This is a very effective self-help technique any time you are feeling stressed:
Emotional Stress Release –ESR
– Sit down at the table. Put your hand on your forehead and rest your elbow on the table.
– Take a breath in, then breathe out, out, out, out, out. Now breathe in again. Do this a couple of times keeping your hand across your forehead.
– Run through in your mind or say out loud what is distressing you. Engage all five senses:
* who or what is involved
* where are you
* what happened or didn’t happen that you wanted
* what has been said or not said
* the comments in your own head
* the feelings that triggered
* where the feelings register in your body.
This is not about right or wrong, or good or bad. It is to acknowledge the impact of the stress on you, your experience of stress.
– Take a deep breath and release if fully
– Run through the scene again:
* who is involved
* what was said or happened
* the feeling in you and where it lives in your body
– Take a deep breath, release slowly
– Once again run through the scene, keep it more brief this time
– Keep repeating the breathing and alternating with acknowledgement of your experience of the stress, till there is no more stress or “charge” in the recall, or till you feel calmer, more grounded. This could be 3 to 7 times.
– Put your hand down and recheck how your body feels when you think about the whole issue or the scene.
This will help you to reduce day-to-day stress and the accumulating distress that threatens to overwhelm you. If distress comes back more often then you want make an appointment to see a specialist. A Kinesiologist will help you identify further ways to reduce stress so you can free your front brain to engage in problem solving in the unique way that works for you.
More on stress later.
Cheers