The body has a built-in alarm system, which is called the “stress reaction” and it also has a corresponding “calming response.” This alarm system, known as the “fight-or-flight” mechanism, has ensured our evolutionary survival, but nowadays too often it is triggered repeatedly by everyday stresses rather than the life or death situations of our ancestors. However, mindfulness can help to switch off the stress reaction and to activate the calming response.
We all suffer from stress, so it is useful to have some understanding of what stress is and the role it plays in our lives. It is a complex subject and the following explanation has been greatly simplified, but there are plenty of books in which you can read about the stress response in more detail.
The human body is hot-wired for stress. The effectiveness of our stress reaction has ensured our survival and consequently our default setting is one of hyper vigilance. The “enemies” we face today may be different from those our hunter-gatherer ancestors encountered, but the way in which we process danger remains the same. In fact, the fight-or-flight mechanism is operated by the amygdala, one of the most primitive parts of our brain.
The brain is constantly processing information received through our senses. If something or someone is perceived as a threat, the body’s alarm system is activated instantly, preparing it to fight or flee by diverting all the body’s resources to deal with the emergency.
You may notice how your skin goes clammy in stressful moments. This is because blood is being pulled away from the body’s surface to support the heart and muscles, and to reduce blood loss in case of injury. You also feel butterflies in the stomach as the digestive system is shutting down, and your heart begins beating rapidly as it pumps faster. In addition, your pupils dilate so that you can see better; the scalp tightens and your hair seems to stand on end (your body hair does this, too) so that you can sense danger through vibrations; your mouth goes dry because fluid is being diverted from nonessential locations; and in some people, the throat goes into spasm.
Simultaneously, while the body is activated for action, the brain continues to gather information from the senses about the alleged threat, as well as from the higher centers of the brain, accessing memories and comparing the threat against any previous, similar experiences, including those we may have experienced second-hand. What the brain discovers determines whether it deactivates or maintains the alert. If we respond negatively to what we are experiencing, the brain will determine that something bad is happening to us and keep the body on alert. Therefore, although our thoughts and our memories have an important role to play in safeguarding us from danger, they can also work against us and perpetuate an unfounded threat.
When the fight-or-flight mechanism is repeatedly and needlessly activated through everyday stress, the consequences can be serious and our long-term body systems can become vulnerable to disease. The constant increase in blood pressure heightens our risk of heart disease; the stress hormones affect insulin activity and thereby increase the risk of diabetes; our immune system can be compromised; and our memory and our thought processes are disrupted, so we operate less efficiently. The presence of the stress hormone cortisol can cause long-term damage by overactivating the amygdala, thereby promoting fear and negativity. It also reduces neural branching and inhibits the growth of new neurons, so we remain stuck in old, fearful beliefs. The mood we are in affects our interpretation of events—a low mood is more likely to produce a negative interpretation of a neutral event. Excessive cortisol also causes the area of the brain that produces new brain cells to wither and die. Chronic stress strengthens the negative networks in the brain and weakens the positive ones.
We often cope with these unpleasant reactions to stress by artificial means, such as consuming alcohol, taking medication, or working harder, which only compound and perpetuate the cycle.
Surprisingly, perhaps, the small everyday stresses are more harmful to us in the long term than one-off, hugely stressful events. And the more often the stress reaction is activated, the more likely it is be triggered again, giving the body less and less time to recover. In this way, we become stuck in a never-ending cycle.
Once the stress reaction has been activated, the natural way to remove the stress hormones from the body is through action—for our ancestors this meant fighting or running away. Obviously, physically fighting or running away are rarely options in our everyday lives, but any exercise, such as walking vigorously, running, or swimming, can achieve the same results and bring the body back to a state of equilibrium. Unfortunately, we cannot always take exercise at the moment of feeling stressed.
However, we can activate the calming response through mindfulness and we can do this anywhere. If we can intervene at the point where the brain is gathering further information about the perceived threat, we can respond rather than react, as we can contextualize and interpret the situation more wisely. We can see the threat for what it really is—and if it is a false alarm, the stress reaction is deactivated. We can do this by noticing what is happening to us, paying attention to the uncomfortable physical sensations, and thereby shifting from thinking about the threat and all of the possible consequences to simply experiencing it as it unfolds. Mindfulness breaks the cycle of rumination, which keeps the amygdala in the alert position.
Practicing mindfulness de-sensitizes the stress trigger and thereby allows the body to return to a state of equilibrium rather than remain hyper vigilant. People who practice mindfulness still experience stress, and may actually feel emotions more strongly, but they are less likely to be overcome by it and they are likely to recover more quickly.
How stressful an event is for us depends on how we perceive it. If we can change the way we perceive an event, we can change our response to it. So mindfulness can activate the body’s built-in calming response. It can also help us in other ways.
Research after the eight-week MBSR course has shown that physical changes occur in the body: blood pressure can be reduced, the immune system strengthened, and the brain can even change the way it processes information. A study by Richard Davidson and colleagues discovered that after an MBSR course, participants showed a marked shift in brain activation toward the area better able to handle difficult emotions. It had been previously believed this was a set point in each individual that was more or less fixed for life, but Davidson’s research showed that we can actually influence and change our brain to make it work for the better.
There are also psychological benefits. Most of us spend the majority of time in our heads rather than our bodies. We problem-solve our way through life and while that can be effective in the office or when running our home, we cannot treat our emotions in the same way. When we try to do so, we become caught in a spin-cycle of thinking, replaying events over and over in our mind in a way that is unhelpful and can spiral into anxiety and depression.
At the same time, we are often unaware of what is going on in the body. Either we are uninterested or we deliberately block out unpleasant sensations and emotions. Sometimes numbing out physical or emotional pain can be an important coping strategy, but we often continue using it long after the threat has passed. Our body can give us essential feedback on what we are feeling emotionally and physically. By becoming more attuned to our body, we become more informed about how a particular event or situation is affecting us and we are also more likely to pick up early warning signs of physical and psychological illness.
We can only make wise changes if we are truly aware of our experience
When we practice mindfulness, we are deliberately turning our attention to our thoughts, our emotions, and physical sensations as they are arising. We begin to notice habitual patterns of thinking or behavior. We become aware of the constraints and boxes we create around ourselves. We often realize how mindless we are and how much of our life is passing us by unnoticed as we are caught up in re-living the past or waiting for a better future. However, as Jon Kabat-Zinn says, the present moment is the only moment where it is possible to change. And we can only make wise changes if we are truly aware of what our experience really is. The moment of awareness that is cultivated through mindfulness offers a window of opportunity to respond differently. It creates a space that can be enough to make us think twice about our habitual reaction. That small shift can be enough to turn us in a very different direction and we are more likely to respond with greater wisdom.
There is a growing evidence base for the clinical benefits of MBSR and MBCT, but there are benefits for all of us, regardless of whether we are suffering physical or emotional pain. Suffering is a part of life. We are all going to experience grief, loss, and death at some point and many of us will experience illness and other traumatic life events. Even happy events, such as a wedding or the birth of a child, can be stressful. However, much of the daily stress we experience that has a negative effect on our health, well-being, and personal relationships is made up of repeated occurrences of small events: missing a train, forgetting an appointment, losing work on the computer, saying something hurtful to a loved one, and so on.
If we start to pay attention to the moments that make up every day, we can begin to do things differently, and moment by moment, step by step, we can change our life for the better. When we wake up to the moments in life, we experience what Kabat-Zinn calls “the full catastrophe” of life: the joyful, the difficult, the painful, the boring. We begin to notice how life is in constant flux—just like the weather—and the possibility of change is always present. We realize that all human beings suffer and that life is often difficult. Everyone else is not always happy and living an idyllic, perfect life, despite what the media might lead us to believe. Realizing that we are not failures just because we are experiencing unhappiness can be liberating.
When we do formal meditation practices, such as a sitting meditation, all the difficult emotions we experience in daily life—boredom, restlessness, impatience, irritation, fear, and anger—will appear at some point, as well as the positive ones. The formal practices offer an opportunity to practice being with difficult emotions in a place of relative safety, thereby allowing us to deal with them more effectively when we experience them in daily life.
As we become aware of our thoughts, we begin to realize how much of our own unhappiness is caused by the stories we tell ourselves. For example, say you stub your toe on a bag that has been left on the floor by your partner. You experience the physical pain of the toe making contact with the bag. This is the first dart. Then, if you are like the majority of us, you begin ranting about the bag being left on the floor and before you know it you are accusing your partner of not loving or respecting you, or berating yourself for not doing better at school/having a better job/being able to afford a bigger house, and so on. You may even wonder if the toe is broken and what the consequences of that might be. These stories are the second dart. We cannot do anything about the first dart, because this is physical suffering. However, we can do something about the second dart; we can become aware of the stories and let them go. This part is within our control.
Learning to let go is not easy. When we practice watching the breath (or indeed any point of focus, such as a sound or a sensation), we gently escort our attention back to the breath every time our mind wanders. We are practicing letting go of that thought. We do this over and over again every time we practice and in doing so, we practice letting go.
We practice. Practicing entails repetition. Practicing takes time and effort. Mindfulness is not a quick fix. To truly experience transformational change, you need to make mindfulness an integral part of your life. Although this might sound daunting, remind yourself that all change occurs through small steps and by reading this book you have already taken the first one. Just as stress arises through small events that we perceive as stressful, we can begin to undo the negative effects with small actions.
