As a mother of two for over twenty years, I can tell you that worry is still a challenging emotion. However, I am a doctor of medical qigong therapy, and I know from personal experience that losing weight and the connection with worry are firmly linked. Many people may know that stress hormones like cortisol can increase inflammation and wreak havoc on your health. But specifically, worry has an effect on weight gain or loss.
My stress levels may be high. However, I know how to lower them, specifically concerning worry. The most incredible worry happened when one of my children had been a victim of trauma at a young age. That same youngest child of mine was also kidnapped as a pre-teen. I am blessed that I do what I do- as I was teaching at the American College of Traditional Chinese Medicine at the time- and I had my class participate in a practice that helped the police find them the very next day.
I cannot say what is worse than having a child missing other than having a child gravely ill. However, this uncomfortable emotion of worry has caused many mothers to put on pounds or caused them to stop eating. Worries related to the spleen and stomach-paired organs are common in traditional Chinese medicine.
Spleen also has a relationship with the earth element. If you have ever been worried, you are not very grounded or centered. One thing that helps is putting your bare feet on the ground outside. Another thing that helps is holding your fists with your thumb inside—gently squeezing the thumb. This is a mudra that connects the energy system in your body called meridians or channels, and this hand position or mudra helps us feel calm.
I do not know many people who feel calm and worried at the same time. Trust is more the feeling or virtue we want to feel. Think about trust. When you have trust that everything is going to be okay, then you do not worry. It is said we are born with the virtue of trust in the spleen and stomach. However, over life experiences, we develop the acquired emotion of worry or overthinking. There are several things in medical qigong therapy that we ask clients to do to regulate emotions and health.
Trust is also essential. We say we are born with trust in our spleen/stomach, but life experiences give us acquired emotions like worry or overthinking. In medical qigong therapy, we recommend various practices to regulate.
One simple practice for moms and all who worry is to inhale trust and exhale worry.