Featured Topic: Techniques to Relieve Stress
In our fast-paced culture, just about everyone feels stressed…by work demands, schedules and deadlines, if nothing else. But it’s not necessary to stay stressed, and you don’t have to quit your job to get some relief. It’s also not necessary to learn to meditate or do yoga or Tai Chi, though those practices certainly help when you can do them.
Let’s look more closely at what you’re feeling stressed by, and I’ll offer some ways you can help yourself — and also get help — to feel more at ease in your life and work. Here are some common stressors:
1. Too much to do and not enough time. Emergency essence formulas can be very helpful with this kind of stress: I recommend the Perelandra ETS+ (Emergency/Trauma Solution), Bach Rescue Remedy, the Healing Herbs Five-Flower Formula (same flowers as the Rescue Remedy), Australian Bush Emergency, and Alaskan Soul Support. These are energy medicines, not herbal remedies, and they’re quite safe and easy to use. You can get many of them at the food co-ops and Whole Foods. Any of these emergency formulas will probably help; use your intuition to choose which one is best for you. Specific essence: Bach/Healing Herbs Elm for overwhelm; it helps you back off and see the whole picture, then prioritize and deal with the tasks one step at a time. Overall: sit still, take 4 or 5 deep breaths, and get yourself grounded. We tend to fly up into our heads when we’re anxious, and if we want to function well, we need to get back into our bodies and stay connected with the earth.
2. Fear of speaking; afraid of not doing well or of being judged harshly. Bach/Healing Herbs Mimulus for specific worries, Aspen for vague anxiety, Larch to build confidence, Rock Rose for real fear. FES Garlic for stage fright, Cosmos for speaking with clarity and depth, Madia for focus, Mountain Pride to help with speaking your truth, Canyon Dudleya for grounding; Alaskan Beyond Words for verbalizing your emotional truth. Also, see the “overall” suggestions above.
3. Dealing with difficult people. There are many possible aspects to these kinds of situations. If your work (or home) environment is psychologically negative, some essence possibilities are these: Living Tree Orchid Essences Soul Shield+ or FES Y.E.S. (Yarrow Environmental Solution) to help protect you energetically from negative vibes, Bach/Healing Herbs Centaury to help you stand up for yourself, and also some of the other essences listed above.
4. But, if you have a tendency to feel threatened by other people’s assertiveness, and/or if you grew up or lived in a physically or emotionally dangerous environment, and/or if you tend to be a difficult person yourself under stress, you may want to get some help to address those subconscious patterns.
The key is usually to clear the subconscious debris you may carry from traumatic childhood or adult experiences, and that can be done quite effectively with energy psychology and energy medicine (including flower essences). When I’m working with people who bring these and other kinds of challenging issues, I often use an energy psychology modality called Tapas Acupressure Technique (TAT). You hold certain points on your own head while the TAT professional guides you through a series of steps. People find that quite remarkable shifts happen with this simple technique. (See www.tatlife.com for remarkable and interesting cases, and a simple TAT sequence that you can download for yourself.)
Too many of us live in a constant state of stress, and it’s threatening our health and the health of our relationships. There are ways for you to get help. I hope you will!
