Let your belly soften
It’s good for you and your nervous system
So many times, in modern Western culture, flat-bellied, thin people (for those of us who identify as female) is considered beautiful or desirable. How many times have you walked around with your belly “sucked in” just so it would look flat and because we’ve been told that flat bellies are beautiful?
I remember as a teenager, I kept my stomach muscles tightened a lot! I have always had a “pooch,” a bit of roundness in my lower abdomen. I can’t tell you the negative self-talk I used to have especially when “Heroin chic” was the coveted look in the early 90’s! And, don’t even get me started on low-rise jeans! Even now, as I have just gone through menopause, I am still working through my own personal struggles related to aging and the loss of my “youthful” appearance. I tend to get caught up in numbers and goals which can be an attachment to a particular outcome. I am going to journal and meditate about this as I need to practice Aparigraha, one of the Eight Limbs of Yoga. It is a moral guideline meaning non-attachment. It can be a guide toward letting go of the outcome. I think, for me, for a long time, I have focused on being a certain weight, wearing a certain size, and looking a certain way. Aparigraha is a practice of acknowledging that we can’t control every aspect of our lives. Aparigraha allows us to see that we are more than or accomplishments and that we are more than our personal possessions.
We deserve to feel good in our own bodies without having society put labels on who gets to be considered desirable. Is that how we determine our worth, by how desirable society sees us? You and I are worthy just the way we are. We are beautiful in all ways.
Getting back to keeping our bellies drawn in or sucked in all the time… What does keeping your belly muscles tensed and tightened do for your nervous system? By keeping these muscles constantly engaged, your sympathetic nervous system is activated. The sympathetic nervous system is responsible for our fight or flight response. Typically, when we have a heightened sense of fear or stress, we curl up. We crouch down, curl into the fetal position, and get ready to either fight or to flee. And, sometimes we freeze, but that is more of a parasympathetic response. In the case of freezing, the parasympathetic nervous system is trying to shut down your system. This is also when we might dissociate from the stressful situation.
If we stay in a heightened sympathetic state for long periods of time, we can go into sympathetic overload where our bodies stay in a prolonged stress mode with excessive cortisol production even after immediate danger or the immediate threat of danger has passed. This overload can lead to anxiety, exhaustion, digestive issues and difficulty sleeping. It also raises our heart rate.
I invite you to notice where you hold tension in your own body. Do you tend to keep your abdominal muscles drawn in, “sucked in,” and tensed all of the time? If so, practice letting go. Let go of the ideals placed unfairly on you to “look” a certain way. Let go of what’s causing you to hold tension in your body. Try a body scan meditation to notice tension and release it. Let your body revel in its own beauty, and take up space. Let your belly relax, so that maybe your nervous system can relax, too. Talk to a mental health professional to help you work through any trauma that may also be causing this heightened tension in your body.
Some ideas you can try for getting out of sympathetic overload include:
grounding or Earthing. Connect with the Earth by touching the Earth with your bare feet or hands.
Dig in the dirt or walk barefooted. Sit with your feet in the sand.
You could also try an Epsom salt bath. Soak in a warm bath with 2-3 cups of Epsom salt and practice deep breathing. The magnesium in the Epsom salts can help your muscles to relax. And, the deep, diaphragmatic breathing helps calm the nervous system.
As your nervous system rests to a more relaxed state, you may sigh, yawn or get sleepy. Allow yourself to rest.
Resistance training has been shown to reduce sympathetic activity.
Use of weighted blankets/vests or wearing a book bag can help you reset your nervous system as well by giving you external proprioceptive input. Proprioception is your body’s awareness of the location and movement of all of the parts of your body. By using a weighted blanket or carrying a weighted backpack, deep pressure is provided to your body. This deep pressure has been shown to reduce cortisol production, lower your heart rate, and slow your breathing which are all things that increase your parasympathetic activation for rest.
I hope you try some of these techniques and notice how you feel!
Take good care,
Sharon