Archive for the ‘Stress’ Category

Many of my clients come to me to deal with their anxiety and fear and transform it into positive energy that feeds them rather than takes energy away from their lives. The causes for such heavy emotions are varied, of course, and I hear throughout my daily/weekly sessions that people are afraid of these emotions – and are doing everything in their power to avoid feeling fearful.

In my experience, avoidance is probably not the best strategy as typically the emotion you are trying to avoid comes back with a vengeance. Negative emotions can fester, too, which then can transform into fatigue or other severe health problems. Not the kind of transformation most of us seek.

There are many steps I teach my clients to take to resolve negative emotions in order to help them regulate their energy and give them their power back.

If you avoid your feelings, or are plagued by fear and anxiety, you can do something for yourself immediately. This isn’t a quick fix but a first step at help until you can get the appropriate assistance to guide you in resolving the root of your true problem.

Take Time Out
Sit comfortably. Begin breathing in through your nose, and out through the mouth with your exhale lasting approximately twice as long as your inhale. Count to yourself to guide this practice. Raise your head every so slightly. Look up and find a spot on the wall or some area or object you can focus on. Soften your breathing as you focus on this spot. Keep your eyes fixed on the spot or object and start spreading your awareness to the periphery. Notice while keeping your eyes fixed that you can also see to the sides of yourself. Now, consider the space above your head, then the space below your body. Keep expanding your awareness all the way out, reaching, stretching this awareness to encompass the room, your space, your world, the universe.

Keeping your breathing soft, notice how you feel. Now soften your thoughts. You can even imagine space….in….between….each….of….your….thoughts. You can also imagine breathing through your heart. Notice how good this feels. (It sounds weird, perhaps, but give it a go!)

Spending just a few moments practicing this technique can really diffuse a stressful situation. If you are having a hectic day, use this visualization to help you to regain control while you’re still in the situation, right when it makes a difference.

And, practice, practice, practice. Your mind and body love repetition! When you make this exercise part of your regular practice it will work better, and become an automatic response geared to help you through stressful, fearful situations.

When you find yourself feeling stressed, you can neutralize the damage by engaging in this simple exercise that begins with several deep breaths.

Sit upright in a comfortable chair with both of your feet balanced on the floor. Breathe deeply and slowly from your diaphragm (not just the top part of your lungs). Notice when you start to relax. If you want to change your physiology a bit, move around a little, wiggle your toes, take another breath. You’re settling in for even deeper relaxation! Now, try to focus your attention on your heart. Try “breathing” through your heart. (Think about this for a minute so you can get a visual that works for you.) Note the sensations your body, breath and brain experience through this sequence..

Now go ahead and think about something entirely opposite from what was the initial cause of your stress – maybe a happy moment or fun time in your life. As you fill your mind with a pleasant thought (or memory, or visual) this will actually help to change the fight or flight response in your brain and body. Fight or flight response changes the biochemical mix in your body – swapping for a pleasant thought will help alter your mind/body chemistry, too.

In this exercise, I like to think about what and who I am grateful for – people, places, things, situations that make me feel good. This not only brings a smile to my face, but helps make more positive connections in my brain that then allow me to deal with stress triggers in a healthier way.

Go ahead…try it now!

Do you know what stress is? Where it comes from? How it manifests? If everyone experiences stress the same way?

One thing is certain—stress affects our attitudes and can certainly affect our overall health and well being. How we perceive a situation causes us to have an emotional reaction to it. Many people look at the outside event as the real cause of stress, when the experience of stress is actually occurring on the inside. Common responses to stress can often be tension, anxiety, anger, and frustration. These responses can then throw off our mental and physical self, pushing us—and keeping us—out of balance.

Two people in identical circumstances may respond to stressful situations or negative triggers in totally different ways. One may react outwardly, while another may withdraw and get tired. Many experts agree that 75 percent (or more!) of the unhealthy habit of continued, excessive overeating is caused by emotional stress. This means many of us are using food to cope with our feelings, blocking our emotions in an attempt to feel better when triggered by something negative.

There are many methods for helping people reduce stress and create emotional balance to march towards positive patterns and behaviors that reinforce overall health. I attribute my success in helping clients alter unhealthy patterns by teaching them emotional management skills. My clients learn how to effectively change their responses to almost any stressful situation or negative trigger. Once my clients learn how to achieve a relaxed state and maintain that relaxation, change work becomes more comfortable, empowering, and effective.

You’ve got the power to change the negative to positive. You can minimize the impact a potentially stressful situation has on your well being. You can achieve the peace of mind you’ve always dreamed of having.

There are mounting statistics on how stress has detrimental effects on the body, mind, emotions and health. The American Institute of Stress notes that 75 to 90% of doctor visits are for stress-related complaints. A Harvard study shows that people who live in a state of high anxiety are 4.5 times more likely to suffer sudden cardiac death than non-anxious individuals. And, consider this: in 2002 people in the United States alone purchased nearly $17.2 billion dollars worth of anti depressants and anti-anxiety drugs, up more than 10% from 2001. What do you think this will amount to in 2010?

In 2002, Americans also spent $1.1 billion on prescription sleeping pills. Seven of the top ten best selling drugs are for stress-related ailments. However, this is not just an American problem. Developed nations across the globe report higher levels of stress, anger, anxiety and dissatisfaction.

Something’s gotta give.

We are constantly “on”—email, internet, cell phone, television—there is endless noise in our lives. And more and more we are experiencing the stress of others. Their energies, reactions and words. We are all get bombarded by too much information, too much chatter, too much negative energy from the busy world around us.

In my office, people will tell me they actually need their stress to get things done. It’s almost become normal to some people to think stress is a good thing. My advice and reframing of that thinking is wouldn’t it be better to have motivation, drive or power—instead of stress—pushing us forward? Remember, too much stress quickly transforms to overwhelm. Energy, clarity and creativity decline. More aches, pains, restless nights and here come the ants (automatic negative thoughts) abound. Stress truly robs us of our enjoyment and our vitality.

Symptoms of stress can include:
• irritability
• lack of humor
• worry
• excessiveness
• forgetfulness
• aches and pains
• anxiety
• fatigue
• illness
• and so much more..

In understanding stress, consider for a moment that stress is not really about the external things, like the boss, the wife, the job, the sport, the performance, the big win. It’s how you perceive (or filter) any situation and how you respond with your emotions that truly causes symptoms of stress.

Many of us reach a point in our lives when we have a negative experience. Many, too, experience emotional ups and downs. Negative energy builds up as it has nowhere to go. Our anxiety, anger, frustration, blame, can all build up inside us until we either blow up, hide under our covers, have a panic attack, or worse.

But, there really is hope! New research and modalities in therapy can help us all to have more calm and inner peace. At even the most sensitive and volatile point in life, I truly help my clients reverse the negative thought patterns. By working together, even the very, very stressed out can learn how to consistently change their reactions to almost anything life throws at them.

Curious about what awaits you? Try my CDs—Stay Calm, Stay Confident, Stay Connected—to learn more about how to manage stress this spring.

Have you seen the bumper sticker that reads “You don’t have to believe everything you think”? Well it’s true. Change your thought patterns – especially to manage the stress in your life – and your well being will change as a result.

The American Health Association and the American Medical Association have stated that stress is the number one reason for doctor visits. Stress is anger, sadness, hurt, guilt, fear, and the old voice that echoes “I’m not good enough” that manifests in your mind and in your body. People in the United States are now working more hours with less sleep and (surprise!) not experiencing as much enjoyment or fulfillment in life. This scenario sound familiar? Well, it can be turned around.

My personal breakthrough coaching helps you align with your true purpose and goals, and enables and activates your own inner strengths to lead you to resolve the negative patterns that are preventing you from having the life you want. Individual coaching works wonders with clients who really wish to deal with and minimize stress in their lives by creating effective, healthy patterns. Changing your response to your personal stress triggers is key – when you change your thought patterns you do indeed change the physical manifestations stress can have on your body (migraines, twitches, aches and pains, insomnia, and more).

It’s best to jump start this process to healing with individualized sessions. Then, on your own, my specialized CD programs can help reinforce the positive changes you experience in individual coaching sessions.

What are you waiting for?

By the time a person comes in to see me, they are usually pretty scared and confused about anxiety and panic. Most think their panic is coming out of nowhere, just happening to (or attacking) them. Through our collaborative work, early on it becomes very clear that there has been a build up of stress or major life stresses over time for the client, which is natural and normal (more than you think!). The onset of anxiety or panic does not necessarily occur immediately following a major life stress.

Major life stresses range from a death in a family, illnesses, drug use, divorce, financial difficulties, job loss, traffic accident, sports injuries, even allergic reactions to medications. There is no one cause for anxiety.

In the case of built-up stress, the first attack can and mostly does occur when there seems to be no obvious trigger. The victim might be doing something mundane like driving or watching TV. For example, one of my clients (a very successful businessman and athlete in his 60s) was driving to his beach place, which he did frequently for years, and all of a sudden he experienced dizziness and shortness of breath. He thought he was having a heart attack (which many people think is truly happening to them). He pulled off the road and his wife got in the driver’s seat and took him to the nearest hospital where he was diagnosed with vertigo. The symptoms didn’t get better over time, so he came to see me. We discovered over a few visits he had experienced anxiety and stress most of his life. He had learned to suppress it and over time it festered. Through our work together, he has been able to address the stressors in his life, and is presently doing much better and living life to the fullest.

This is typical of what I see with panic and anxiety. Most of my clients are high functioning people that just get good at pushing their feelings aside until they fester enough to turn into something more serious like a panic attack. Often anxiety runs in families, so if you grow up with an anxious mother or father, very early on you are learning to develop anxiety yourself. Children who are constantly taught or shown anxiety or who grow up in an abusive home will often develop anxiety or depression.

You can learn how to cope with the stress in your life. Learn new tools and techniques with a safe guide. The CDs I recommend for anxiety are Stay Calm and Stay Confident. One set is designed for you to listen to in a comfortable place when you can just drift off and relax to the music and suggestions. The other set is designed with repeated suggestions that help you and your brain to stay focused on what you want. Repeated listening is the key to consistent change.

See my CD catalog for these self-guided tools, and consider setting up an appointment with me today so you can be well your way to handling stress in a healthy way.

The new year often brings a new set of stressors to our lives that promote anxiety. Anxiety—or, panic attacks—affects many of us, often on a daily basis. Some feel those debilitating effects have control over our lives.

Have you ever experienced any of the following symptoms?
• Pounding heart (heart palpitations, racing heart rate)
• Sweating
• Trembling or shaking
• Sensations of shortness of breath or smothering
• Feeling of choking
• Chest pain or discomfort
• Nausea or abdominal stress
• Feeling dizzy, light headed, faint or unsteady
• Feelings of unreality or being detached from oneself
• Fear of losing control or going crazy
• Fear of dying
• Numbness or tingling sensations
• Chills or hot flashes

If so, you may have experienced an anxiety attack brought on by a stressful situation or series of events. Often times, too, one (or some) of these symptoms is followed by a powerful and persistent concern about having additional attacks, worrying about the implications from having such an attack (e.g., worrying about losing control, having a real heart attack, going crazy) or even prompting a significant change in other behavior—related attacks. Anxiety/panic attacks can mimic a lot of physical illnesses (like thyroid conditions) so it is absolutely essential to get a medical assessment by a qualified physician.

However, you can stop fearing: there are plenty of healthy ways to combat stress, to become aware of anxiety-producing situations, and to then calm down once you do feel like you’re in the middle of an attack.

You can get help—you can reduce anxiety in your life. See my CD programs on how to get started! My Stay Calm CDs are designed with specific music and words to help you to retrain your brain to be calm. One CD in this program is Guided Imagery designed for you to listen to while lying down or sitting in a quiet place. The Whole Brain Learning CD is designed with specific suggestions, repeated, with specific music. This CD can be used at any time to help you to continually focus on what you want and staying calm. Listening repeatedly is recommended for consistent change to occur.