The Problem with our Natural Fight, Flight, or Freeze REsponse
Hendrickson MethodⓇ (HM) is more effective than conventional therapies when it comes to releasing pain because it speaks the same language as your body!
Our nervous systems are hardwired to protect us in response to any stress, surprise or pain. Predictable muscles tighten to protect us and provide an age-old instinctive, immediate response that strongly resembles any hurt animal. We contract and pull ourselves into a ball, protecting our vital organs.
This innate response protects our front line so that we're ready to run or fight. In reality, those aren’t our only options. Sure, we can fight or flee, but we also have the more practical modern-day option to freeze.
All of these natural responses cause us to become small and crouch - ready to spring into a run or hide and hardly visibly breathe. After all, we can barely breathe when our shoulders are sunk and we are slouched into a ball.
The problem is, this becomes a habitual reaction to stress. Even with no immediate danger, we are protecting ourselves from a hidden predator.
We all know that feeling, when we suddenly realize we’ve been clenching our jaw or pulling our shoulders up to our ears for no apparent reason. We may not literally be running but all that pent up energy has to go somewhere. Unless we consciously shake things off or find healthy ways to release tension, we're all walking around like ticking time bombs.
This becomes the all too familiar stiff, achy, tired body. Being unable to breathe properly, we feel tired and sluggish. Very predictable muscles hold on for dear life and become fatigued. Tight muscles aren’t going to release themselves easily, and the more they contract, their opposing muscles will also be pulled out of balance.
This creates an abnormal force across the joint. You’ll start to feel that things don't move comfortably and overtime that translates into problems with the soft tissue inside the joint.
What I love about this work is that as we engage the specific muscle through manual therapy, vital circulation is restored to muscle cells. The wisdom of the body will deliver everything the tissues need to heal, given half a chance.
In a rehabilitated shoulder or hip, for example, oxygen and nutrients can once again flood the joint as muscles release. After holding on so tightly, your body quickly restores equilibrium which releases a whole cocktail of happy endorphins. Nature knows best, but sometimes we just need a reboot!
Reset your fight, flight, or Freeze response with a quick mindfulness break!
choose a cue to remind you to relax - when you stop at a red light, or are in line at a supermarket checkout, or even set an hourly alarm to remind you
relax your jaw, tongue, shoulders and forehead
adjust your posture so your shoulders are above your hips, imagine a string from the crown of your head lengthening your spine
take a deep breath. Start by filling your belly, mid-chest, and finally your whole chest expands with fresh, cleansing oxygen
exhale fully, drawing belly button to spine
take 3 or 4 full rounds of this soothing breath