Francoise Bonhoure
The effects of stress are greatly reduced by taking exercise.
The effect of vigorous exercise such as running, walking fast seems to induce positive mental energy and a emotional state. This is even more so if one is in the open air.
It seems that the system of the body as a whole is enhanced. You can experience anincreased will power after starting to exercise, as if anything becomes possible, accessible, thus making you more able to deal with difficult situations and less prone to become discouraged and fatigued.
One experiencesless anxiety and tensionbut more energy, which clears mental confusion.
This is so as what is required of us to be more present to the physical demands of the moment .
Spontaneously, you have to transfer your energy – your attention as well as your vital essence - to the movements, and concentrate on the requirements of such physical efforts.
And the brain being a lot more oxygenated, not only stimulates the body's vital energy circulation, but also absorbs the vital energy from the environment.
It can be a sort of achallenge, when you're under ongoing stress, to get up andgo and exercise when you feel the signs of energy starting to stagnate and your mood to dip. I have noticed that one has to catch the moment before the energy drops too much; catch it andtake it outside to move it!It could become a sort of a ‘knack'.
And this can be called‘Managing one's energy'!It may sound pompous, but that's what it is, really.
Not so vigorous exercise, such asTai Chi and some Chi Kung(Qi Gong) etc. can have thesame result. One of the reasons for this is that those disciplines put into motion several aspects of the body-mind system andintegrate the individual.These aspects are the rhythmic breath moving along with the movements and the attention or focus of the mind.
The outcome of the practice of these disciplines is thedevelopment and proper flow of the vital energy,a process which gets pretty scattered when one is undergoing continual stress.
