When a person comes to see me, as a hypnotherapist, to work on stress, I teach them relaxation and have them create a peaceful place in their minds. I tell them, “This can be a favorite vacation spot, or a place you create solely in your imagination.” The main idea is that it’s serene and safe.

I’ve heard people poke fun of the idea of a “peaceful spot.” They can’t believe that anything so simple can be effective. But after working with hundreds of people with this concept, I’ve seen the positive results. Practicing relaxation daily with this image can reduce stress significantly. I’ve seen stress, pain, and anxiety decrease immensely with this technique.

Recently, I read an article about girls who were susceptible to depression. They were able to rewire their brains to reduce this risk. People like them have an overreaction to upsetting experiences, which can be seen in brain scans.

Stanford researchers scanned the brains of these girls to see how they responded to negative pictures. The area of the brain that responds to stress showed increased activation on the scans. The researchers then instructed them to think of pleasant experiences and shift their focus from negative to positive images. On brain scans, it showed that the part of the brain triggered by stress calmed down.

Even several days after the exercises, the girls showed the same reduced reaction to stressful images. They were able to rewire their brains to be less reactive to stress, which in turn reduced the likelihood of depression later on.

This is very similar to the technique I teach my clients. But I also include relaxation, which reduces stress on its own. You can rewire your brain so you don’t overreact to stress, which will reduce the amount of stress and anxiety that you experience in your life.

Practice relaxation and imagining yourself in a special place. Then imagine an upsetting image, and immediately switch your attention back to your special place and all its peace.

This is one of the traditional ways hypnotherapists, like me, have used to help clients deal with stress. It’s gratifying when the techniques I’ve used for so many years are proved to be valid by scientific research.

Inspired by: Study suggests girls can ‘rewire’ brains to ward off depression.

~ Linda-Ann Stewart

imagery · personal growth · relaxation · self-hypnosis · self-improvement

by K.P. Rajagopalan

Another very effective stress management method has been developed by Chinese Doctor Zhi Gang Sha, an MD in Western Medicine, presently practising traditional Chinese medicine in the USA & Canada.

Dr. Sha has been able to bring considerable & sustained relief to long-standing sufferers of migraine, asthma, back pain and even serious diseases like multiple sclerosis and cancer. It is of interest to note that Dr. Sha has also worked as the personal physician of the Dy. Prime Minister of China.  He calls his system of healing as “Power Healing” which is a combination of 4 techniques namely, Body Power, Soul Power, Sound Power and Mind Power which can be adapted for healing of any abnormal condition of  the  body, quickly and easily.

The procedure adopted for ‘stress management’  in  the “Power Healing” system of therapy is based on the discovery/understanding that stress is any energy blockage in the head & removing the same will reduce your stress right away.

The following practice is a simple & effective one for reducing stress.

Body Power

Sit in a chair.  Keep your back straight & don’t lean back against the chair.  Use the One hand near, One hand far Body Power technique i.e. point your near hand at the crown chakra at the top of  your head.  This hand should be held about 4” to 7” above your head.  Place your Far hand 15” to 20” away from your lower abdomen, with the palm facing your body.  The near hand creates a high density field at the head, while the far hand creates a low density field at the lower abdomen. Energy will flow from high-density ( the head) to low-density ( the lower abdomen)
dissipating the energy blockages in the head and reducing stress. At the same time, your fundamental energy centres will be nourished and strengthened.

Soul Power

Say “hello” : Dear Soul, Mind & Body of my head, lower abdomen, near hand, far hand, ee-joe (one-nine) & the bright golden light, I love you.  Please give me a healing to reduce my stress.  Do a good job,  Thank you, The combined Soul Power of your head, abdomen & hand combined with ‘ee–joe’ & the brightest golden light, can offer incredible healing to reduce your stress.

Sound Power

Chant the healing sounds of number one and nine in Chinese “ee” & “joe” respectively. ‘Ee’ stimulates cellular vibration in the head. ‘Joe’ stimulates cellular vibration in the lower abdomen. Chanting ee-joe repeatedly will move blocked energy from the head to the lower abdomen, reducing your stress.

Mind Power

Visualize the brightest golden light flowing from the head to the lower abdomen. The intention of your mind, coupled with the vibration of the cells in your brain & head, will move blocked energy from the head to the lower abdomen. Visualize and imagine yourself in perfect health & being completely calm and relaxed, full of inner joy and peace.

Do this practice for 3-5 minutes.  Repeat several times a day as needed.  You can use it to prevent stress as well as to reduce it.

Copyright 2011 K.P. Rajagopalan
All Rights Reserved

The author is working as Deputy General Manager In-charge of the Unit office of Steel Authority of India Ltd, Bokaro Steel Plant (A Govt of India Enterprise) at Chennai, INDIA and can be contacted at Phone: 91-44-9444397294 / 9791071534  and  at the e-mail ID: www.sundararajagopalan@yahoo.com.

empowerment · motivation · relaxation · self-help · stress management · visualize

by K.P. Rajagopalan

The term ‘Stress’ when related to human physiology refers to the body’s responses to everything from viruses and cold effects to emotions such as fear and anger.  Dr. Hans Selye, the foremost exponent of the effects of stress, has defined stress in the following manner i.e. stress is the body’s non-specific response to any demand placed on it, whether that demand is pleasant or not.

All of us have a stress “Savings A/c” deposited in our body as our life force. The object is to spend it wisely over the longest time span possible. The difference between our stress savings A/c and the normal bank A/c is that we cannot make any more deposits into the stress A/c. We can only make withdrawals.

The reason most people age at different rates is that our society is full of “big spenders” who over-react to harmless circumstances as if they were life or death matters. We see it everyday on our roads and on buses when we are on the way to work.

It is impossible to be truly creative when we are tense & nervous.  When one is tense, he works at a greatly reduced level of efficiency.  Some of body’s warning signs that stress is beginning to seriously affect us are:

(1)  Intestinal Distress
(2)  Insomnia
(3)  Nail biting
(4)  Memory lapse
(5)  Hunger for sweets
(6)  Frequent illness
(7)  Rapid Pulse
(8)  Persistent fatigue
(9)  Irritability
(10) Lack of concentration
(11) Increased use of alcohol

The best way to overcome this state/situation is the practice of conscious relaxation techniques which lead to a condition of relaxed alertness i.e. the body going to a totally relaxed state but the mind remains alert-the ideal state for super accomplishment.  The more often these exercises are repeated the more they will become a part of our habitual thinking.  We shall begin to think habitually of relaxation, rather than pressure and strain.

Relaxation can be easily achieved by deep breathing followed by rolling the eyes upwards & counting backward from 50 to 1.  By this process, there is a reduction in our brain wave frequency (as measured by EEG) and we reach the ‘alpha’ level where the brainwave frequency is 8-14 cycles/sec— found by research to be the most productive level for impacting the sub-conscious mind. We can deepen the relaxation by visualizing/imagining peaceful scenes like being in a garden or at the beach or watching humorous scenes or listening to humorous stories which make you laugh.

There are long relaxation techniques and short relaxation techniques.

If you lead a really hectic life, or if you are currently in a period of increased stress, the long relaxation procedures are recommended.  However, most people can turn on their mental computer in a few seconds and do not need minutes to get into a state of  physical and mental relaxation.  For them, the short relaxation techniques work fine.

Three long Relaxation Techniques

1. Sit in a comfortable position. Close your eyes. Relax your scalp. Relax your forehead. Relax your cheeks, mouth, neck, chest, back, thighs, legs, feet and toes. Take your time—-visualize  each body part.  Move each part, also mentally “talk” to it and  ask it to relax.

2. Sit in a comfortable position.  Close your eyes.  Take 3 deep breaths, exhaling slowly after each breath.  Now, count backward  from 100 to 1. Mentally visualize each number before going onto the next.

3. Sit in a comfortable position.  Close your eyes & imagine you  are in an elevator that is about to descend.  It could be an elevator in a department store, in which case you can “hear” the automated voice recite “Seventh Floor, Women’s clothes etc.” When you reach the 1st floor, you are ready to begin programming your mental computer.  Or the elevator can be in a mine shaft.  See signs stating each 100 ft down.  When you reach 2000 ft, you are ready to begin mental programming.

A short relaxation technique

1. Sit in a comfortable position. Close your eyes.  Take a deep breath & exhale slowly. Do this again. Do this a third time.  Now, visualize several peaceful scenes you are familiar with.  Enjoy each scene as if you were there being sure to recreate the colors you saw. You are now ready to program your mental computer.

Copyright 2011 K.P. Rajagopalan
All Rights Reserved

The author is working as Deputy General Manager In-charge of the Unit office of Steel Authority of India Ltd, Bokaro Steel Plant (A Govt of India Enterprise) at Chennai, INDIA and can be contacted at Phone: 91-44-9444397294 / 9791071534  and  at the e-mail ID: www.sundararajagopalan@yahoo.com.

imagery · motivation · relaxation · self-help · self-improvement · stress management · visualize