|
|
|
Combat Stress - 7 Practical Methods
A stress-free lifestyle could very well do wonders in eliminating depression.
Here are 7 practical methods to combat stress:
1. Express Amusement And Be Happy.
Laugh hard and loud. If you don’t have a sense of humor, find someone else who...
Mental and Physical Stress
Mental and Physical Stress
By Bill Reddie
All people experience stress and anxiety in one form or another. Sometimes it can be helpful but if allowed to become chronic, it produces a physically debilitating, unhealthy and destructive...
Overcoming Stress: Seven Ways To Manage Stress In The New Year
Because of the fast paced nature of our society, overcoming or
reducing stress has made it to the list of top ten New Year's
Resolutions. Approximately 19 million Americans suffer from
stress related illnesses. The hormone, cortisol, is...
Secrets to Longevity
Secrets to Longevity What’s the secret to living a long life? Millions of people are constantly searching for an answer to this question. Many have lived well past the average age expectancy. These people are looked upon with great admiration and...
Taking the Stress out of Making Decisions - A Wholistic Approach
The Decision
There are many times in your life when you are confronted with a
decision to make. It might be a fairly big decision related to a
career change or a relationship, or it could be a relatively
small decision such as deciding...
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Five Things You Don't (And Should!) Know About Stress
Whether it's called stress management, relaxation training, or
its newest incarnation, "Resiliancy," it seems that the question
of healthy response to the stress of daily life is on everyone's
mind. But it's important to remember a few things about stress
that are rarely discussed--if known at all!
1) Stress won't hurt you. Hans Selye, the "father of stress" was
a polylinguist, whose first language was not English. Before he
died, he said that, had his command of English been more
precise, he would have been known as the "Father of Strain"
rather than stress. What's the difference? Enormous, from an
engineering standpoint. Stress is pressure divided by unit area,
whereas strain is measured in deformation per unit length. In
other words, while strain speaks to the load you are carrying,
strain deals with the degree to which that load warps you out of
true. In other words, it is NOT stress that hurts you. It is
strain.
2) Stress is necessary for life and growth. Far from being
something you avoid, when healthy, the body and mind respond to
environmental stress by becoming stronger. Look at this in the
arena of physical fitness. Imagine a triangle with each of the
three corners having a different designation: Stress, nutrition,
and rest. Stress equals exercise, nutrition equals the foods
taken in before and after the exercise, and rest equals...well,
rest. If you have either too much or too little of any of these,
the body breaks down. Note that astronauts in orbit must be very
careful to stress their bodies daily with stationary bicycles
and other apparatus: zero gravity decreases stress to the point
that the bones literally begin to lose calcium. The truth is
that, in life, we are rewarded largely for how much stress we
can take without breaking. The intelligent approach is to both
reduce unnecessary stress and to increase our ability to handle
healthy stress without straining.
3) Come of the best research comes from
our former enemies!
Russian research into the body-mind dynamic has produced
valuable results. They figure that any physical technique has
three aspects: Breath, Motion, and Structure, and that these
three are dependant upon one another. Stress "dis-integrates"
this structure as it morphs into strain. The first to be
disturbed is almost always breathing. This is the reason that
martial arts, yoga, Sufi Dancing and so many other disciplines
can use the physical as a vehicle for spiritual transformation.
As we learn to handle greater and greater amounts of stress with
grace, we naturally evolve to higher levels of integration and
performance. It is our birthright.
4) It doesn't take years to learn proper breathing techniques.
Seek out a Chi Gung, yoga, or Tai Chi teacher and say you want
to learn proper belly breathing. A good teacher can convey the
basics of this critical skill in an hour or less.
5) You don't have to meditate for an hour a day to get the
benefits. While it's fabulous to spend two twenty minute
sessions a day, massive benefits can be gained with just five
minutes a day. Here's the trick: it's not five minutes all at
one time, it's five one minute sessions spaced through the day.
At every hour divisible by 3: 9, 12, 3, 6, and 9, simply stop
and breathe properly for sixty seconds. You can do this while
walking down the street, or sitting in a business meeting. The
important thing is to learn a proper technique, and to practice
it briefly, and correctly. This single act will improve posture,
energy, digestion, and turn stress into high performance. Five
minutes a day...it will seem a pain at first, but once you've
got the hang of it, it's the best 300 second investment you'll
ever make!
About the author:
Steven Barnes is a certified hypnotherapist, black belt martial
artist, Tai Chi instructor, and creator of the FIVE MINUTE
MIRACLE stress-busting program. Learn more at:
http://www.lifewrite.com
|
|
|
|
|
|