Fall Leaves

In small doses, stress can be a good thing.

Some of us work well under pressure, so most of the time, a little stress just puts a fire in our bellies, motivating us to succeed. 
A little bit of stress goes a long way.

With stress – and, more importantly, our bodies’ response to stress – there’s a tipping point. And when we go past that point, we start to put our health at risk – in part because we begin to gain weight.

On my hike this week, the yellow leaves and birds chirping were captivating, and I took a video so you could listen and join me in a simple breathing exercise called the BLT (Breathing Listening Technique). 

The BLT a surefire technique that could help slow your heart rate, lower blood pressure, flush out extra feelings of anger or frustration, and even re-train your brain, so that you shift away from the limbic part of the brain, where emotional, irrational thinking takes place, toward the frontal cortex: the logical part of the brain that helps you make slower, calmer, conscious decisions…. 

The great thing about this BLT exercise is that it forces you to be in the moment. When your sole focus is inhaling, listening, and exhaling, it stops the incessant chatter that we all have in our minds.

I’ve often referred to it as the “Itty Bitty Sh*tty Committee” – that chorus of voices we all have in our heads. The voices that tell us we’re not good enough, not smart enough, not thin enough, or just simply not enough in general. Sometimes we get those voices from the criticism of our parents or a loved one – and sometimes we simply get them from our own neuroses or lack of self-esteem.

Wherever they came from, most of us have them – and when that committee is in full session, a BLT is a surefire way to quiet them back down.