HELP WITH STRESS MANAGEMENT, RELAXATION & WELLNESS
Most
of us know that,
while some stress
is good for most
of us –
it keeps the engine
tuned and makes
life interesting,
chronic, unmitigated
stress wears down
the immune system
and organ systems,
impedes peak functioning,
muddies thinking
and decision making,
and doesn’t
exactly make maintaining
relationships
a walk in the
park either.
And it seems that
being stressed
kind of feeds
itself, so that
pretty soon there’s
a self-sustaining
momentum to it,
and it’s
harder to pull
yourself back
to relaxation
and wellness.
And
from the look
of some of the
mail I’ve
been getting,
it appears that
some people are
further stressing
themselves over
their inability
to relax and manage
their stress!
Hey come on now!!
It’s hard
enough being tense.
No point in tensing
up over it!
I
certainly can
get as crazed
as the next person,
as anyone in the
office can attest.
But the encouraging
thing is that,
in all of us there's
always this concurrently
running "calm
channel"
that's just a
flip of the dial
away. We just
keep forgetting
it’s there,
and that we can
use the tuner
to get back to
it when we "drift"
off toward our
twitchier stations.
Anyway,
enough of these
radio metaphors.
Learning to be
calm is really
a matter of practice.
Anything that
absorbs and stills
the mind will
do it. So, for
instance, yoga
is ideal for very
tense people.
Between the necessary
focus on the movement
and the coordination
of the movement
with the breathing,
your attention
is captured, and
you get very peaceful.
It also isn’t
half bad for your
joints!
We
have some wonderful
yoga resources,
too. Susan
Winter Ward
has created some
fine starter yoga
instruction on
her video, Accessible
Yoga for Every
Body. And
we also have some
wonderful beginner
or intermediate
yoga by the legendary
Cyndi
Lee with
her Om
Yoga in a Box;
and sophisticated
yoga instruction
for aficionados,
by the very skillful
Ken McRae
– Sadhana
Yoga I and
II.
So too with walking
meditation. (There's
one on our HJ
Relieve
Stress audio
set that's pretty
effective, we’re
told. In it, attention
is brought to
the breath, to
the sensation
of the feet touching
and lifting off
the ground, and,
best of all, to
taking in all
the sights, sounds
and smells of
the environment.
That will capture
your attention
and get you calm
too, if you just
keep bringing
the mind back
to those 3 things
whenever it starts
to wander….
simple but effective.
Any movement meditation
is also very good
for tense people
who have trouble
relaxing. I recommend
Ken Cohen’s
superb Qigong
videos, Qigong,
and Qi
Healing, and
he also has a
wonderful CD on
A
Beginner’s
Guide to Healthy
Breathing,
which is yet another
way to relax and
de-stress.
Equally
excellent is Andy
Weil’s
Breathing:
the Master Key
to Healing,
and his CD set
on mindfulness
meditation, Meditation
for Optimum Health,
co-presented with
Jon Kabat-Zinn
is another superb
choice that has
wide-ranging appeal.
And
of course, many
people respond
beautifully and
deeply to guided
imagery, with
its immersive
richness and soothing
narrative and
relaxing music.
We offer quite
a variety, including
our Relieve
Stress, Relaxation
& Wellness,
and General
Wellness;
and of course,
Emmett
Miller’s
brilliant 10-Minute
Stress Manager,
as well as his
and Steve Halpern’s
powerfully relaxing
Letting
Go of Stress.
The
key is in developing
a regular practice,
so that you have
a baseline skill
to fall back on
when the going
gets rough and
you start to re-wind.
It’s really
not that hard
– it just
seems that way
when you’re
stressed!
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