We don’t often think about how stress affects spirituality, but along with anxiety being in a disregulated nervous system state can affect your spirituality. Let’s talk about how spirituality and your nervous system are connected and why I’m a huge proponent of ways to relax, find some serenity in the middle of a hectic day (or week! or month!), and why that’s a part of the work I do here at Feathermane Soul.
To recap, I’m thinking of spirituality as being connected to something larger than yourself. Often this evokes a feeling of awe or feeling as if it transcends our human experiences. We could also use the word “numinous”, which is one often invoked in religious studies circles. If we look at the meaning, it is often used in a religious context because it can be invoking or feeling in the presence of divinity. The truth is, you can’t appreciate feeling closer to any deity, your higher self/better nature, or even in the presence of something larger than yourself if you’re in fight or flight mode. If you want to run away from the big predator, you can’t embrace and enjoy the majestic nature of it being right in front of you. You’re going to run or hide; you’re not going to meditate on its awe-inspiring qualities.
We don’t often encounter predatory non-human animals in our lives, but that ancient fight or flight response lives in our amygdala, the part of the brain that psychologists like to call the “lizard brain” because it’s very primitive and is where our fight or flight responses live. Having pet bearded dragons, I’m not too keen on that descriptor, so we’re going to call it what it is–the amygdala. This part of our brain isn’t processing experiences, finding words and ways to describe them. It points out threats and tells us how to react. If we’re living in our amygdala, our sympathetic (stress) nervous system is engaged, and we’re trying to get away from danger.
Nervous system regulation practices like exercise, enjoying time with loved ones, meditation, breathwork, mindfulness, even some mental health tools like reframing and positive self-talk, help bring us out of our amygdalas and into the rest of our brains. It engages the parasympathetic (rest and digest) nervous system, and it is here we can bask in the glory of a beautiful sunrise or a majestic vista, or even those tigers we see at the zoo. From the safety on the other side of the viewing window, you can put your hand up against their paw and think “wow, that’s a big paw” without worried that it’s going to swipe at you. You’re probably having fun, relaxed, and that sense of wonder, at least if you’re like me, carries through the entire trip through the zoo.
Spirituality, Stress, and Daily Life
Have you connected today? I mean really connected with yourself, with your community, with someone else or with nature? One of the things I’ve noticed is when the stresses of daily life pile up–financial concerns, job stress, health worries–we start to pull in like a turtle into its shell. It’s a protective measure, and an understandable one. It also means we don’t connect with others. We don’t spend time in the moment talking with a friend or standing for a few moments enjoying nature. We forget that there’s a world outside our concerns and we forget to connect with our spirituality.
Except, when we don’t connect with something other than what a lot of people would term our “ego”, or our immediate concerns, we forget that there are hopes and dreams out there. We forget to take time to enjoy nature or to breathe. We forget that we are actual embodied, complete BEINGS rather than doings. We’re too busy doing that we forget to be.
This is why I am a big proponent of regulating our nervous systems in a way that works best for us. It’s as individualized as we are. One person might find a calm moment sitting with a cat purring in their lap (as I’m doing writing this blog), and another may prefer to go to the park and play fetch with their dog or go for a jog. Someone else could find doing yoga relaxing; another might meditate. However we find time to be, to exist, to connect with our inner most self, the part of us that thrives on our hopes and dreams, the part that feels awe and wonder, it’s important that we do so.
Connecting with our spirituality reminds us that we have value and worth outside of what we produce. When we connect with our higher selves we can see that we are more than what capitalism wants us to produce. We see that not only are we embodied humans, but so are others. And this helps us remember our authentic selves. That is always a good thing.