Stressed Out? You can learn to Relax And
Enjoy Your Life
By Deborah Ferris MA, M.Ht.
Perhaps you are
in a situation right now that is causing you stress, the kind that makes your
stomach feel like a runaway roller coaster or fluttering butterflies. Maybe your stress shows up as painful
headaches or muscular tension. And as if
that wasn’t enough, you may also feel overwhelmed, angry or depressed, even
easily fatigued. That’s just to name a
few of the many physical and emotional symptoms of stress.
All of these
symptoms are typical when we experience negative stress whether it’s due to a work problem or
some other issue that has gone awry in our lives.
Fight or Flight can take a toll
When our bodies
experience negative stress, we go into what Hans Selye,
the famous Canadian father of stress, coined as ‘fight or flight’. Our
bodies prepare to either flee or fight and as they do that, the brain sends out
signals that cause hormones like cortisol and
adrenaline to be released. If we undergo
repeated stressful situations, this fight or flight mechanism, that was meant
to protect us from dangerous situations, actually begins to harm us and our
health can be comprised.
Studies, such as
a Canadian Heart & Stroke Foundation report, show that 1 in 2 Canadians claimed
they were stressed out and that the workplace was the most common source of
stress. As well, stress accounts for 80%
of chronic illnesses in
So what can you
do about the problem with your boss or a family member or the fact that you
don’t have enough money to pay your bills or the myriad types of situations
that cause negative stress in our lives everyday? There will always be stress but you can learn
how to manage it so you feel and act in ways that are positive. Most of all you
can learn to relax and enjoy your life more.
Ways to Handle Stress
In fact, you
probably know about some of the things you can do to help yourself from
experiencing negative stress. You can
use deep breathing and meditation to let go of stress. You can also learn how to communicate better
to get your needs met and how to work towards a compromise in a conflict. You’ve probably heard that exercise like
yoga, tai chi, and aerobic activities such as walking and bicycling can help
you to feel calmer and more in control.
All of these are
excellent ways to lead a more stress-free life.
But often people forget in the moment of stress what to do or how to
handle the situation.
From my
experience, I’ve learned that stress can be best handled, if you have had
practice repeatedly in dealing with it successfully. And one of the ways to do that is through
hypnosis.
Hypnosis Helps to Ease Stress
When you go into
hypnosis, you enter into a natural, focused state of mind in which your brain
actually slows down. In this restful state
you have direct access to your subconscious and it is at this level of the mind
that you can make positive changes with long-term results.
While you are in
hypnosis, your hypnotherapist gives you positive
suggestions that will help you to be calmer and more in control during any
future stressful situations. As well,
you will be able to access your inner creativity to find positive solutions
that help you to handle any of the problems that come with that stress.
For instance, if
your supervisor is criticizing you and you are feeling angry and hurt with a
situation that is rapidly deteriorating, thanks to
hypnosis you would have a technique to handle this situation in a positive way
and in the moment.
The more often
you take yourself into hypnosis, the more easily and deeply you will hypnotize
yourself. As you continue to focus on
positive suggestions and solutions around situations that cause you stress, you
will find yourself being able to handle them better, more easily and in a
calmer more controlled way, even a more creative way.
You may even
find that your perception of stress changes and that you are not bothered by
certain situations any longer. You have
new ways of thinking and behaving that benefit you.
Facts about Hypnosis
Hypnosis is a
practical and powerful way to change negative thoughts, beliefs and behaviours. While
you are in hypnosis you are always in control and can never be made to do
anything that is against your ethics or morals.
You can never become stuck in hypnosis.
It is a relaxing
and refreshing state that can only take place if you wish it to. In other words, you can not be hypnotized
against your will. You must want to be
hypnotized.
Hypnosis has
been used to help people with everything from stress and anxiety to helping
people to lose weight, stop smoking and to improve study skills. As well, hypnotherapists
use it to assist clients to release phobias, fears, to enhance self-esteem,
self-confidence and even to become better athletes.
When you think
about it, illness and pain whether emotional or physical, can be helped or
hampered by the way we think. Therefore,
by working with your mind, you are working at the right level to eliminate or
alleviate a situation that is harming you and preventing you from living the
life you want to lead.
So the next time
you are feeling stressed out, you might consider hypnosis because one of the
greatest gifts you can give yourself is being relaxed and feeling positive
about yourself and your life.
Next time I’ll
focus on how you can use meditation to release stress and the following week
look for information on how communication and self-talk can also help you to
deal with stressors in your life.