We live in a society where great demands and responsibilities are placed on us. Today, about one in seven people are suffering from stress or anxiety at any one time in the UK. And while some people manage, more and more people are showing signs of over-anxiety, which leads to stress, which can make a significant impact on the quality of life and wellbeing.
You may be one of those people but are now ready to explore ways of freeing yourself from anxiety and living a fulfilled and happy life, free to do things that bring you joy,
Stress can manifest itself differently for everyone but common physical signs of anxiety or stress are :
- Racing heartbeat
- Shortness of breath
- Chest tightness
- Dry mouth
- Butterflies in stomach
- Urge to pass urine/empty bowels
- Panic attacks
Common psychological signs of stress and anxiety are:
- Inner tension
- Fear of losing control
- Irrational dread that something catastrophic is going to happen (such as blackout, seizure, heart attack or death)
- Feelings of detachment
- Phobias and fears
It could be an event that is causing your anxiety, such as:
- Speeches and presentations for work or occasions
- Sports competitions
Anxiety can also manifest itself in different ways; it may be fear of being around other people, it may be anxiety in specific social situations, anxiety in your relationships with particular people at home, at school or at work.
Anxiety is a fear or concern that is exaggerated, and is out of proportion to the situation, although sometimes it may not feel like this. The symptoms of anxiety correlate with the stress response or “fight-or-flight”. This is a primal response that protects you against threats in your environment, so if danger is present your body triggers a rush of blood to your arms and legs so that you can fight or run away. It is an adrenaline response that causes your heart to beat faster, pumping oxygen around your body to those parts that need it to protect you. You may feel as if you are on high alert as well, unable to calm down or relax, your mind may race unable to focus or quieten down.
It is a normal part of the human protection system to experience this fight-or-flight response, but only when there is real and present danger. To experience prolonged fight-or-flight creates feelings of anxiety. It is often rooted in a previous experience that triggered fear or in a general anxiety and worry about your situation at home or at work. There can also be anxiety without knowing what is causing it, a general feeling of anxiety known as “free floating” anxiety.
So why is it important to reduce anxiety in your life? What difference will it make to you? Research shows that prolonged exposure to cortisol and other stress related hormones can cause:
- Memory problems
- Weakened immune system
- Weaker bones
- Increased blood pressure
- Reduce fertility
How can hypnotherapy help?
A hypnotherapist can help assess your anxiety, identifying the root of stress or anxiety whether it is a situation, a physical issue, a past experience or a relationship.
Then they will set you a goal asking how you wish to feel, how you would like to be, and things that you would chose to do in your life if you were free of anxiety. They will then work with you to reach your goals using a range of different techniques. Every therapist may use slightly different techniques, but working towards the same goal.
After sessions with a hypnotherapist you may feel more confident; more relaxed in situations that have previously challenged you. Many people say that they are calmer and that they have more clarity of thought – able to make decisions more easily.
People who have experienced side effects of anxiety such as insomnia, find that they are sleeping much better and as a result are able to work more effectively.
It is as if hypnotherapy unlocks the potential you have to break free of negative thought patterns, and to react more positively and more confidently to situations in your life that may have previously made you anxious.
How can Mindfulness relaxation help?
When we relax we enable the mind/body process to do its wonderful healing work, our pulse rate slows and our own internal natural drug factory starts to produce and pump into our blood stream endorphins and other hormones that enable us to feel calm, free from tension and contented. In other words we begin to feel good. With a view to health enhancement, relaxation enables the release of bodily and mental tension. It is not usually as simple as sitting and watching the television. Over the centuries and all over the world people have developed a wide range of techniques, each of which may help to create for us a special state of mind/body calmness.
Without wishing to state the obvious, the main benefit in relaxation is that when we are relaxed we are not stressed, although stress is by no means always negative or harmful. There are different types of stress and a certain amount is necessary for survival and for success in life.
Relaxation is particularly useful to those suffering from the more obvious mental/emotional conditions of anxiety, stress and phobias along with conditions usually associated as physical such as arthritis, high or low blood pressure, asthma and pain.
What’s the most effective form of relaxation?
So how do we know what is the most effective form of relaxation for us? Our approach contains a lifestyle analysis which can point to the method which is most likely to be effective for a client, bearing in mind the way they lead their life, their current state of health, the amount of time they are prepared to spend on personal improvement and their own particular preferences.
Learning to relax can be fun and you may well discover that it leads you on a wonderful journey of mental and physical exploration into uncharted territories of your own resources. You may find yourself growing and becoming more fulfilled as a human being as you discover what a great pleasure it can be to abandon yourself to an inner and outer calmness.
We are all holistic. We are body, mind and something that we may choose to call our spirit, our inner being or guide. One of the less obvious benefits of relaxation is to enable us to discover, enhance and develop our powers of intuition and to help us to identify and learn how to trust that small voice within. As we journey we can learn that the now need not be something that holds us back from relaxation. In fact we learn that we need to be mindful to treasure each moment and pay attention to our inner feelings at the precise moment, rather than withdrawing into ourselves.
Mindfulness and stress reduction
Mindfulness is, of course, not a complete answer to overcoming stress – we also need to take some positive action to deal with stressful events in our life. Perhaps this may involve letting go in some way or moving on from, for example, a toxic work situation or relationship. It may require us to learn how to be more assertive so that we can say no, where appropriate, or ask for what we need.
Mindfulness is a researched and evidence-based way of helping people to avoid stress in the first place, and also helps to reduce stressful symptoms and build up resilience, which may be a way of avoiding stress in future.
The Mindfulness Now programme incorporates the approaches of Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR), which offers evidence-based therapy approved by NICE.