By Bevan Fleming

Word count: 1461

Rituals are a set of actions or behaviors that are done in a specific sequence. They usually have certain
times to perform them, for example Christians going to Church on a Sunday. Ritual behaviors for
example could be when Rugby players are taking a penalty kick, they have a certain walk up they will
follow every time. Rituals are in almost every aspect of society from the workplace to religion. There are
also personal, cultural, social and healing rituals. Rituals can easily be designed to alleviate stress and
anxiety from the people that participate in them. It is very common for rituals to involve repetitive
actions and also involve certain behaviors that could have symbolic meanings to it. Participating in
rituals can provide discipline, routine and self-control. This can all help alleviate stress.

Rituals have been known for helping people alleviate stress and anxiety. A smaller example is a
breathing exercise called the 7-4-8 technique. This breathing technique involves breathing in for 4
seconds, holding the breath for 7 seconds, and exhaling for 8 seconds. This is just a generic ritual that
comes up when you search up how to relieve stress and anxiety on any search engine. This ritual works
as it has been studied that when you “Deliberately copying a relaxed breathing pattern seems to calm
the nervous system that controls the body's involuntary functions”. However, this can only work to a
certain extent as if the anxiety and stress is too high breathing exercises will not help. They are better
used for situations where stress and anxiety are involved but only for a short amount of time and
normally best used in a control environment. For example, during or before an exam if a candidate
became too overwhelmed it is very common for people to use breathing exercises to rid stress of the
exam so they can fully focus. Another example of a ritual that could be used to rid stress and anxiety
could be the confessions members of the catholic church give to the priest in confidence. This is an
example of a religious ritual. These confessions can relieve stress and anxiety as people are able to tell
the Preist sins they have committed. The sins they have committed could be ‘putting weight on them’
and telling a priest can make them become forgiven. This can give the person a mental superficial
feeling that makes them at ease with whatever sin they have committed. The Italian mafia are infamous
for going into Cathedrals and giving the Priest confessions of murders they have committed. Religion
related rituals are some of the common rituals found and certainly used by most people. Studies say
that around 63% of the entire world's population being part of a religious group. Social connection is a
key part in people's lives in helping reduce anxiety and stress. Having enjoyable times with your friends
in the family always has positive effects on mental health. Having a sexual partner is also very positive
for your mental health. This can be due to the feeling of someone wanting you, someone that will care
for you and so this can make someone feel better about themselves. However, during the Covid-19
pandemic most physical in person social connections were cut off and everything was done through
technology. Anthropological article More than an arm's length: reimagining rituals in a technologically
mediated pandemic-centric era is an extremely good piece at highlighting the issues caused by the
change to social connections. It was written By Caitlin E.Mcdonald. Published in June 2020 (roughly 4
months after the start of the Covid-19 breakout). In the beginning of the piece, she highlights the change
to the mourning and grieving rituals due to covid-19. For example, she talks about how when grieving
you no longer have a “shoulder to cry on” or someone to hug. She continues onto to say that now it is all
“virtual.” In many cases across the world elderly couples during the pandemic when one of them died
would not be able to see any of the family members to mourn together. They would also not have many
people if any at the funeral, and many funerals were live streamed online so people would stay at home
and not risk spreading the virus. This would have devastating effects on someone's stress and anxiety. As
most elderly citizens when their partner died would be living alone. This would easily overwhelm
someone due to them for the majority of their life they were living with their partner and too not only
lose them but also not be able to meet other family members to grieve and to also have regular social
interactions with people due to the isolation guidelines enforced. Another example of social connection
was the “weekly or even daily ritual to ‘clap for our carers’ or in some cases to applaud all key workers”
(Caitlin E.Mcdonald 2020). The idea of this was for the public who were not key workers and were
staying at home and not being at risk of contracting the virus, that they were appreciated. This in turn
would hopefully reduce some stress and anxiety for the workers as it would raise their mood, which
overall will help their long-term mental health. However, Caitlin then goes onto say “Yet while this
performative display of public appreciation happens, most of the people working in those positions
remain underpaid and under-equipped with protective gear relative to the greater risks they face”. This
shows once again a superficial side to some rituals that are done. As even though the clap made people
believe they were helping the workers, and possibly made some people feel at ease that they are not
taking the risks of catching covid since they are staying at home, but since they are showing their
appreciation, they see it as equal or due diligence. Another part of rituals is work-place rituals. Which
are most commonly linked to helping with stress and anxiety as most people do definitely experience
stress and in a lot of cases anxiety. It is said that 1 in 6.8 people experience mental health issues in the
workplace. A common ritual in the workplace would be after work drinks. An ethnographic study was
done on this and published online in 2015. It is called “Work-related drinking and processes of social
integration and marginalization in two Norwegian workplaces”. The main aim of this study was to
investigate the ritual of social drinking in two separate Norwegian work environments was mainly
looking into how social drinking help with “social integration and marginalization of employees. It is a
very well-known idea that drinking enhances your social integration skills and is a very common way for
people to meet new friends and partners. Therefore, that is why it is so common in workplaces as it
allows people to build new connections and socialize more. It can also bring a better atmosphere to the
actual workplace as they know each other more and feel more comfortable with their work peers. The
study found that in the case of the Oil rig workers. They had over 100 work related drinking meetups in
one year and the library workers had 50. This high amount of socialisation would definitely integrate the
workplace and raise their morale at work. It was found in the study that big events in the workplace
such as new milestones are being celebrated. This in turn could also improve productivity Aswell as
mental health within the workplace. As they would have something to look forward to at the end of all
the hard work. Personal rituals can also be key as they can create a symbolic meaning. In this case the
symbolic meaning would be something that would be positive. A common ritual that has a symbolic
meaning behind it could be going to the gym. Going to the gym promotes good health, discipline and
can benefit other aspects of your life. For instance, being stronger so you can tackle harder in rugby.
Going to the gym can also help you relax and take your focus off problems that can cause stress and
anxiety. Many people begin going to the gym during a low point in their life, and it is very common for
regular gym goers who are in shape now used to be in bad shape and would have low self-esteem
In conclusion, rituals are a key component for the majority of the world's population in helping people
alleviate their stress and anxiety. By creating ways for people to take their mind off problems causing
stress and anxiety. Rituals can be done anytime any place and can be flexible to the person. This is why it
is so commonly used as a way to reduce stress and anxiety.

References.

More than arm’s length: reimagining rituals in a technologically mediated pandemic-centric era
Caitlin E.Mcdonald

https://anthrodendum.org/2020/06/13/more-than-arms-length-reimagining-rituals-in-a-technologically-
mediated-pandemic-centric-era/

Work-related drinking and processes of social integration and marginalization in two Norwegian
workplaces

S. Nesvag and F. Duckert

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/14759551.2015.1021800

https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.678098/full

https://www.mentalhealth.org.uk/explore-mental-health/statistics/mental-health-work-statistics