Do you wring your hands or tug at your ears when stressed? These are natural self-soothing actions.
Illustration © Shufflebag Creative for Quiet Reflexology
Do you wring your hands or tug at your ears when feeling anxious or stressed? Congratulations! You're instinctively activating acupressure points that soothe your nervous system. All right, maybe it's not a congratulatory moment, but it is a good thing you're doing - without even knowing it.
The palm contains 17,000 touch receptors, and the fingertips are the most sensitive part of the body. Applying pressure to reflexology points on the hands creates responses within the body.
The ears contain around 200 acupressure points and are extremely sensitive to touch. If you catch yourself ear-tugging when stressed, know that you're stimulating circulation and more than likely releasing some feel-good hormones.
Here are a couple of other helpful hand and ear exercises you can do to reduce stress.
1. Place the thumb of one hand into the centre of the palm of your other hand. Slowly press your thumb into the fleshy area of your palm as you inhale through your nose. Try to bring the breath down deep into your belly. Then, as you slowly exhale, begin releasing the pressure on your palm. With your thumb still over the centre of your palm, gently rub the area in a circular motion. Repeat this action three times on each hand. This area is the solar plexus reflex. Applying gentle pressure to it helps take you out of the fight or flight anxiety response.
2. Gently hold your earlobe between your thumb and index finger. While making a rubbing action, slowly rub upward from your earlobe to the top of your ear and back down again. Do this three times on each ear. You should notice a soothing warmth spreading through your ears. When you tug your earlobes, you stimulate nerve endings that help your body to release feel-good chemicals called endorphins.
So there you go! You were already soothing yourself - but now you've got a couple of new tools to draw upon when you're feeling anxious.
I wish you wellness!
Kim
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