How are you doing?: Looking at how Allostatic Overload is Impacting Our Well-being When I began my Alexander Technique teaching practice in 1989, my focus was on performing artists and helping people improve their posture and live with less...
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When I began my Alexander Technique teaching practice in 1989, my focus was on performing artists and helping people improve their posture and live with less pain.
Fast forward to 2020, when the Covid-19 Pandemic upended a way of life, and - perhaps for the first time - people who historically weren't so vulnerable to the ebbs and flows of resources and economies, found themselves part of the global trauma.
I had some modest success pivoting to remote teaching over video, and I noticed a change in the topics coming up for my students. I was helping them decode and soothe the embodied experience of stress in new ways since I couldn't use my hands to communicate.
Concurrently, I was having my own response to the situation and learning to work with myself in new ways.
Now, over two years later, I am watching some of my friends, clients and family manage better than others. I could be doing better myself.
What is Allostatic Overload in the context of our current circumstances?
Allostatic load refers to the cumulative burden of chronic stress and life events. It involves the interaction of different physiological systems at varying degrees of activity. When environmental challenges exceed the individual ability to cope, then allostatic overload ensues. Allostatic load is identified by the use of biomarkers and clinical criteria.
Effects can include:
Poor sleep
The inability to focus
Unhealthy changes in eating habits
Self-medicating with substances
Reduced productivity and performance at work
Withdrawing from relationships
Depression and anxiety.
So, what does that mean for you and me, and how we're doing?
It's vital to well-being to develop tools and use available resources to manage the impact of stress in our lives.
Physical and psychological health are negatively impacted by chronic exposure to stressful life conditions.
It can feel hard to reach out for help when feelings of hopelessness set in.
How can Alexander Technique help?
As a Teacher of the Alexander Technique, I use hands on and verbal guidance to help my students return to a more embodied, grounded, balanced physiological state. At the same time, I am teaching my students the tools to administer self-care throughout their day outside the lessons.
Alexander Technique is a powerful complementary practice to therapy and medical treatment. It offers real-time skills to help mitigate allostatic overload.
The benefits of using Alexander Technique tools include:
Learning to regulate your physiology more quickly through awareness and intention
Enhancing physical and psychological resilience*
Thinking in novel ways to find new solutions
Recognizing and recovering more quickly from triggering experiences
*Psychological resilience is the ability to cope mentally or emotionally with a crisis or to return to pre-crisis status quickly./Physical resilience is the ability of an object to spring back into shape. (Wikipedia)
NOTE: Be sure to consult with medical and mental health professionals for proper diagnosis and treatment of new or worsening signs.