Stress Management
Stress has become the number one malady of our time.  According to the American Institute of Stress, up to 90% of all health problems are related to stress.  Additionally, a large body of research confirms that our thoughts and emotions have a dynamic effect on our health and vitality.  The constant pressure associated with living in the fast-paced world has created an environment where nearly everyone is suffering from excessive stress.

Stress is the body and mind's response to any pressure that disrupts its normal balance. Stress occurs when our perception of events doesn't meet our expectations and we are unable to manage our reaction. Change, illness, injury or career and lifestyle changes, are common causes of stress, however, it's the pressure and tension we feel in response to the little everyday hassles -- like rush hour traffic, waiting in line, and too many e-mails -- that do the damage. We look at outside events as the source of stress, but in fact many stressors are caused by our emotional reactions to events.

The fact is you can't eliminate stress from your life, but you can learn how to manage it and reverse the damage it can cause.  Here are some tools that can be helpful:

  1. Nutritional and Medical Support – Staying healthy and providing the body with nutrients essential for repair and optimal function can help alleviate some of the physical effects of stress.  When more support is needed there are prescription medications that can be useful to treat blood pressure, anxiety, depression, fatigue, etc.
  2. HeartMath System – The HeartMath System was developed as a tool to help every person learn how to cope with stress better.  HeartMath's research has shown when you learn how to intentionally shift to a positive emotion, heart rhythms immediately change. A shift in heart rhythms may not seem important but in fact it creates a favorable cascade of neural, hormonal and biochemical events that benefit the entire body. The stress-reducing effects are both immediate and long lasting.
  3. Exercise – Cardiovascular workouts to basic stretching exercises can help the body release the tension that arises from every day stress.  Yoga, Tai chi, or Qi Gong are all examples of stretching exercises that can also have a strengthening component to them also.
  4. Meditation – Meditation is the practice of centering one’s self, so that the stress from the every day is shut out for a short period of time.  It can help change reactions to every day stress.
  5. Body Work – Body work such as acupuncture, massage or Cranial Sacral Therapy can help reduce the effects of stress on the body by allowing the body to relax and heal.
 



If this elephant of mind is bound on all sides by the cord of mindfulness,
All fear disappears and complete happiness comes.
All enemies: all the tigers, lions, elephants, bears, serpents (of our emotions);
And all the keepers of hell; the demons and the horrors,
All of these are bound by the mastery of your mind,
And by the taming of that one mind, all are subdued,
Because from the mind are derived all fears and immeasurable sorrows.


Shantideva