While there are many stress relieving techniques which work well, such as muscle relaxation and mindfulness of breathing, you may wish to try this unusual one. It comes from a selection of very useful Stress handling techniques at http://www.healthy.net/scr/article.asp?ID=1205
Shrinking Stress and Tension
Often the situations and beliefs that make us feel anxious and tense look large and insurmountable. We tend to form representations in our mind that empower stress. In these representations, we look tiny and helpless, while the stressors look huge and unsolvable. You can change these mental representations and cut stressors down to size. The next exercise will help you to gain mastery over stress by learning to shrink it with your mind. This places stress in a much more manageable and realistic perspective. This exercise will also help engender a sense of power and mastery, thereby reducing anxiety and restoring a sense of calm.
Exercise: Shrinking Stress
Sit or lie in a comfortable position. Breathe slowly and deeply.
Visualize a situation, person, or even a belief (such as, "I'm afraid of the dark" or "I don't want to give that public speech") that makes you feel anxious and tense.
As you do this, you might see a person's face, a place you're afraid to go, or simply a dark cloud. Where do you see this stressful picture? Is it above you, to one side, or in front of you? How does it look? Is it big or little, dark or light? Does it have certain colors?
Now slowly begin to shrink the stressful picture. Continue to see the stressful picture shrinking until it is so small that it can literally be held in the palm of your hand. Hold your hand out in front of you, and place the picture in the palm of your hand.
If the stressor has a characteristic sound (like a voice or traffic noise), hear it getting tiny and soft. As it continues to shrink, its voice or sounds become almost inaudible.
Now the stressful picture is so small it can fit on your second finger. Watch it shrink from there until it finally turns into a little dot and disappears.
Often this exercise causes feelings of amusement, as well as relaxation, as the feared stressor shrinks, gets less intimidating, and finally disappears.
4 comments:
This is an interesting technique Bruv and it sounds very similar to some NLP techniques which I have read about and Fuchsy demonstrated to Manny and I once or twice. Whereby if you want to achieve a particular goal - say for example, giving up smoking, you use visualisation techniques such as looking at yourself not smoking. Being in a room, lets say a pub, where other people might be smoking, and visually how you might feel not smoking i.e. feeling proud that you are not. Trying to imagine generally the differences to when you did smoke, i.e. the smell, the unsociability, the reliance on each cigarette.
Through these visualisations you also amplify everything - therefore the opposite of this stress relief technique, for example, you visualise what you might be saying and what those around you might be saying. You amplify the feelings that you might feel. The way you look, how nice you smell etc., the place you are within etc. and by doing so the feelings of wanting to achieve this goal amplify and give you the urge to carry on and achieve your goal.
I will try this when I next feel stressed and I'll take a look at the web-site. But I feel pretty good right now. The Phyto Soya is really good - and I'd highly recommend it to all those peri-menopausal women!!
Swanx
Since I have been experiencing the dreaded panic attacks again recently, I have been trying a couple of relaxation techniques which do seem to help me.
First, is the muscle relaxation technique. You focus on each part of the body in turn, tensing and relaxing each part of the body until the whole body is relaxed and feels like a lead weight. Then make your breathing as slow as possible and imagine your breath is filling your whole body like gently inflating a balloon. I imagine my breath is pink, the colour of love, and use this to visualise filling up with loving healing feelings.
The second technique, for which I thank Bruv for inventing it, is to imagine you are walking in your perfect land and picture every detail of what that looks like. Then you are going to give the perfect party for all your friends and you decide where it will be set in your perfect land, what you will serve for food and drink and what you will wear to feel most comfortable. Then you visualise everyone you know arriving one at a time and you tell each of them what you have always wanted to tell them about how they make you feel.
These techniques have really helped me deal with the tensions that cause the panic attacks. I am also taking some medication for this now, but in the early days the medication can exaggerate the symptoms before it starts to help, so these techniques are of great assistance during that time.
I have just had blood tests for this which have revealed my blood glucose levels are slightly above what they should be, so I may find I am mildly diabetic but this is better than the terrifying thoughts I was having during the panic attacks.
Love and Peace
xxx
Great technique Bruv, I do similar one , which is an NLP one !they are called sub modaliites.
If your anxieties are very colourful , try making them B/W, if they are noisy turn the volume down in your head, if the feelings are right up close push them back in your minds eye...these techniques really helped me in my days of extreme angst, and I still do them
Hi Bruv & Namaste
...I couldn't work out how to send you an email from the blogg site, so have posted here instead.
Thanks
jon
Hi Bruv and Namaste
Thank you both so much for your thoughts.
I was really surprised to see comments within just a few days. I didn't expect anyone to find the site unaided, especially so quickly.
Bruv,
I particularly appreciated your words. Thank you.
Namaste.
The Healing work i do is usually labelled 'spiritual healing' but that is just a name.
It's not really me that is doing anything other than making myself available to focus the 'energy' from a higher source.
I would be delighted to come and work with you if you'd like.
feel free to give me a call anytime (I think my contact details are on the blog -I'm new to this so not 100% sure) and if not they are certainly on my new (2 days old now!) website -You may even be the first to log on other than me! at www.spiritual-healer.co.uk
Blessings
Jon
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