Survival Vs Creation: 5 Stress-busters to Nurture Your Creativity

Survival Vs Creation

Love You Strong celebrates creators. We are here because we have a drive to put something out into the world that wasn’t there before. It’s in our DNA. But how does the long-term stress of a pandemic affect our creativity? 

Our physical body is wired to deal with short term stress. We perceive danger, and our fight-or-flight response gets activated to prepare us to deal with the danger. This response chemically alters the body and mobilizes enormous amounts of energy. When the danger passes, we are meant to return to an internally balanced state – like the deer that runs from a predator and  when it escapes, returns to peacefully grazing. The difference between us and the deer is that humans have the ability to re-experience and pre-experience stressful situations, and we can turn on the stress response by thought alone. That’s right, we can create fight-or-flight chemicals in our body just by thinking about it. Our body literally does not know the difference between thinking about the threat and the actual threat. 

How does this affect your ability to create? The first three energy centers (or chakras) are our survival centers. When we are living in stress, our energy is diverted to these three centers. This means that there is less energy available for our upper three energy centers, which are our creative centers. Think about it. When your body’s energy is being used for survival – to deal with a threat – this is not the time to create. It’s the time to run, fight, or hide. Energy is literally being stolen from our creative centers.

This pandemic has been going on for a long time. We’re all tired of it. We’re all feeling the stress of not being able to do the things we usually do and to see the people we usually see. The things that give life its spice. We’re concerned about family, work, money, school, and our health. To top it off, this virus is an unseen, ongoing threat, and that means that our alarm system is in constant vigilance. We are not meant to operate like this long term.

Here are some quick stress-reducing techniques to help you reset your nervous system and energize your creative centers:

The Triple Warmer Smoothie

This is a technique from Donna Eden. I mentioned in my last post how much I love Donna. Triple warmer is a lively name for a meridian in the body that instigates the flight-or-fight response. It networks information to to all the other meridians and the organs they serve. Yep, it’s important. It’s basically your body’s militia. The constant “danger” messages we are getting on a daily basis are keeping triple warmer activated 24/7. Here’s a quick way to calm it down whenever you feel overwhelmed. 

Breathe in through your nose and place your fingers on your temples. Breathe out through your mouth. On the next inhale, slowly slide your fingers on your scalp above your ears while maintaining some pressure. On the exhale, firmly slide your fingers on your scalp down and around your ears with pressure. Then, press them down the sides of your neck, and hang them on your shoulders. Inhale and push your fingers into your shoulders. When you feel ready, exhale and drag them over the top of your shoulders and rest them over your heart. Rest here and breathe. Repeat.

Neurovascular Hold

When your body is in stress, it drains blood from your forebrain to be used elsewhere. It makes it hard to think straight and easier to “lose it.” This hold will help you reset your nervous system and bring blood back into the forebrain. Often, when we are stressed, our hands naturally seem to go to these points, leading to their other name, the “Oh my God” points.

Lightly place your fingertips over the top of your head, resting the palms of your hands over your forehead. You can rest your elbows on a table for support and relax into the hold. Put your thumbs on your temples and breathe deeply. Stay in this position for a few minutes until you feel a sense of calm and the ability to think more clearly. This is also nice to do for someone else (or have them do it for you). You can stand behind them while they sit in a chair and hold the points for them while they breathe deeply. Another Donna Eden technique.

Bringing Down the Flame

Some people call this one “Expelling the Venom.” Take your pick. Good for discharging anger and stress. Bend over and act as if you are pulling up weeds from the ground. Then inhale deeply and come to standing, swinging your arms out and above your head and make fists. Then open your hands, palms down, and with a loud “Shhhhhhhhhhh” (or whatever magic word or sound feels right) exhale and bring your hands down quickly as if forcefully throwing something into the ground. Repeat until you feel the anger dissipate. You can do the last throw down in slow motion. Trust me, it works. Again, from Donna. 

One Minute Meditation

Yes, one minute. You have time. So easy to do this one anytime during the day that you need it. We are like an engine that runs all day and can overheat if we don’t take a moment to let off a little steam. Simply stop what you are doing. Take 20 seconds to relax and connect with your body, 20 seconds to focus on your breath, and 20 seconds to scan your body to see where you might still be holding tension. That’s it. Do this a few times throughout the day. 

Heart-Focused Breathing

This is from the HeartMath Institute. They have been doing some amazing research on heart intelligence and its connection to well-being for many years. There is a growing realization of the importance of heart-brain coherence and its effect on our internal and creative states. The heart has a larger electrical field than the brain that can extend up to three meters around the body. Powerful stuff. 

Sit comfortably and close your eyes. Inhale slowly for 5 seconds, and exhale slowly for 5 seconds, focusing on the breath. After a few breaths, bring your focus to your heart. It may help to place your hands over your heart. Imagine your breath flowing in and out of your heart center. As you do this, bring a favorite memory to mind. Connect with the feeling of that memory and any sights or sounds associated with it. Enter the experience of it as fully as you can. Continue to breathe in and out of your heart center as you do this. When you feel ready, slowly open your eyes.

Donna Eden’s official You Tube channel, Donna Eden Energy Medicine, has over 200 videos of her and her daughters demonstrating her techniques. A new “Energy Minute” video is posted every Wednesday. If you are interested in learning how you can change stress response patterns and move into a more creative state, I highly recommend Dr. Joe Dispenza’s groundbreaking book Breaking the Habit of Being Yourself. Also, any of these techniques can give children powerful tools for dealing with stress and help them to cultivate emotional regulation.

Self-care is so important at a time like this. Give some of these techniques a try. Move your energy from your survival to your creative centers. You’ll probably feel better and maybe even free up some energy for your next creative endeavor. I’d love to hear about your experiences or any questions you have in the comments. Happy stress-busting!