How do you manage stress?
“Do you have any contact with your body?” A healer asked me this many years ago, and I was shocked. I had been exercising since I was 18. Of course I had contact with my body. Or so I thought. It took me time to understand what he meant. Listening to the body is not the same as pushing it. It is not the same as using it constantly to forget, or to avoid hearing what it is trying to tell me.
That question changed how I meet my body and when I feel the stress.
Today, it’s a dance. Movement in form of walking, breathwork, creativity and voice, each one feeding the others.
Kundalini Kriya
This is why I love Kundalini Kriya yoga so much, and why I trained and got certified in it. A kriya is a set sequence of movements, breath, sound and focus, done together in a specific order to create a specific effect in body and mind. Conscious breathing, synced with the movements. A mantra I hold quietly inside. My focus resting on my third eye, or wherever the kriya guides it. Afterwards, something happens. It all comes together, and my mind goes completely still.
Wondering what I mean? Try 👉 Shoulder Shrugs, a short breath and shoulder practice
Creativity
When I create, something else takes over. I am fully present. I become a kind of channel for whatever wants to come through.
Want to feel what I mean? Read my poem 👉 Just Write
Dance
Dancing is an essential part of me. My way of letting go fully and wholly. I trained in dance and movement therapy, yet I don’t dance to perform. Sometimes it’s one song, a few minutes, nothing planned. I let my body move the way it wants to, and the stress moves out with it.
I’ve noticed my body has its own way of moving, both when I walk and when I dance. So sometimes I go in on purpose to move differently, and explore how else it can be done. Even when it feels strange in my body.
See 👉 how playful exploring with dance can be
Voice
Chanting and singing are my way of exploring. I notice where the sound vibrates in my body, and where it doesn’t. I will never be a singer, but that’s not the point. My voice is vibration. It is also expression, the way I bring myself out into the world.
What do I mean? Comfortable using your voice? 👉 Try humming your own healing song
The forest
Some days, I simply walk in the forest and turn it into a walking meditation. I look at the small details. I photograph them, or I just stay aware. Each time my thoughts pull me away, the details bring me back.
Ready to slow down? 👉 Take a walking meditation with me
And sometimes, the walk gets much longer. I have walked three Caminos, and wrote about my 1,000 km walk in my book, Some patterns can’t be thought through. Only walked through.
Link to my book; 👉 “The Silver Route: Via de la Plata”
Being a human is work in progress
Being human is a work in progress. One day we feel in place and in harmony. The next day, we are not there at all. In my experience, the cycles of the moon play a part too. We all have our ups and downs. We are so complicated beings, no?
So how do we find balance when stress hits?
It lives in the nervous system and throws us into fight or flight. Yet the nervous system has another side: the parasympathetic, the side of rest. Calming the body and inviting in that rest is my key.
For me, that means kriya, dancing, chanting and touch. Sometimes it means a slow walk among the trees. There are many paths.
On my most tense days, I massage my feet, my neck or my arms, to feel where I am.
What do I mean? 👉 Your body is a map of your stress
This is also what I offer in my holistic movement guidance sessions. If you’d like to explore what yours is telling you, book a free 15-minute call.
What is your way of dealing with stress? I would love to hear it, because your body is already speaking to you.
I am Parisa Radpey, the writer of these pages and founder of Dhyana Donya Movement & Health. You can read more about me here my background.
How do I work with people? Read Free guide
I would love to understand the people I am creating this work for a little better. If you have a few minutes, take my short survey here — it truly helps me understand the needs of real people and what they face on their journey, so I can shape my work around what I hear, rather than simply assuming what might be needed.
You can also find me across social platforms, or let my Spotify playlist move what words can’t. And if you want more, I also write for Wise and Shine Zine, and my latest blog post is called Listening to the Heart: The Story Behind Lau Suna.