Let's Talk About Stress

In recent years, we've discovered more and more about how stress affects a person's health. Medical studies are continually pointing to the very real effects stress has on our bodies and minds. So, it seems only natural to pay attention - and make a real effort to find ways of dealing with stress.

One of the first things to note might come as a surprise: stress is not all bad. According to Dr. Kate Hathaway, a clinical psychologist working in the academic and clinical field of health psychology, the positive benefits of stress include alertness, increased self-confidence when induced in a challenge-based situation, and improved coping and interpersonal problem-solving skills.

When stressed, a combination of physical, cognitive, emotional and social responses occur. Your heart rate and breathing might be affected, and you may tend to concentrate on the stressor. Generally, you have less access to emotional reactions, with the exception of fear and anger, and you might withdraw emotionally.

Managing Stress

"Stress management," Hathaway explains, "is an individual challenge. No one solution works for everyone." You'll do well to remember, too, that the environment supplies the stress and you provide the coping mechanism.

This concept is easy to understand from an outside perspective, when you might not be feeling any - or very little - stress. But what can you do when you're in the thick of it and need some techniques that can help you get control of the stress?

Here are a few ideas:

The physical effects of stress are sometimes the most bothersome. One great way to deal with the physical signs of stress, particularly if you can't get away from work, is to simply stretch. If you're at a desk or have some time between clients, go through a simple, basic stretching routine. You don't need to do anything extensive to realize some benefits and get some relief. Also, pay attention to your breathing. Take a couple of deep breaths, inhaling and exhaling slowly. These efforts don't require a lot of time, but can go a long way in interrupting your focusing on the stressor and stop the stress from spiraling.

Be sure you're taking care of yourself. Making sure you're eating well and getting enough sleep are integral aspects of combating the effects of stress. Ask yourself during times of high stress: Am I getting eight hours of sleep? What have I been eating, and is my diet balanced? Am I taking my vitamins? Whenever possible, get outside. Taking a brief walk over your lunch hour, for example, gives you the benefit of getting fresh air as well as new visual stimuli. Even for brief periods of time, getting a new perspective by getting up and out can really help.

Cognitively speaking, Hathaway has some suggestions as well. "Increase your sense of control," she explains. "Increase the 'I can' statements while decreasing the 'I can't' statements you make." You should also be careful about the number of "would've, could've, should've" statements you're making and instead, focus your energy on planning, reorganizing and prioritizing.

Remember, you can't go back in time, but you can effectively deal with the present.

To this point, Hathaway encourages individuals to try to eliminate the "all or nothing" approach to stressful situations. Open yourself up to the possibility of having options, and instead of passing judgement, increase your acceptance of where you are. "Acceptance is not the same as judging the situation to be good," Hathaway explains. "But you can admit your own influence over a situation and unglue opinions from facts."

The key, as with maintaining a holistic vision of your health, is to be mindful of what's going on physically and emotionally. "Observe yourself and your thoughts," Hathaway suggests. "Be aware of your body posture."

The emotional aspects of stress also need to be managed. Two places to start include practicing optimism and finding ways to increase your joy. "Access your memories, especially any time you've spent in nature," Hathaway encourages. "Practice gratitude, kindness and generosity."

The recurring theme throughout is continued here: Being mindful. "Practice staying in the moment," explains Hathaway.

Did you know that April is "Stress Awareness Month"? Come celebrate by booking yourself a massage and working on managing your stress!



~mtj/Massage Therapy Journal Spring 2011

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Body Sense

Pain is the body's wake-up call. Although we often fail to notice minor stresses and strains, most people notice pain as the body calls out for attention. Our typical response to pain is to try and suppress it or get rid of it. However, there is another, more powerful way to work with pain: by feeling it instead of avoiding it.

It may not seem like it at the time, but pain exists in our bodies as a way of getting our attention back to ourselves. Pain is one of the pathways our body uses to spontaneously and automatically remind us to notice a physical or emotional threat we may have been avoiding. This noticing and feeling directly into our bodies, even our pain, is what I call embodied self-awareness, or more simply, "body sense".

Body sense is the ability to feel sensations and emotions in the present moment without the mediation of judgement or thought. In fact, whenever thoughts of any kind come into our awareness, we immediately go offline from our body sense; we are not in the moment.

Present moment body sense is like a booster shot for the nervous system. When we become aware of feelings, including pain, it means that the self-regulatory network of the brain can be activated as a single unit of neural integration. This integrated network is exceptionally powerful because it can find the most optimal form of functioning across neuromuscular, digestive, hormonal, cardiovascular, and immune systems leading to a reduction of pain and ultimately a return to healthy functioning.

Body sense is one of the oldest, most powerful tools available for healing. It is as simple as noticing the aroma of good food, feeling your feet on the floor, or sensing the warmth and softness of touch. Body sense calls us to the present moment, brings us back to ourselves, and wakes us up to what our body really needs. Body sense is also elusive, mysterious, easy to forget and difficult to rediscover. It takes practice, discipline, and concentration.

Below is a quick and helpful body sense exercise you can do in your spare time:

Find a quiet place to sit or lie down, coming to rest inside of yourself. Let your body sink into gravity as much as you are able. Locate the painful area and feel the boundaries of the pain. Is it, for example, the whole leg, just in the thigh, or localized to just above the knee on the inside of your leg, etc? Your headache may be just behind your right eye, or just over your left ear. Shift your awareness between painful areas and adjacent non-painful areas. Notice the differences. Let the non-painful parts talk to the painful parts. This is often enough to start the pain to move or soften.

Now forget the pain and focus on your breathing, the sense of your body connecting with the surface on which you are sitting or lying, or on some other constant and reliable presence that feels safe, stable and supportive. These are your resources. Other resources could be the non-painful parts of your body, the trees over your head, a clock ticking, someone's hand that you are holding for support, a bodywork practitioner who is touching you, a stuffed animal, or a mental image of a person you love. Make sure you can locate these resources reliably, because you'll need to come back to them anytime the pain becomes too much.

Now, localize the pain again; then access your resources. Practice going back and forth between the pain and the resource. Finally, with you resource in mind, come back to the pain, and this time, go into it. Really try to feel it. You may not be able to do this at first. your pulse may quicken, you might cry or sweat, your breathing may become shallow, and you may gasp for air. This is your sympathetic (arousal) nervous system's response to feeling threatened. Come back to your resource. See if you can let your parasympathetic (relaxation) nervous system help you settle down. Try again. This is a process. It may take multiple tries and multiple sessions. If your resource stops working for you, try a different one. You can have a whole collection of resources - no limit - if that helps.

~Excerpt taken from an article written by Alan Fogel, PhD, LMT in Massage and Bodywork, March/April 2011

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