Where Do You Hold Your Stress? And 5 Steps To Combat Stress

You heard me say it before and I will say it again: your mind and body are always connected. One influences the other and when one is out of balance the other will be as well.

[tweetthis]Your mind and body are always connected. One influences the other and when one is out of balance the other will be as well. [/tweetthis]

Good, now that we got that down let us talk about how you can combat stress easier.

So if the body is connected to the mind and vice-versa that means that by relaxing one of them the other will relax as well. Right? (good, happy you agree with me).

Now, the mind is a very complex system and sometimes it just does whatever it wants. Sometimes it’s just difficult to calm it down.

However, we can easily address the body. Well…..easier. By releasing physical stress, tensions, pressures in your body your mind will follow this process of relaxation.

We hold much of our mental stress from being business owners, mothers, wives etc in our bodies. Probably all of it. Everything that happens in our lives may be stored in our bodies.

neck-pain — Photo Credit: micolumnasana via Compfight cc

You may hold stress all around you body however the 2 most common areas are:

1. Shoulders and neck. Very painful stuff and the problem with holding stress and tension here is that you are restricting the nerve pathways leading from your cervical spine (The Arch Of Life) down your arms and so end up with pain and numbness in your arms, wrists, fingers

2. Lower back. Do I need to say anything about this? We all know that nagging and painful pain. The problem with holding stress and tension here is that you block other nerve pathways leading down your legs and can lead to problems such as knee pain which can lead to other problems.

The consequences of holding psychological stress in your body:

The less time you spend to relax your body the more tension you build up. And it builds up until the system collapses. Holding that tension in your body for years and years may lead to:

• Carpal tunnel syndrome
• Compression the intervertebral discs
• Chronic Lowe back pain
• Knee pain and even meniscus damage.
• Ankle pain and even Achilles tendonitis
• Should pain as mentioned before

The worst ones are those that send shooting pain down your arm or leg. Have you ever experienced that? Tension, tension and more tension.

How on earth are you going to RELAX?

Many of us struggle to relax. I know I used to, but not anymore. I learnt how to “let go” of my shoulders and arms with every occasion I have and I teach this to my students as well. The result: instant stress relieve.

So here are 5 steps to help you relax, let go and….get floppy as I always say:

1. Become aware of your body
2. Become aware of the places you hold stress and tension
3. Find a position that does not cause you to tens those areas (i.e. some desks make you unconsciously raise, and tense up, your shoulders when you type, that might be because the chair is too low or the table it to high)
4. Breathe into those areas
5. Visualize the muscles melting away and relax

Benefits of doing these steps:

Besides the fact that you feel awesome in your body again:

• you release that tension you put on your body and help it heal and recover
• you can be more focused and productive (of course with less pain to nag you you can actually do some work)
• you are more patient and calm with yourself and those around you
• you achieve more freedom of movement
• you age gracefully

I practice and teach more advances techniques. So if you feel the above steps don’t work for you then give a shout and I will step in and give you others that will work better in your case.

These relaxation practices and methods I teach should not be used to replace professional medical treatment. You may use them together with your treatment if you believe they are beneficial to you. Please also bear in mind that I am not a doctor or a therapist, but I do have experience and work with women who hold stress and tension in their bodies to help them let go it and achieve more freedom of movement.

Why You Should Master The Art Of Nothing

How many times do you allow yourself to do nothing? No work, no writing, no worries (that’s doing something you know), no talking, no waiting, no smoking, no eating or drinking, no sleeping.

One day when I got really, really overwhelmed and realised that I will never get anything done unless I stop for a moment, I laid in my bed and, since my walls are filled with posts-it notes and dream boards, I stared at the white, empty, boring ceiling.

And there were, apparently no thoughts on my mind. At times one would pop by but I let it go past like a soft feather as if it never actually happen. Then I would take my attention back to the white ceiling.

I am not sure how long I did nothing for but the result was this:

I suddenly felt lighter, calmer and more peaceful
My mind was so free and clear, even if I had the same things to do and nothing outside of me changed
I was ready to go back to writing and replying to my emails and messages and working on my business, taking each item one at a time.
No more feeling of overwhelm
I was more productive than usual

It’s such a wonderful feeling to be so deeply relaxed mind and body, a perfect combination. You can call this a meditation or mindfulness exercise.

I call it “nothing” because I was not trying to be mindful or aware of anything, I was not focusing on my breath, of my senses, there was no aim at all.

The feeling is that you create space around you. All your thoughts come out of your head, they order nicely and when you allow them to come back you can see more clear what you have to do. Everything is in order

But can you actually do it?

The problem now is that we are so caught up in the web of things that it’s becoming difficult to do nothing.

We are so busy getting things done, making things happen that now it’s virtually impossible to stop and do nothing. I think you you’ll agree with me.

So, weirdly enough, I now actually show my students how to do nothing. And it’s a challenge for all of us. Just try it….do nothing for 2 min. Don’t touch your mouse or keyboard. Just try… can you do it right now?

We do not realize that if we respond to stress and tension with more stress and tension we make things worse. We cause tension after tension after tension. Then what?

This is just one of the elements I teach my students on my course. It’s the most simple and unexpected things which really helps them break through blocks and get them to be more focused and productive, relieve stress and tackle challenges life throws as them. So check it out, it might help you as well.

So I recommend, actually I challenge you to DO NOTHING for 5-10 min today.

Then place your comments below.