and metabolize stress in our body.

This can include breathing techniques like slow breathing or vigorous intense breathing practices that can reset and freshen us.

Change the scene means notice the stressful cues around us like screens or reminders of work and take a break from those.

We're very sensitive to our work environment.

We're sensitive to stress cues and other things that stress us out at home in ways that we're not even aware of,

But we can make that work toward our well-being.

We know that,

For example,

City dwellers have larger stress responses than rural residents and that exposure to nature and calming pictures of nature has a calming effect on our brain responses.

We want to add safety signals,

Signs of nature,

Or sensory cues like aromatherapy.

This is especially helpful when we're doing a mind-body practice like yoga or meditation.

These can help us really let go,

Really release tension from our body,

Stored up stress.

Let me start by giving you a view of the range of different mind states that may help you identify at any moment what state you are in and where you want to shift to.

We focus on four states,

Red,

Yellow,

Green,

And blue mind states.

Red mind states are when we're very activated.

We're stressed out by something.

This stress response is helpful to us,

But it is energetically costly.

It uses a lot of energy or ATP.

So we want to recover quickly.

The book offers ways to work on engaging a positive stress response that moves us from the expensive threat response to a more positive challenge response,

Which is different biologically and can help us respond to the stress more effectively.

Yellow mind is when we're going about our day.

This is our typical baseline.

We're not necessarily dealing with any particular stressful event,

But we're not in a relaxed state.

And in fact,

We're far from it.

This is a state when we have low-grade stress arousal.

We may not even notice it because we're so used to it.

We may be taxed by a lot of information coming at us,

A lot of stimuli,

A lot of demands.

So we're carrying around stress that we may not even be aware of.

Green and blue mind states are ease states.

These are states when our body's stress arousal is turned off and we are in more of a relaxed state.

There are ways to consciously open our sensory gates that really allow us to enter these ease states more easily.

Green mind is true relaxation.

This often occurs when we're fully engaged in something pleasurable or relaxing.

This is about monotasking and not about multitasking.

So true relaxation probably does not occur while watching TV or having typical conversations.

Nature is a strong way to induce green mind states,

Especially when we lead ourselves through sensory immersion,

Allowing ourselves to pay attention to what we're hearing,

Seeing,

And smelling and feeling in our body.

There's something even better for our body than relaxation and that's restoration,

The restorative state of blue mind states.

This is when we're deeply relaxed.

We're not trying to control or do anything.

Our nervous system becomes more parasympathetically dominant.

Our breathing slows.

We can most easily enter blue mind states when we're doing mind-body practices or slowing our breath directly.

Blue mind states require a feeling of safety and then that gives our body signals that we are safe and it's time to restore.

It's time to do housekeeping in ourselves.

This is good even for aging,

Cleaning up junk,

Restoring our battery.

We probably spend most of our waking time in yellow mind states.

Above our baseline level of arousal.

So I'm going to focus here on how we can reduce the amount of time we spend wallowing in habitual low-grade stress.

Yellow mind.

Too much time in red and yellow mind is exhausting.

Part of carrying stress around with us is our need to control things and our discomfort with the inherent uncertainty of the future.

So ask yourself a few questions and see how much of the time you are in a yellow mind state.

How much time do you spend thinking about difficult situations?

Situations that are not necessarily even under your control.

How much do you feel like you're trying to control things and control the future?

How comfortable do you feel when you don't know what will happen tomorrow?

Can you feel relaxed?

And right now,

Check in with your body.

Are you holding tension?

Are your hands relaxed?

Are your brows relaxed?

From global events that we witness to the fragility of life around us,

We control very little.

Many things don't go as planned,

Especially these days.

We're living through a time of volatile uncertainty where there are dramatic sudden changes in our world.

We can't change that.

But when we can't tolerate uncertainty at all,

We suffer more from anxiety and depression.

So one of the biggest mental shifts we can make is to expect the unexpected.

That allows us to comfortably bear the stress of uncertainty.

It's an attitude that protects us.

It means we need to be humble in our expectations.

All plans are subject to reality.

Remember,

We control our mind.

We control now and maybe today.

And we can live in this present more fully.

We can't get rid of stressful events,

But we can live well with them.

I really like the Zen proverb,

Obstacles do not block the path.

They are the path.

I like to think of the ocean with its waves as a helpful metaphor as well.

Waves do not disrupt our swim in the ocean.

They are inherently part of the swim.

So how can we surf these waves?

How can we flow easily with the tide?

Guiding ourselves skillfully in this sea of life means embracing the unexpected,

Taking in experiences as they arise,

Tackling waves with a positive challenge mindset,

And controlling only what we can,

And staying afloat as much time as we can.

So we can loosen our grip on trying to control and predict things.

And this can help us be more present for our life and everyday joy that we may be missing out on noticing.

Mindful awareness is a foundation to help us understand how our mind works.

So we can recognize the uncertainty stress that we may be holding onto even right now.

A mindful check-in allows us to move from yellow mind to green mind.

We can identify and name what we're uncertain about,

Situations,

Feelings,

Thoughts,

And release them.

So let's do a short check-in.

I've called catch and release.

Uncertainty often shows up as embodied stress,

Which is when we turn stress and negative emotions into feelings,

Sensations,

And tension in our body.

We store them there.

So our physical sensations also shape how we feel our emotions.

By releasing tension in the body,

We can improve our emotional state.

So tune into your body.

You might want to close your eyes,

Ground yourself by taking three slow and easy breaths.

Inhaling long,

Softly,

Fully,

And exhaling even longer.

Notice any physical sensations you're feeling right now.

You can scan your body with a flashlight of your attention,

Starting at the top of your head and gradually moving down to your toes.

Notice where you're holding tension,

Neck,

Shoulders,

And breathe into it so you can release it.

If your hands are clenched,

Gently open them.

Now ask yourself,

As you think about the day ahead or the week ahead,

What's on your mind?

What are you feeling most uncertain about?

Worries or even just feelings of discomfort?

What expectations are you holding about how things will go?

Now that you've named a situation,

Something that you've been tense and holding,

Smile at this.

Breathe into it.

This is the unknown,

The mystery that will unfold with time,

The uncertainty stress that we can name and help dissolve.

You might view the future with curiosity and openness.

And finally,

Lean back.

Lean physically back in your chair.

When we're more reclined,

We're more receptive,

Relaxed,

And open to what's coming next.

Recline comfortably and match your mental stance to the ease of your body's posture.

Let experience unfold and come to you moment by moment,

Savoring the certainty of this moment.

Right now,

You are safe.

It's okay to relax.

Changing our mindset to tolerate and even embrace uncertainty,

To release control we never had,

Increases restoration,

Puts us in a green mind state when we can more easily feel the inner joy of life without the dark shadow of chronic stress.

I wish for you some agile surfing of the waves,

Big and small,

And more transitions in your day from red or yellow mind to green mind,

And more time at least weekly in blue mind states.

I know Insight Timer's deep restoration practices,

Such as Yoga Nidra,

Can help with this.

So lean back,

Expect the unexpected,

And at the same time be present and savor the certainty of right now.

Thank you for listening.

Reviews

This is really informative & helpful information. Thank you.

I needed this to help me actively handle stress and anxiety.

Thank you! This was very helpful with easy to follow guidance 🙏

So beautiful and calming. Your voice was amazing for this transmission of divine love and kindness. Thank you🩷✨✨✨🙏

Thank you so much for this meditation, I thought it was amazing & so accurate.
I hope our son finds it helpful, he is going through a very hard time right now. 🙏. Thanks for mentioning your book, I will look it up. Keep well ♥️

The concept of our thoughts being separate stressors of their own rather than a response to other (external) stressors was so helpful. I plan on spending time seeing how I can apply this understanding in my life to help my physical and mental health. Thank you. 🌻

Had a bad surgery experience, that they didn’t have the skills to complete. I needed this, to learn to get out of red, down to yellow, and the knowledge how to get to green and blue.

Thank you....you have a wonderful way of putting our thoughts and reactions into perspective.

Excellent information followed by a calming meditation.

Informative and enjoyable! I liked the content, pacing, and volume!
🙏

I really enjoyed this practice ❤️🙏

Thank you and have a beautiful day ☀️

Very helpful

What a powerful talk, and I loved the opportunity for reflection at the end. I feel like I have more tools to move towards trust and lower stress. Thank you for sharing your knowledge and wisdom, I have also ordered your book 🤍🌿

Brilliant

Simply brilliant, thank you 🙏

So true—an invaluable recipe for happiness. Thank you!

Love this 🙏🏻

This talk was incredibly helpful and I plan to use the information in my personal and professional life. Thank you.

Best new teacher I have heard in some time. Thank you. Wisdom, sound practices, well recorded and with a judicious touch of music.

Lovely and refreshing ..
Soul Restoration is my aim this shiny New Year.. Thanks 😊