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Stress Relief Techniques
Stress Relief Techniques
By Joie Lehman
April 03, 2008
http://thepowerhouse.wetpaint.com/
Contact: ourpowerhouse@gmail.com
There are many relaxation techniques that you can use to help relieve stress. You can find books, CD’s, DVD’s, and as I have mentioned, magazines are always featuring an article related to stress management techniques. But, the key essential ingredient to stress relief, goes back to the work book page, ‘Managing Emotional Overeating’. Knowing all the techniques available, effective or not, will not be a benefit to you, if you do not find the time to implement them into your life. The best way to start and maintain a daily stress relief regimen is by incorporating it into your daily routine.
You will always have unwanted interruptions in your life. Whether it be your spouse, your children, your parents, friends, there are always people that can be demanding upon your time. Sometimes these demands that absorb so much of our time, we have invited. But it is important that we learn to take some necessary and needed time out for our needs, including our need to relax.
If you are at home, try to plan time in your schedule when the demands are not at their highest. Perhaps wait until the kids are tucked into bed. If you are married, let your spouse know you need some special quiet time just for yourself. It can be their job to keep all distractions away from you, including themselves! Reward those that respect your quiet time, by giving them their own quiet time, or by giving of yourself to them, special quality time. Chances are, if you are allowed this time to unwind, those around you will also reap the benefits of a happier you!
Sometimes you will have those thoughts, it is much easier to deal with this stress with a bag of chips or those cookies! But you do have a choice to make. You can either stay in bondage to temptation, or free yourself by finding healthier motion solutions, and turning it over to God in prayer.
Effective stress relief methods:
Yoga and Tai chi:
Yoga and Tai chi are excellent forms of stress relief exercises. Both utilize mental imagery, breathing, motion, and stretching. According to the 'US Department of Health and Human Services, “Tai Chi, a traditional Chinese form of exercise, may help older adults avoid getting shingles by increasing immunity to varicella-zoster virus (VZV) and boosting the immune response to varicella vaccine in older adults.” Shingles is a very miserable and painful physical reaction to stress, avoiding it all together is highly recommended!
You do not have to be able to wrap your legs around your head to gain the benefits of yoga. Yoga basically is stretching while using meditation. There are many fine examples of how yoga can benefit those with limited mobility. Taking a class, sharing this time and experience can be fun and rewarding, but if you prefer going solo, there are many books, and dvd’s available to guide you through these techniques.
Prayer is not only an experience felt by the heart, it is to be experienced of by your whole self, mind, body and spirit.
"Be still and know that I am God;" Psalms 46:10
You can find the following books in The Power House Bookstore; 'Yoga For Christians' 'Invitation to Christian Yoga' and 'Reclaiming The Body in Christian Spirituality'
Get Some Oxygen
Breathing can be done any where at any time! We breathe naturally, but often we don’t breath effectively. What do we breathe in when we take a breath? Oxygen! When you take a deeper breath, you are increasing the amount of oxygen in your blood. Once that oxygen is detected by your brain, it recognizes the need to shut down that production of cortisol that we mentioned in the work book page, ‘Emotional Stress Causes Emotional Overeating' which in turn, lowers stress! While keeping your shoulders still, inhale, expanding your abdomen fully, count, one, two, three, and exhale. You just inhaled six to eight times more air. Doing this two or three times should do the brain trigger trick, lowering those stress producing hormones!
All We Need Is Love
Love your stress away. Love is not something we all simply want, it is something that we all need. Out of all things, love is our one and only true need. I would rather starve, go hungry, live under a cardboard box, than be without love. The best way to receive love, feel love, is to give it away.
Hugging is an excellent form of loving! Having a teen age daughter, I can tell you honestly that we often find ourselves in the middle of world war 3! It is so painfully frustrating and stressful for both of us while engaging in battle. She is stubborn, uh ... uh ... like her father, yeah, like her father! That stubbornness can lock us into what seems like a never ending battle with no resolution to be seen. When locked into a non resolution battle, the only way that seems to release us from that point of no return, is to immediately stop fighting and start hugging. I must also admit, that it is my daughter that first engaged this hugging method. Regardless of who wraps their arms around the other first, you will find that despite your stubborn efforts to cling to the misery, it does begin to slip away!
Holding hands with the one you love can also reduce stress. Recently I read an article in webmd.com of a study performed on married couples. As they were hooked up to a few wires, they were told to expect a shock. The women who were holding their husbands hands at the time of the shock, their brain activity was much calmer. Affection is soothing under any circumstance.
When I was a small child, my family attended church services routinely. That was back in the ancient times, before the mega churches with a large staff ministering to children. Children did not have special programs, we sat with our parents through the entire service! I am not certain if it was more excruciating for us as small children or for our parents. But I do remember one thing that I loved and will always treasure about those services. Rather than being pinched by my Mother for being too fidgety, she often would reach over and take my hand in hers. We had a little hand hold signal, three squeezes say, I-love-you. Many times we loved our way through the whole service!
A little act of kindness goes a long way to reduce stress. When you take your mind off of yourself and your own problems and shift that negative energy into a positive energy by helping someone else, you will feel much better!
Within our weight loss coaching group, ‘The Power House’, I have received many thank yous from those within the group, for the time, the energy, the effort that I put in the group, and for caring. I recently responded to one of those messages stating, “In all honesty, the work I do in the group is almost a selfish act. What I get back in return, experiencing loving relationships with the group members, having an opportunity to share and give of myself, brings to me so much pleasure and joy that I believe I am receiving far more than I am giving.” When I started the group, my intentions were simply to serve my Lord, doing what he had instructed me to do. What the Lord has taught me in the process, through serving Him, he is actually providing for me. As I serve, he continues to provide, side by side, working together, a wonderful partnership is formed.
When stated, “I don’t know my purpose in life.” My advise, helping others is our purpose in life. We were all given gifts and talents to use for this purpose. Sometimes we go through life searching for that purpose. One does not have to have mega super star talents to be a super star. Kindness is a gift to give, to anyone, at any time, under any circumstance.
Being witness to someone else’s act of kindness can also boost those ‘good hormones’ that lower your cortisol levels. One day while standing in the 10 items or less line at the grocery store, the gentleman that was paying for his goods, quietly slipped extra money to the clerk telling her to pay for the purchases behind him and he quickly left, not to be noticed. The knowledge of his incredible act of kindness quickly spread down the line of customers. Even though I was not the customer that had my purchases paid for, I received an incredible feel good high from his act of kindness. I was not the only customer that walked out of the store smiling inside and out!
Journalising
"Thoughts and feelings, or the cognitive processing and emotions related to cancer, are key writing elements associated with health benefits, according to previous studies." Nancy Morgan, Lombardi Center - read more ...
Never had I thoughts, that I would enjoy writing so much, until I found myself piled in a heap of stress. While in the process of a divorce, struggling with major financial difficulties, health issues, and trying to be a fairly decent Mom of a a 4 year old, I was deeply experiencing the stress over load. Not wanting to share my burdens with others by complaints and woe is me attitude's, I began writing. Many many pages do I have written, many never to be seen, never to be shared. It was through that process of expression, that cleared my vision, relieved so much stress, and brought to me a new passion in my life. Keeping a journal can be an excellent form of psychotherapy!
Turn it off and tune in the 'good news'
Turn the negative off! We can become so absorbed in not only our own personal struggles and stresses, we can also become overly consumed in the stresses of our country and our world. We read, we listen, we watch the never ending depressing news that is always presented to us through our media. Turning off and tuning out once in awhile is highly recommended for stress prevention! There are feel good things happening in your community and in this world. Discover and focus more time on the positive. Even though it seems to be forgotten, I do believe ‘good news’ is news worthy! Tune in the good news.
My local small town paper printed a section on how to get news published in their paper. The paper states, there is more news happening in our community, than they have reporters to cover. So utilizing their guidelines, if one wanted to make that their purpose, a great opportunity awaits! There is always an opportunity somewhere, to be a reporter of good news!
A cheerful look brings joy to the heart, and good news gives health to the bones. Proverbs 15:30
How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news, who proclaim peace, who bring good tidings, who proclaim salvation, who say to Zion, "Your God reigns!" Isaiah 52:7
By Joie Lehman
April 03, 2008
http://thepowerhouse.wetpaint.com/
Contact: ourpowerhouse@gmail.com
There are many relaxation techniques that you can use to help relieve stress. You can find books, CD’s, DVD’s, and as I have mentioned, magazines are always featuring an article related to stress management techniques. But, the key essential ingredient to stress relief, goes back to the work book page, ‘Managing Emotional Overeating’. Knowing all the techniques available, effective or not, will not be a benefit to you, if you do not find the time to implement them into your life. The best way to start and maintain a daily stress relief regimen is by incorporating it into your daily routine.
You will always have unwanted interruptions in your life. Whether it be your spouse, your children, your parents, friends, there are always people that can be demanding upon your time. Sometimes these demands that absorb so much of our time, we have invited. But it is important that we learn to take some necessary and needed time out for our needs, including our need to relax.
If you are at home, try to plan time in your schedule when the demands are not at their highest. Perhaps wait until the kids are tucked into bed. If you are married, let your spouse know you need some special quiet time just for yourself. It can be their job to keep all distractions away from you, including themselves! Reward those that respect your quiet time, by giving them their own quiet time, or by giving of yourself to them, special quality time. Chances are, if you are allowed this time to unwind, those around you will also reap the benefits of a happier you!
Sometimes you will have those thoughts, it is much easier to deal with this stress with a bag of chips or those cookies! But you do have a choice to make. You can either stay in bondage to temptation, or free yourself by finding healthier motion solutions, and turning it over to God in prayer.
Effective stress relief methods:
Yoga and Tai chi:
Yoga and Tai chi are excellent forms of stress relief exercises. Both utilize mental imagery, breathing, motion, and stretching. According to the 'US Department of Health and Human Services, “Tai Chi, a traditional Chinese form of exercise, may help older adults avoid getting shingles by increasing immunity to varicella-zoster virus (VZV) and boosting the immune response to varicella vaccine in older adults.” Shingles is a very miserable and painful physical reaction to stress, avoiding it all together is highly recommended!
You do not have to be able to wrap your legs around your head to gain the benefits of yoga. Yoga basically is stretching while using meditation. There are many fine examples of how yoga can benefit those with limited mobility. Taking a class, sharing this time and experience can be fun and rewarding, but if you prefer going solo, there are many books, and dvd’s available to guide you through these techniques.
Prayer is not only an experience felt by the heart, it is to be experienced of by your whole self, mind, body and spirit.
"Be still and know that I am God;" Psalms 46:10
You can find the following books in The Power House Bookstore; 'Yoga For Christians' 'Invitation to Christian Yoga' and 'Reclaiming The Body in Christian Spirituality'
Get Some Oxygen
Breathing can be done any where at any time! We breathe naturally, but often we don’t breath effectively. What do we breathe in when we take a breath? Oxygen! When you take a deeper breath, you are increasing the amount of oxygen in your blood. Once that oxygen is detected by your brain, it recognizes the need to shut down that production of cortisol that we mentioned in the work book page, ‘Emotional Stress Causes Emotional Overeating' which in turn, lowers stress! While keeping your shoulders still, inhale, expanding your abdomen fully, count, one, two, three, and exhale. You just inhaled six to eight times more air. Doing this two or three times should do the brain trigger trick, lowering those stress producing hormones!
All We Need Is Love
Love your stress away. Love is not something we all simply want, it is something that we all need. Out of all things, love is our one and only true need. I would rather starve, go hungry, live under a cardboard box, than be without love. The best way to receive love, feel love, is to give it away.
Hugging is an excellent form of loving! Having a teen age daughter, I can tell you honestly that we often find ourselves in the middle of world war 3! It is so painfully frustrating and stressful for both of us while engaging in battle. She is stubborn, uh ... uh ... like her father, yeah, like her father! That stubbornness can lock us into what seems like a never ending battle with no resolution to be seen. When locked into a non resolution battle, the only way that seems to release us from that point of no return, is to immediately stop fighting and start hugging. I must also admit, that it is my daughter that first engaged this hugging method. Regardless of who wraps their arms around the other first, you will find that despite your stubborn efforts to cling to the misery, it does begin to slip away!
Holding hands with the one you love can also reduce stress. Recently I read an article in webmd.com of a study performed on married couples. As they were hooked up to a few wires, they were told to expect a shock. The women who were holding their husbands hands at the time of the shock, their brain activity was much calmer. Affection is soothing under any circumstance.
When I was a small child, my family attended church services routinely. That was back in the ancient times, before the mega churches with a large staff ministering to children. Children did not have special programs, we sat with our parents through the entire service! I am not certain if it was more excruciating for us as small children or for our parents. But I do remember one thing that I loved and will always treasure about those services. Rather than being pinched by my Mother for being too fidgety, she often would reach over and take my hand in hers. We had a little hand hold signal, three squeezes say, I-love-you. Many times we loved our way through the whole service!
A little act of kindness goes a long way to reduce stress. When you take your mind off of yourself and your own problems and shift that negative energy into a positive energy by helping someone else, you will feel much better!
Within our weight loss coaching group, ‘The Power House’, I have received many thank yous from those within the group, for the time, the energy, the effort that I put in the group, and for caring. I recently responded to one of those messages stating, “In all honesty, the work I do in the group is almost a selfish act. What I get back in return, experiencing loving relationships with the group members, having an opportunity to share and give of myself, brings to me so much pleasure and joy that I believe I am receiving far more than I am giving.” When I started the group, my intentions were simply to serve my Lord, doing what he had instructed me to do. What the Lord has taught me in the process, through serving Him, he is actually providing for me. As I serve, he continues to provide, side by side, working together, a wonderful partnership is formed.
When stated, “I don’t know my purpose in life.” My advise, helping others is our purpose in life. We were all given gifts and talents to use for this purpose. Sometimes we go through life searching for that purpose. One does not have to have mega super star talents to be a super star. Kindness is a gift to give, to anyone, at any time, under any circumstance.
Being witness to someone else’s act of kindness can also boost those ‘good hormones’ that lower your cortisol levels. One day while standing in the 10 items or less line at the grocery store, the gentleman that was paying for his goods, quietly slipped extra money to the clerk telling her to pay for the purchases behind him and he quickly left, not to be noticed. The knowledge of his incredible act of kindness quickly spread down the line of customers. Even though I was not the customer that had my purchases paid for, I received an incredible feel good high from his act of kindness. I was not the only customer that walked out of the store smiling inside and out!
Journalising
"Thoughts and feelings, or the cognitive processing and emotions related to cancer, are key writing elements associated with health benefits, according to previous studies." Nancy Morgan, Lombardi Center - read more ...
Never had I thoughts, that I would enjoy writing so much, until I found myself piled in a heap of stress. While in the process of a divorce, struggling with major financial difficulties, health issues, and trying to be a fairly decent Mom of a a 4 year old, I was deeply experiencing the stress over load. Not wanting to share my burdens with others by complaints and woe is me attitude's, I began writing. Many many pages do I have written, many never to be seen, never to be shared. It was through that process of expression, that cleared my vision, relieved so much stress, and brought to me a new passion in my life. Keeping a journal can be an excellent form of psychotherapy!
Turn it off and tune in the 'good news'
Turn the negative off! We can become so absorbed in not only our own personal struggles and stresses, we can also become overly consumed in the stresses of our country and our world. We read, we listen, we watch the never ending depressing news that is always presented to us through our media. Turning off and tuning out once in awhile is highly recommended for stress prevention! There are feel good things happening in your community and in this world. Discover and focus more time on the positive. Even though it seems to be forgotten, I do believe ‘good news’ is news worthy! Tune in the good news.
My local small town paper printed a section on how to get news published in their paper. The paper states, there is more news happening in our community, than they have reporters to cover. So utilizing their guidelines, if one wanted to make that their purpose, a great opportunity awaits! There is always an opportunity somewhere, to be a reporter of good news!
A cheerful look brings joy to the heart, and good news gives health to the bones. Proverbs 15:30
How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news, who proclaim peace, who bring good tidings, who proclaim salvation, who say to Zion, "Your God reigns!" Isaiah 52:7
Jo95682 |
Latest page update: made by Jo95682
, May 30 2008, 8:41 AM EDT
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Keyword tags:
holding hands
hugging
kindness
love
oxygen
stress articles
tai chi
weight loss
yoga
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| Started By | Thread Subject | Replies | Last Post | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| debic1965 | hugs | 5 | Aug 11 2008, 4:06 PM EDT by demasblue | ||
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Thread started: Apr 9 2008, 6:12 PM EDT
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Someone told me you need 7 hugs a day to stay healthy. Are we getting our hugs?? I know with my residents I am. Though on non-clinical months my husband picks up the slack. LOL.. what about you?
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Keyword tags:
holding hands
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stress articles
tai chi
weight loss
yoga
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