PHYSICAL RELAXATION

Stress and physical relaxation do not co-exist.
 Physical relaxation techniques are highly effective in reducing stress. The highest form of relaxation is achieved with both physical and mental techniques used together. Physical relaxation techniques are useful to reduce muscle tension and manage the effects of the fight-or-flight response on the body. This is particularly important when you are under pressure.

Deep Breathing Technique
Deep breathing is a very simple, effective way to relax. It is a core part of well-known relaxation techniques, everything from the "take ten deep breaths" approach to yoga relaxation and Zen meditation. It works well with complimentary techniques such as progressive relaxation, relaxation imagery and meditation to effectively deal with stress. To use the technique, take a number of very deep and purposeful breaths and then relax your body further with each breath out. There is no magic to doing this.  It is that simple!

Progressive Relaxation
Progressive Relaxation will relax your body, especially when your muscles are the most tense. The idea behind PR is that you purposely tense a group of muscles so that they are as tightly contracted as possible. Hold them in this state of extreme tension for only a few seconds. Next, relax the muscles as you normally would. Next, consciously relax your muscles yet further so that you are as relaxed as you can be. By first purposely tensing your muscles, you will then be better able to relax your muscles than if you tried to relax your muscles directly.

Experiment with PR by forming a tight fist, and then clench your hand as tight as you can for just a few seconds. Relax your hand now and then go back to the same tension.  Finally, relax your hand again so that it is as loose as possible. You should now feel very deep relaxation in your hand muscles. You can exact the same result by doing this exercise throughout your entire body.

The Relaxation Response
‘The Relaxation Response’ is a term penned by Dr Herbert Benson of Harvard University in 1968. He had good success with reducing stress and controlling the fight-or-flight response. Direct effects of Dr. Benson’s relaxation techniques includes deep relaxation, slowed heartbeat and breathing, reduced oxygen consumption and increased skin resistance.
 
The Relaxation Response Technique is as follows:
1. Sit comfortably and quietly
2. Close your eyes
3. Start by relaxing the muscles of your feet and then work up your body relaxing each of your body muscles
4. Focus/Breathe purposefully/Deeply/Calmly
5. Breathe in deeply and then let your breath out. Count your breaths, and say the number of the breaths as you let each one out
Do this for ten to twenty minutes.

Alternatively, follow the above steps, using relaxation imagery instead of counting breaths in step 5.


Being Aware of How We Think (Rational and Positive Thinking)

Much of the stress in our everyday lives can come from our thought processes.  How we perceive a situation can be off and so we can feel that we are off.  We can jump to wrong conclusions about people’s motives and so be seen as unreasonable. All of this can send us spinning downward into a spiral of negative thinking and so stress is born.
 
Here are some effective and simple tools that help to change this negative thinking.
 
Any given situation in your life is not stressful in itself.  Your perception of the situation is what will or will not make it stressful.  Stress will arise quickly if:

** You feel threatened in any way
** You feel your resources will not be sufficient to meet with a demand
** How much damage you feel this situation can do to you
** Whether or not your resources will be enough to meet with the demand.

A person with a calm and well-balanced life will not perceive threat easily, while a person who is frazzled and feeling low certainly will.

When we are feeling low and without reserves to deal with stress, we become easily stressed: Physically, socially, emotionally and in our careers. Feeling this type of stress serves as an early warning signal to alert us to take immediate and positive action! To ignore these important signals means we will definitely suffer.


Using Thought Awareness to Deal with Stress
Be on guard to watch for negative thinking when stress arises.  If you are thinking negatively about your future, putting yourself down, criticizing your efforts, doubting your abilities, or planning for failure, you then become paralyzed to deal with stress. Your negativity will only serve to damage your much needed self-confidence, harm your performance and deplete your mental recourse.
 
>>>> One way to effectively counter-balance stress is to be forever aware of your stream of consciousness as you think about a stressful situation. Do not deny your negative thoughts, instead, just let them happen, acknowledge them, and then write them down as they occur<<<<<
 
As you become more and more familiar with your thought patterns, which are negative and which are not, look back at your Stress Diary.  You will easily see patterns that emerge detailing the same or similar negative thoughts. Once you have identified which negative thoughts cause you the most problems, you can then take action to deal with them more effectively.

Step One to Managing Negative Thoughts is to acknowledge them.
Step Two to Managing Negative Thoughts is to write them down.
Step Three to Managing Negative Thoughts is to deal with them.

Thought awareness can be your first effective step in the process of managing negative thoughts.  Remember, you cannot manage thoughts that you do not acknowledge first.

Use Rational Thought to Deal with Stress
The practice of rational thought allows you to separate the positive thought from the negative.  Study each of the negative thoughts that you have identified using the Thought Awareness. Look at each thought and ask yourself if this thought is, in fact, reasonable. Many people find this step very difficult, because you must be somewhat objective to get it right.  You must separate the emotion from the rational.

Let’s take a look now at your Stress Diary.  We will identify where you have had frequent negative thoughts:

I feel inadequate (written 5 times in 6 days)
I feel taken advantage of (written 3 times in 5 days)
I feel I am not appreciated by my kids (written 6 times in 6 days)

Are the above comments only thoughts and feelings on your part or can you back your feelings up with actions?
For Example:  I feel inadequate because when I was asked to bake for the bake sale, I felt poorly that day and remained in bed, unable to bake.
Ask yourself if this is an occurrence that is frequent (your staying in bed and not baking) or if this was a one time thing. 
If the answer is that you do, in fact, stay in bed a good deal rather than participate in some school function, you might want to look further into avoidance issues. 

On the other hand, if this was just a one time thing for you, you could easily tell yourself that your feelings are unwarranted and your kids would understand that you wanted to bake but simply could not at that time.  There will be plenty of other school functions that you will be able to help out with.
The key to rational thought is to clarify and identify truth and underlying thoughts and feelings.  When you can do this, you are better able to deal with any stress that results.

Left with the actual negative feelings and thoughts, you are now warned to take appropriate, and if need be, immediate action to ward off any subsequent stress.
Lastly, positively affirm those thoughts and feelings that turned out to be less than negative.

For example:
I felt inadequate, however, I no longer do.  I now realize that I do participate when called upon by my kid’s school to contribute, unless I am unable to help at that time.  I will continue to help out to the best of my ability and where time permits.
So long as you mean what you write (and say it out verbally) you will feel the stress leave your body and mind as you state the positive and negate the negative.
Go through your entire Stress Diary in this way and you will feel much more relaxed and be less apt to make similar entries into your Stress Diary next time around.

>>>> One way to effectively counter-balance stress is to be forever aware of your stream of consciousness as you think about a stressful situation. Do not deny your negative thoughts, instead, just let them happen, acknowledge them, and then write them down as they occur<<<<<

As you become more and more familiar with your thought patterns, which are negative and which are not, look back at your Stress Diary.  You will easily see patterns that emerge detailing the same or similar negative thoughts. 

Once you have identified which negative thoughts cause you the most problems, you can then take action to deal with them more effectively.

Step One to Managing Negative Thoughts is to acknowledge them.

Step Two to Managing Negative Thoughts is to write them down.

Step Three to Managing Negative Thoughts is to deal with them.


Thought awareness can be your first effective step in the process of managing negative thoughts.  Remember, you cannot manage thoughts that you do not acknowledge first.


part3

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