Work Life Tips

General Adaptation Syndrome – Hypnosis For Stress And Anxiety Tips

Stress comes in many forms–physical, mental, environmental. Stress, as applied to human beings, is a fairly recent concept. Originally, it was an engineering term. When applied to human beings, stress was considered to be a reaction to a specific event, sort of a one-at-a-time phenomenon. Then, in the 1930s, Hans Selye introduced the concept of generalized stress.

The body reacts to any stressor in the same generalized way, sometimes called the fight-or-flight syndrome: faster heartbeat, delayed digestion, increase in blood pressure, decreased immunity, etc. This is great for running away from a hungry lion, but not so good for sitting in traffic, missing an important meeting.

Stress is cumulative. Marriage is good stress and divorce is bad stress, but both are stress. It does add up, although some people can handle more than others. That’s why it’s generally unwise to quit smoking, go on a diet, and start a new job, all at the same time. The accumulated stressors, although not bad, may be hard to handle. It’s better to phase things in.

Selye also developed the theory of the General Adaptation Syndrome. In this, there are three stages of stress. First is alarm, the introduction of stress. Then comes adaptation, as the body and/or mind adapts to the new stressor. Third, if the stressors are high and the alarm keeps going off, is exhaustion, when the body and/or mind are overwhelmed and can no longer adapt. You will want to use self-hypnosis to turn down the stress before it reaches stage 3.

The Holmes-Rahe scale ranks sources of stress. Death of a spouse is most stressful at 100. Other examples are going to jail, 63, starting or finishing school, 26, and the Christmas season, 12. Divorce is 73 and marriage is 50.

The Let-Down Effect – Hypnosis For Stress And Anxiety Tips

Has this ever happened to you? You’re working on a big project. You’re feeling a lot of stress as the deadline approaches, but you’re also enjoying the challenge. You probably have some feel-good endorphins releasing into your body, as well as the stress hormones, like cortisol.

You haven’t been eating well, exercising, or getting enough sleep, but you’re able to complete the project. When it’s over, you want to totally relax, looking forward to vacation, and resume your healthy habits. And then you get sick.

Many of us have had the experience of getting sick after the stress is over. It’s usually upper respiratory disease, but could also be headaches, gastrointestinal problems, or others.

The stressful event can be short or long term. One study showed marathon finishers were much more likely to catch a cold in the days after the race. It was not the training, which is spread over a long period, but the race itself that triggered the illness.

Dr. Marc Schoen calls this the “let-down effect.” If you drop from a state of high activation to a state of low activation, your immune system slows way down too, leaving you open to infection. Schoen says it’s better to taper off, to go from high speed to low speed gradually. He suggests a number of techniques, including brief but brisk walking. To find out more, go to www.marcschoen.com.

You can adjust your self-hypnosis techniques so that you slow down gradually. Here’s a technique that will put you into a light trance, while stimulating your mind and releasing serotonin, a feel-good neurotransmitter. Try this.

Stand with your right foot forward and your left foot turned out 45 degrees. Extend your arms in front of you, chest level, with your palms facing each other, about 8 inches apart. Rock back, weight on left foot, and bring your hands up and over, then forward, pushing your hands out. Your hands move in an oval shape. Breathe easily and concnetrate on what you’re doing. Continue for a couple of minutes, or as long as you want. Do you feel the energy between your hands?

Stand-alone Stress Reduction – Hypnosis For Stress And Anxiety Tips

Stress reduction is part of any self-hypnosis program. You learn to relax. For most people this goes along with the other goals for which they use self-hypnosis. However, it may be that for some people, stress reduction is their first and perhaps only goal in learning self-hypnosis.

Why would this be? You might have a stress-related illness that doesn’t respond to other treatment. (As we’ve said, most illness is stress related.) You might also be suffering from anxiety, either self- or professionally diagnosed. Extreme anxiety can be debilitating.

Yes, self-hypnosis for stress reduction does work for these problems. If you are under medical care for physicall illness or anxiety, make sure you tell your health practitioner you are doing self-hypnosis.

If your problems are less severe, stress reduction through self-hypnosis is a great do-it yourself way to reduce your anxiety level.

Here’s how to do it. You can use just the induction and trance termination in the induction chapter, or induction, relaxation, and trance termination. Just sit quietly and enjoy the feeling of relaxation for a while before you terminate the trance. You don’t have to come up with a script. When you see how well self-hypnosis for stress and anxiety reduction works for you, you may want to use it for other goals as well.

Stand-alone Stress Reduction – Hypnosis For Stress And Anxiety Tips

Stress reduction is part of any self-hypnosis program. You learn to relax. For most people this goes along with the other goals for which they use self-hypnosis. However, it may be that for some people, stress reduction is their first and perhaps only goal in learning self-hypnosis.

Why would this be? You might have a stress-related illness that doesn’t respond to other treatment. (As we’ve said, most illness is stress related.) You might also be suffering from anxiety, either self- or professionally diagnosed. Extreme anxiety can be debilitating.

Yes, self-hypnosis for stress reduction does work for these problems. If you are under medical care for physicall illness or anxiety, make sure you tell your health practitioner you are doing self-hypnosis.

If your problems are less severe, stress reduction through self-hypnosis is a great do-it yourself way to reduce your anxiety level.

Here’s how to do it. You can use just the induction and trance termination in the induction chapter, or induction, relaxation, and trance termination. Just sit quietly and enjoy the feeling of relaxation for a while before you terminate the trance. You don’t have to come up with a script. When you see how well self-hypnosis for stress and anxiety reduction works for you, you may want to use it for other goals as well.

Medical Effects – Hypnosis For Stress And Anxiety Tips

About 80% of illness is at least partially caused by stress. Doubtless there is often some psychological contribution, but the physical causes are well known.

Stress causes the nervous system to send a message to the adrenal glands to release cortisol. Cortisol readies the body for action, that is, fight or flight. This is invaluable in threatening situations, but chronic stress and too much cortisol, causes damage. Heart disease, immune disorders, osteoporosis, inflammation, and more are caused or aggravated by chronic stress.

The steroid, cortisone, the pharmaceutical equivalent of the cortisol your body makes, is useful in pain relief and managing some diseases, but too much can cause damage.

The stress response to a real threat is not something we want to change. If you over-react, that is you panicking in dangerous situations, you can use immediate self-hypnosis to calm yourself down enough to think clearly, but not so much as to destroy the useful state of alert.

Chronic stress, the result of modern life, can be managed with self-hypnosis for relaxation and stress relief. It’s unlikely you will eliminate all chronic stress, but you can manage your response to the stressors so that they won’t make you sick or interfere with your enjoyment of life.

Good Stress, Bad Stress – Hypnosis For Stress And Anxiety Tips

Stress is an overused word. But maybe that is because it is so common. Generally, we use the word “stress” to refer to bad stress, or dis-stress, but there is also good stress, called eu-stress. This good stress is necessary for progress, in the life of a person or a society.

In athletics, you have to stress your muscles and nervous system to get stronger, faster, and more skillful. This stress takes the form of a slight overload. Push too hard and you may get injured. Keep pushing without allowing for adequate recovery, and you will be overtrained. Compare this with stage 3, exhaustion, of the General Adaptation Syndrome. But if you don’t push at all, you won’t improve.

Work hard at your job and learn new skills, and you will succeed. Push too hard to get ahead too fast, and you will burn out. Take the time to adapt to each new situation.

It’s not too hard to choose the good stress. Just have patience and think things through. Self-hypnosis will help you keep on an even keel.

Don’t delete something that’s good for you just because it’s a stressor. An exercise program, for instance, is a stressor, but it’s eu-stress. Make room for it.

Quick Stress Relief – Hypnosis For Stress And Anxiety Tips

You can use self-hypnosis for quick relaxation in stressful situations.

You can use deep breathing to relax and release your muscles. You can fix your mind on the “dan tien,” the center of the body in traditional Chinese medicine, which is about three finger widths below the navel.

Or, you can program yourself to relax on cue.

Do a standard self-hypnosis session, using induction, relaxation, and deepening, as described in the induction section. When you reach a state of deep relaxation, say to yourself: I reach this state of calm relaxation whenever I want by saying the word “relax.”

Then go ahead with a gentle trance termination. Do this a few times on consecutive days.

You will find this technique invaluable in dealing with everyday stresses. Any time you feel yourself under a lot of stress or pressure, stop for a moment, take a deep breath, focus your mind on the tan tien, and say to yourself “relax.” You will be able to recapture the feeling of relaxation without going through the hypnosis procedure. This is a form of post-hypnotic suggestion.

This will allow you to calm down and think clearly. You will then have the clarity of mind and self-confidence to solve your problem or ride out the situation. This is a great technique for those of you who have test anxiety to use right before you take the exam.

A Common Need – Hypnosis For Stress And Anxiety Tips

Stress reduction may be the most common use for self-hypnosis, especially as it is also contained in programs for other conditions.

Modern life is full of stresses. Not only does there seem to be increasing job expectations and family duties, but air and noise pollution are everywhere. We are far from the environment in which humans first developed.

More and more people don’t get enough rest. Lack of sleep can affect situations as diverse as psychological depression and highway safety. Chronic diseases increase, even as some of the old plagues are conquered or contained by modern medicine.

Unlike many self-help programs, self-hypnosis does not concentrate on making you rich. There is already too much materialism in the world, and it leads to increased stress. You can set goals that involve success in your endeavors, which will give you a comfortable, happy life. If you only concentrate on making money, it may require forcing other people to do your will, and self-hypnosis cannot do that. You just increase your stress.

Take charge of your life and concentrate on achieving goals that will really make you happy and fulfilled. If that includes making a lot of money, especially if you share it with others, so be it. Live long and prosper.

Different Versions of Hypnosis – Hypnosis Associated Techniques Tips

There are many types of hypnosis and self-hypnosis. The one presented in this book is fairly common and proven to be successful. Although not every version uses the exact steps or procedure, this is a good one.

There are some techniques that are sometimes considered to be part of hypnosis, but don’t fit the template. Some of these are very useful. We include some well-known and effective techniques that you may want to include in your self-hypnosis practice. You may find it confusing to use some of them now, but come back to them when you’re ready to explore further. Or some may rise to be favorites right now. Even if you never use these techniques, you may find them interesting, especially if you are interested in the study of the mind.

Some hypnotists always use a pendulum.

Everyone who does hypnosis or self-hypnosis should have some sort of pain relieving technique.

Automatic writing is difficult and doesn’t work for everybody. Or, maybe most people just don’t want to stick with it long enough for it to work for them. For those who can use it, it’s a fascinating and powerful technique.

Finger tapping can be used in many ways. Experiment with it to get in touch with your subconscious.

The Pendulum – Hypnosis Associated Techniques Tips

Here is a technique you can use to help with goal setting. It is especially useful when you are deciding between potential goals. But you don’t have to confine it to just goal setting. It can be used any time you want a yes or no answer to a question about what you should do or what choice to make.

Here are some examples. Should you make a certain investment? Will you enjoy a certain class? Should you buy that dress? Which of two gyms should you join (ask separately about each)?

This technique helps you reach your subconscious to see what it is you really want. Are there other forces at work? That’s up to you to decide.

Here is the procedure. First, get your pendulum. You can buy one or make your own. To make a pendulum, use a string and a small, heavy object like a fishing sinker. Cut a piece of string about 8 inches long, and tie the weight on one end. If you want to use a light jewelry chain, for instance, and it’s longer than 8 inches, just hold it further down. Use any small weight as long as it is symmetrically balanced.

Now hold the free end of the string lightly with your thumb and first two fingers and put your elbow on a desk or table roughly waist high or a little higher. Hold your forearm almost vertical, and bend your wrist so the weight hangs straight down.

Next, concentrate on a question you want to ask yourself. This should be a yes or no question. Let’s say you want to know: Should I take the investment class at Central College this summer?

Stay motionless. Do not move your hand or arm, or your body. Just shift your eyes to the weight and concentrate on the question. Decide before-hand that yes will be back and forth, no will be sideways, and a circular motion will indicate undecided.

Give it a few seconds to work. You will be surprised at the results as you see the weight move a little, or a lot, without you consciously making it do so by moving your hand, blowing on it, or any other obvious physical movement.

You can ask both sides of a question, that is, should I do a, then should I do b. In the example, if the answer is no, you may want to ask if you should take the class at another time, or if you should look for another class. If you have used the I Ching, where you do not ask yes or no questions, you will find this easier, though not as comprehensive.

With a little practice with your pendulum, you will have an extremely useful tool for discerning your true desires and aptitudes. Besides, it’s fun.