Knowing the harmful effects of stress, it is in our best interest to control it before it controls our health & well-being.
Stress is the body’s natural response to anything that disturbs its physical, emotional, and/or mental balance. Stress in itself is not good or bad, it is how we respond to it that makes the difference. We may feel that some stress is necessary to motivate us to meet life’s challenges, but in reality it holds us back. When stress becomes constant & chronic, it can have severe consequences. Negative stress manifests as a feeling of heaviness & pressure on our physical/ mental capacities, making us feel overwhelmed, anxious & hampering our performance.
Stress can be internal (guilt) or external (noise); negative (loss of a job) or positive (promotion). The least harmful stress is where we have enough control or some predictability. But when there is no predictability we remain in a state of high-alert and anxiety. At such times we need to increase our resistance to the stressor as we work toward removing or at least reducing it.

The body’s automatic reaction to stress is the ‘fight or flight’ response, which has 3 stages:

  • Stage 1: Alarm – the body releases hormones and prepares for physical action.
  • Stage 2: Resistance – the body tries to simultaneously resist and adapt to the stress and to repair any damage done.
  • Stage 3: Exhaustion – the result of the stress remaining constant, this may start the alarm cycle all over again. This is where disease takes hold of our body/mind resulting in debilitating conditions like migraines, heart conditions, and mental illness.

If stress can cause and contribute to illness, then reducing stress has the opposite effect and can even encourage healing. In managing stress, there are a wide variety of therapeutic approaches available namely, Hypnosis, Progressive (muscular) relaxation, Breathing techniques, Guided imagery and Biofeedback.
All stress management techniques have one crucial common element – Relaxation. Achieving a relaxed and centered state induces peace to replace the anxiety, akin to consciously lighting a candle to dispel the darkness.

“Happiness is not being pained in body or troubled in mind.” – Jefferson

Is stress affecting your health? Join us on Thursday October 12, 2017 at 6:30pm for our Stress Management Workshop and leave your stress behind!
Register online: https://hypno-healing.com/event/stress-management-workshop-2/

All the best,
Debbie Papadakis