Have you ever felt stuck, disconnected from the world, or bombarded with panic that causes your heart to race and your body to tremble? That’s your brain’s way of telling you that something needs your attention, and consequently, your body may respond in one of four ways: fight, flight, fawn, or freeze. So, what are these physical responses and what can we do to help our bodies relax when we experience these states?
Well, first of all, it can be helpful to learn how God has designed our bodies to respond to and regulate stress so we are not caught off guard and flooded with unwanted emotions and physical responses. We are all equipped with a built-in regulation system—otherwise known as the autonomic nervous system (ANS)—which controls our unconscious functions like breathing, heart rate, and the instinctive response to a threat. The ANS has two parts—the sympathetic and the parasympathetic nervous systems.
Fight, Flight, Fawn
The sympathetic nervous system is what drives our fight-or-flight response by stimulating hormones that mobilize us to navigate threat or danger. Another reaction is the fawn response. In this state, our bodies attempt to neutralize prolonged danger by pleasing or accommodating others rather than acknowledging anxiety and discomfort. The automatic response of fight, flight, or fawn will produce a physical reaction, known as hyperarousal, and we might experience the following symptoms:
A racing heart (overwhelmed with adrenaline)
Shaking or trembling
The urge to move either toward or away from stressful events
Anger or feeling out of control
Fear, anxiety, or both
The need to over-accommodate or please people
Freeze
Conversely, when the parasympathetic nervous system takes over, the body shifts into a freeze response as a way of coping with danger. When this happens, our thinking shuts off and we become focused on finding ways to protect ourselves. In this state, we can feel flooded or disconnected from the world, or be consumed by ruminating on problems that disable us from moving on and processing experiences in a healthy way. Symptoms associated with hypoarousal include:
Depression or sluggishness
Fatigue
Fogginess or zoning out
Feeling frozen in one spot
Numbness or a desire to shut down
Feeling as if we’re watching life from the outside
Faith
For people of faith, images of God and attributes consistent with his character can help us relax and have a healing impact on our bodies and minds. One option to help regulate our nervous system in stressful situations when anxiety, panic, hypervigilance, or obsessive thoughts will not subside is spiritual box breathing. It is a simple technique that can be done anywhere. We know from research that regulating breath has proven benefits, including a long-term release of stress response.¹
To begin, imagine the shape of a box. Our breath makes the shape of the box as we move around one rotation. We breathe in for the count of four, hold our breath for the count of four, breathe out for the count of four, and hold the exhale for the count of four. Continue in this pattern until a shift in the nervous system happens.
Figure 1: Spiritual Box Breathing artwork by Jim Halbert
To focus our attention more fully, we can imagine a cross in front of us. On the inhale, imagine all of God’s truth and goodness flooding your body through your breath (ruah is the word for breath in Hebrew, which also means spirit). The Spirit of God is filling you with His grace, love, and mercy. On the exhale, visualize letting go and laying all of your stress at the foot of the cross, giving it over to God (for example, pain, trauma, worry, and stress). Continue this pattern until you feel God’s peace filling you and your nervous system responding. Another option to practice spiritual box breathing is to take a favorite verse or phrase from scripture and repeat it as you inhale and exhale around the box image. Some examples are: “Fear not I am with you” (Isaiah 41:10), “Be still and know that I am God” (Psalm 46:10), “To everything, there is a season” (Ecclesiastes 3:1), “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding” (Proverbs 3:5).
References
¹ https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/321805.php