Stress is really hard to define because what stresses us out is different for everyone. With this in mind, here’s a definition of stress that I like: Stress is a condition or feeling experienced when a person perceives that demands exceed the personal and social resources the individual is able to mobilize.
In other words, people feel little stress when they have the time, experience and resources to manage a situation. They feel great stress when they think they can’t handle the demands. Stress is an experience. It is not an inevitable consequence of an event: it depends on people’s perceptions of a situation and their ability to cope with it.
Although there’s an innate stress response to unexpected events, most of the stress that we are faced with is a response, in part, to the way we think. Stress reactions from our thoughts generate the same stress response as if you were in physical danger.
The interesting thing is that it doesn’t take a major fear to stress us. All it takes is a situation where we believe ourselves to not have the resources to manage the event at hand, big or small. Some times those “little things” that throw us over the edge are big stressors because we no longer feel we have the resources to cope.
Another piece to the stress puzzle is that we can feel stress when we perceive a threat to our social standing, to other people’s opinions of us, to our career prospects or to our own deeply held values. These somewhat hidden stressors can have a big impact on us and are shaped by our own inner perspectives.
What we think and how we perceive ourselves to be, really does affect us.
Stress 101
We’ve all heard of the fight or flight response. When we are threatened in any way, we react physically with hormones to allow us to run faster, circulate oxygen better, etc. Basically our bodies help us deal with the threat and then we can relax once we are in the clear.
This same type of response can occur when we perceive ourselves to be in danger-when our mind sees a situation as threatening. We may fear a situation and our hearts begin to race, the blood rushes to our heads and we may even feel physical panic. Hopefully we each have the resources to stop this reaction and come back to balance.
A bigger problem for most of us is that now-a-days we tend to experience stressors over a longer period of time and we get used to it. Job stress, societal stress, etc. aren’t just quick events. They are on-going situations that we all must face. At some point with these, we adapt and figure out how to manage on a daily basis. Yet our bodies are still experiencing some of the fight or flight physical responses, even though our brains may be able to trick us into coping. This is why we burnout. Slowly our bodies wear out as we are faced with on-going stress.
So what to do? Here are a few tips and tricks to help you with effectively manage stress.
1. Teach your body how to move in and out of stress through bodywork.
With regular bodywork, you can bring your body back to a place of balance and learn to maintain that balance as you move in and out of stressful situations. With regular bodywork such as craniosacral therapy/energy work, you experience a state of relaxation and balance that your body can then learn to access as needed. The more your body learns to maintain that balance, the better you are able to bring yourself back into that state when faced with stress. Learn more about the craniosacral therapy and vibrational energy work that I do, and how it can help!
2. Stop the stress reaction through breath.
Learning to shift your breathing from thoracic (upper chest) to lower abdomen breathing can help to calm you down. By going within and focusing on belly breathing you bring air down into the lower portion of the lungs, where the oxygen exchange is most efficient, heart rate slows, blood pressure decreases, muscles relax, anxiety eases and the mind calms. Sounds good!
3. Meditate.
As a practice itself, meditation is simply a methodical way to teach the mind stillness. It requires no mantras, no prayers or special settings. All it requires is the ability to focus on the breath. Even by taking 5 minutes a day to get quiet and focus on your breath as you let your mind relax will make a difference. If you are interested in this visit my meditation and guided visualization page and download a few exercises to use.
4. Eat right and exercise.
A healthy diet gives you the energy to handle daily stress. Skipping meals and making poor food choices can contribute to fatigue, greater susceptibility to illness and general feelings of poor health.
And, regular exercise can help to release endorphins and clear our minds. When you don’t want to exercise…that’s the time to do it!
5. Monitor your thoughts.
Become aware of what you say to yourself and how you react to the situations you are faced with. If you find yourself reacting the same way to a situation time and time again, take control and take steps to make change. Even little steps to feel more in control can help.
6. Use your imagination.
Certain mental stress relief techniques, such as affirmations, guided imagery and visualizations, can help you to not only imagine news ways of handling stress but can give you an actual physiological relaxation experience. Using guided visualization paired with energy work, or what I call intuitive energy coaching, is a very powerful tool to use to begin to understand the energy and information that may be stressing you and how you can actively work to change your inner experience.
7. Avoid “chemical” stressors.
At times we all go for the sugar, caffeine and sometimes even the cigarettes when stressed. But more often than not these will only add to the problem.
8. Recognize what you can change.
Can you avoid or eliminate the things that stress you? Once you know what stresses you, you can take steps to avoid or reduce the impact of the situation. Try to shorten your exposure to stress by taking a break or even leaving the physical premises to give yourself a break. You can also devote yourself to goal setting and applying time management techniques to help you avoid stressful situations.
By recognizing the things that you can change about a situation puts you in the driver’s seat.
9. Just say no.
Learning to set boundaries and saying no to those situations that may put you in the category of not having enough resources to manage, can go a long way.
10. Don’t be afraid to get help.
Don’t be afraid to get help from a health care professional if you are feeling stress that affects your daily life and happiness. Sometimes getting a different perspective on things can help you to make the changes needed to move through the stress to greater well being.
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Stacy Vajta, M.A., cmt has been working with clients for over 19 years, and has a private practice in Oakland, CA focusing on craniosacral therapy and vibrational energy work, supporting people through transition and change, and to maintain a healthy balance amongst the physical, emotional and the energetic throughout life’s constant change and growth. Her sessions are often described as unique and comprehensive, as she directs her healing attention to the physical, mental and spiritual. Please visit her website at www.expandedpathways.com.
Tags: coaching, craniosacral therapy, stress management, vibrational energy healing
Stacy Vajta is a master energy healer, helping people to transform their lives starting with their energy. She's on a mission to help those who feel stuck get to the energetic root of the matter and expand! Visit her Expanded Pathways website. |
About Stacy
