What gives you and fright?  

How do you move it through?  

It seemed to happen all at once, yet there was a sequence. 

⋅ I felt the light touch of Kyle’s hand on my forearm 

⋅ His voice was low and steady. “Let’s back up.” 

⋅ Guided by his touch, I was moving backward. 

All my senses were alert! 

⋅ I heard the rattle at the tail and the hiss at the gaping mouth. 

⋅ The 3-foot-long serpent was coiled and ready. 

We had been on the lookout; rattle snakes were not uncommon in these parts. Still, nature is  good at camouflage. Without intention, we were already too close to this snake’s crossing the sandy trail. 

The rest of the response was by the book.

⋅ Give the western diamond back a wide berth 

⋅ Let the snake go on her way 

⋅ Carry on… when the snake is well out of strike rage. 

As we watched and waited, I realized that my body was quivering; calves, hamstrings, butt, back, all were vibrating, occasionally one area twitching. More, I was holding my breath. Purposefully I exhaled. Luckily, we still had a way yet to go; walking helped dissipate some of the inner shaky  feelings. We got to the car and climbed in. Upon starting the car, the radio blasted a pounding techno version of Elton John’s Tiny Dancer. Kyle reached to change the station but something  deep inside me protested  

F: No wait, please, I need this 

K: (Looks at me)  

Bless my partner, willing to be vulnerable and sometimes “act a fool” with me, he turned up the  volume and we sang. We were Elton’s backup singers filling Wembley stadium with our song. Stomping feet, undulating spines, bobbing heads and arms pumping -- our bodies were in the  music. Add laughter and tears. By the end of the song the fear had left my system. 

K: You good? 

Me: Yup. 

Neuroscience would also tell me to make use of the internal chemical surge so that all my  systems can return to their balanced and healthy stasis. 

3. Metabolize the adrenaline racing in your systems = Uninhibited song and dance party. 4. All systems return to homeostasis. 

The question for me is what happens when the stressors are not clearly seen or identified as a  hissing rattle snake? 

I’m pretty sure you know what I mean by unidentified stressors, little daily stresses of life, or  chronic stress situations. Here are a few examples, perhaps add your own:

• Weird vibe with a co-worker 

• You are late for an important appointment 

• Racial microaggressions 

• Self sovereignty of your reproductive rights is under attack.  

• [Add yours here]

It appears that our bodies automatically respond to stress -- seen or unseen. However, we may  not automatically process the chemical effects of our natural stress response. The ongoing over  production of adrenaline in our systems is a burden on the liver, kidneys, and immune systems  to name just a few. 

Animals may sprint or run long distances from a stress response. Or once they know the stress  stimulus is not a threat, they will shake from snout to tail. It’s quite the physical prowess to  vibrate every ounce of your being from snout to tail, I invite you to try it sometime. Let me know how it goes. 

The dramatic song and dance party at the end of the hike gave my pent-up fear and adrenaline  an outlet. The movement sent circulation into what was starting to become toxic stagnation. Humans are not designed to stay stuck in survival mode; it is far too much work for all our internal organs to operate under the chemical imbalance. 

How can humans release fear, fury, frustration? I’d love to live in a world where at the drop of a  stressor we could break into a full throated, foot stomping, heart pounding Broadway routine, that would shake off/work through the internal effects of stress response. But we may not feel  we are always in a situation where that is accessible/acceptable. So… What can we do? 

Move. 

Move how? 

Move any way that gets you… 

• Breathing deep 

• Muscles expanding and contracting gets blood flowing 

• Mind melding with movement  

• Emotions welcome to free flow 

We are all constantly flowing in and out of different phases of accessibility with movement. Let  me clarify with an extreme example that at first glance appears like there is no movement. 

Imagine you are in a neck brace with your entire spine positioned in traction and under doctors’  orders to stay still to enable healing between the vertebrae and along the spinal cord. How can  you move? 

Deep diaphragmatic breathing is movement. As your diaphragm (sheath of muscle with a mass  of connective tissue at its center) expands and contracts your lungs inhale and exhale, the  resonance of this movement ripples out along all the connective tissues (these are literally  everywhere throughout your entire body), the ripples carry the message “the shell may appear  still but inside we are moving.” 

The movement of the diaphragm at the level of the gut sends messages via the vagus nerve, the  afferent pathway connecting gut, heart, eyes, brain, that we are not frozen; we are in flow.

May the guts untie any knots of fear 

May the heart release the grip of anger 

May the muscles behind our eyes ease and allow us to receive clear vision May we allow mind space for possibility, and invite the chattering monkey mind to breathe as  witness rather than victim or perpetrator. 

May all these channels open so whatever needs to move through can do so without delay or  obstruction. 

Move anyway that is accessible to you. All ways are always welcome. 

November 2022