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Program in Bethel Park addresses stress reduction

By Harry Funk staff Writer hfunk@thealmanac.Net 5 min read
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Demonstrating effective breathing techniques are Will Davies and Lindsay Schessler.

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Lindsay Schessler

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Will Davies

Navigating the northbound approach to the Fort Pitt Tunnel is nerve-wracking enough without another vehicle suddenly darting ahead of yours.

So perhaps Will Davies’ reaction to one such incident sounds familiar.

“I had a visualization in my mind of actually running into the guy in front of me, plowing into him: That’s what you get for cutting me off,” he recalled. “In the moment, that actually kind of made sense. But then you start to calm down a little bit, and you’re like, that would have been a really bad idea.”

To provide guidance on how to mitigate those types of thoughts, Davies joined colleague Lindsay Schessler Feb. 28 to present “Increasing Mindful Awareness to Relieve Stress,” wrapping up a series of programs during the weeklong Bethel Park Wellness Summit.

“We need to find some ways to bring ourselves into the moment so that we can help ourselves in those times to not do behaviors that could really get us into trouble,” Davies said.

The Mt. Lebanon resident is the founder and leader of the Allegheny Health Network CHILL Project, which has the goal of improving the lives of children and adolescents through preventative skill-based learning. As Davies and Schessler discussed at the Bethel Park Community Center, such skills can apply to everyone.

“Mindfulness is paying attention to the present moment on purpose and nonjudgmentally,” said Schessler, a counselor who also works with the CHILL Project.

“But it’s easier said than done, right? It sounds great in theory. When your calendar looks like what we just showed up there,” she said, referring to a slide depicting an exceptionally busy schedule, “it might not always be that easy to be able to stop for a minute and just be. Mindfulness reminds us that it’s possible to shift from ‘doing’ mode to ‘being’ mode.”

As such, Davies asked those in attendance to go ahead and give it a try.

“I want you to feel what that’s like, experience any thoughts that you might have coming into your mind, any sensations in your body, and think about that and feel that for the next two minutes,” Davies said.

The purpose was to demonstrate how to take time to enjoy the present.

“You only have this moment right now to be in,” Davies said. “A lot of times, we are very concerned with what happened in the past – what happened at work today, what happened with our family – or what we’re going to be doing next.”

To help illustrate, he and Schessler showed a slide of a cartoon depicting a man contending with an anxiety-ridden thought bubble, while a canine friend simply enjoys the scenery.

“Do dogs live in the past, live in the future? No. They just kind of live in the moment, right? You come home, no matter how long it’s been, and they’re happy to see you because they don’t realize how long you’ve been gone,” Davies said.

Part of what causes stress is a physiological response commonly referred to as “fight, flight or freeze,” a remnant of the struggle of early humans for survival.

“Our body gets really pumped up, and the adrenaline goes. And our brain starts releasing all these hormones. Our pupils get dilated, and our breathing gets heavier,” Davies explained. “We’re still hard-wired to think this way, except most of the time, we’re not in life-or-death situations.”

Schessler provided further elucidation.

“You’re acting on your emotions. You’re not taking logic into consideration. You’re probably not thinking clearly or coherently,” she said. “And then some people go on the flip end and just be in a reasonable mind, and just think about facts and not take their emotions into consideration.

“So the goal is to marry the two and be in ‘wise mind,’ and take both your emotions and facts into consideration and act on that.”

Davies discussed the role of controlled breathing.

“We can actually short-circuit the stress response,” he explained. “There’s a nerve called the venal nerve that kind of runs up and down through your body, and the breathing connection can help activate that, which helps deactivate the stress response in your brain.”

He led another exercise in which participants were encouraged to take breaths using their diaphragms, in through the nose and out through the mouth.

“When we focus in on our breathing, they can be deep and thorough, and we don’t have to breathe as much,” he said. “We’re still getting all that oxygen.”

As a takeaway from the program, Davies advised participants to give what they learned a try.

“You have enough time to be on your phone half the day,” Davies said. “You have enough time to look at whatever. You have enough time just to be still, just for two minutes every day. You can have your own mindfulness moment every day.”

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