In our fast-paced world, stress is often seen as a temporary hurdle to be endured or overcome. However, when high levels of physical and emotional pressure persist over long durations, it evolves into toxic stress.
This state does more than just make us tired; it acts as a physiological burden that can deteriorate health and manifest as a multitude of short- and long-term illnesses.
Chronic stress impacts more than just our digestion or heart rate; it obscures our view of life and the world around us. Long-term stress can create a “negative fog” that obscures our mental clarity, narrows our perspective and forces us to react out of survival or habitual patterns rather than out of wisdom and a clear view of the current situation.
To navigate modern complexities, we need “Powerful Positivity”—a state of being rooted in clarity and humanity. Unlike “toxic positivity,” which masks pain with superficial optimism, Powerful Positivity recognizes suffering with sincerity, allowing an unburdened mind to find expansive solutions for the benefit of all.
A critical aspect of toxic stress is its physical residency. Every stress-related thought is stored in our physiology. Without recovery time, the body becomes weighed down by the accumulated effects of “stress-induced thinking.” This creates a feedback loop: The mind affects the body, and the burdened body shackles the mind. When tissues hold the chemical signatures of chronic pressure, we lose our connection to higher intuition.
To break this cycle, conscious and often external support is required to expel these forces. Natural medicine—including powerful tools such as acupuncture, herbal medicine and other holistic therapies—serves as a vital tool for recalibration. These methods do not simply mask symptoms; they get to the very root of imbalances in the body’s systems and return it to a state more closely connected to nature, its natural, unencumbered state.
By using natural medicine to clear the “stored” stress from our tissues, we allow the body to return to its natural state. In this state of equilibrium:
The nervous system shifts from “fight-or-flight” to “rest-and-repair.” The physiological “heaviness” is lifted, fostering more physical and mental buoyancy. The connection between the physical and the clarity of the mental-spiritual aspect of our being is restored, supporting a joy of life, lightness of being, purpose and the ability to create more positive conditions in the world.
Committing to this healing leads to transformative results. By cleansing the body of stressful remnants, we make room for sudden, great gains in insight. We move from survival to sovereignty, metabolizing toxic stress into positive power, allowing the highest path forward to come into view and actually be attained.
To begin cultivating more Powerful Positivity in one’s daily life and support a felt sense of sovereignty right away, one can:
Spend time in nature: Reconnect with the natural world regularly to ground one’s physiology and clear any “negative fog.”
Help others and laugh: Shift one’s perspective from reactive habits to humanity through service, and the restorative power of joy and laughter to dispel tension and free the spirit.
Relax with music and movement: Use sound, movement, dance or stretching to help release “stored” stress from one’s tissues and restore mental buoyancy.
Dr. Devatara Holman MS, MA, DACM, LAc., and Dr. Evan Shepherd Reiff DACM, LAc., practice integrative Chinese medicine at Marin Oriental & Integrative Medicine in Sausalito, and Valley Acupuncture & Integrative Medicine in Sonoma.
