Arjun called me the night his heart broke.

"I ran thirty kilometres," he said. "Then took a taxi home."

Not running away. Running it out.

Here is what nobody tells you about stress.

Your brain cannot tell a shouting boss from a fighting partner from a tiger. To the brain, stress is stress.

So it does the old thing. Heart faster. Breath faster. Digestion stops. Blood floods your arms and legs so you can run.

In the jungle you ran, and the charge got spent.

Today you sit at your desk and stew. That unspent charge turns inward and corrodes you.

This is why movement matters. Not to erase the stress. To burn the fuel it has already poured into your body.

Run, climb stairs, dance, walk hard. Ten honest minutes, the moment the storm hits.

"Laghavam karma samarthyam dipto agnir medasah kshayah"

Ashtanga Hridaya, Sutrasthana 2.10

Lightness, capacity for work, kindled digestion and loss of fat come from exercise.

Notice that the first thing named is lightness. Not muscle. Not weight. Lightness.

When stress spikes, do not sit with it. Move it out first. Decide after.

The thinking you do while the charge is still in your body is never your best thinking.

Puneet
aka That Ayurveda Guy