Election Stress in Your Body

stay grounded (2)

 

Election stress hit people hard this week. It showed up as neck and shoulder pain, and hip and knee pain. In almost all cases, people worried about the election were only energetically present in the upper half of their bodies. They were taking high and shallow breaths and were disengaged with their body below their ribs.

The best way to help people this week has been to help them get grounded back into the lower half of their bodies. At home, the best thing you can do is put your hands on your belly and breath into your lower belly. Try not to let your chest expand.

As I began looking more deeply into the way people were expressing their stress in their bodies, I noticed a few other patterns.

The Presidential election results were a blow to a lot of people’s sense of power and control over their country. Power and ability to control your life are 3rd chakra characteristics. This week, many people felt to me like they had been forcefully thrown from their 3rd chakra, the area around their solar plexus. People’s sense of control over their country was suddenly gone. Energetically they retreated to their heads and their hearts. This resulted in upper back and shoulder pain, because they were only present in the upper half of their bodies. If you are not grounded in the lower half of your body, the upper half of your body is going to strain under that weight.

Also, because the results were a blow to people’s sense of their country and their tribe, the 1st chakra was also impacted. Our nation did not do what people expected. Many patients were saying they didn’t recognize their country. When something as foundational as your country (or your job or your home or your family) becomes unstable, 1st chakra problems such as low back pain, hip  pain and  knee pain often arise.

This combination of the blow to the 3rd chakra sense of control and instability in the 1st  chakra  foundational sense of  our nation, resulted in  people fleeing to their higher  chakras—their chest and above. And so we ended up with a lot of neck and shoulder pain in Evanston this week, because the lower half of people’s energetic bodies were experiencing a lot of chaos.

Everyone who came into Chiropractic First this week expressed that tension a bit differently. The specifics of how I worked with people this week varied widely. But, in left leaning Evanston, there was a very strong theme of disengagement from our lower bodies.

If you are still trying to make sense of the election results, take some time to ground back into your lower body. Do some deep breathing. And reconnect to the 1st and 3rd chakra parts of your life that are still stable. Connect with your family, your community, your home and your work. Engage in activities that revive your sense of cultural identity, whether that be sporting events, art, food or spiritual traditions. And come get adjusted next week! We can help with the more complex ways your body is expressing stress and anxiety.

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