Sometimes we need tools to help us cope with current and ongoing stress, when stress is too much. If you have stressful situations in your life that are likely to continue, you need a coping mechanism. You also need to cleanse yourself of all that toxic stress that has already invaded your mind and body. Hypnotherapy can be extremely useful in these cases because it can help you to respond differently to what’s going on around you, as well as to relieve the stress that has already built up inside.
One of the key reasons that stress seems to get worse over time is because of that build up, so let’s look at that first. Then we sill explore one of the ways that you can deflect further stress. I am going to give you two examples from client case studies where my clients have overcome these problems.
Eliminating build up
When Philip came into the clinic to address his panic attacks, I discovered that he had some serious past history with his mother. By his account, she was quite a nasty and manipulative woman, and Philip was always made to feel as though he was a disappointment. He was also made to feel unlovable. Over thew years, Philip’ ‘s unconscious mind was drowning in this lack of self worth. He came to believe that he was not capable, generally, because of the embedded messages he had received during his childhood and adolescence.
When a person feel incapable, as though they are always going to ‘stuff up’, they are easily overwhelmed, because everything is too much for them, and that creates stress. At that point, the stress is too much. So we need to clear the backlog, while also addressing the underlying cause, which in Philip’s case was a lack of self-belief. Think of clearing the backlog as an emotional exfoliation.
One of the simplest ways to clear the backlog is an NLP, or neuro linguistics programming technique. Firstly, tune into the stress, feel it in the body. Ty and locate it into just one part of the body – you might ask yourself, where is it starting from? Once you have found it’s ‘home’ in the body, feel into it again and give it a colour. Does it feel like a dirty green? Does it feel black? Sense what colour it feels like. Once you have the place in the body, and the colour, place an imaginary open window over that colour, and start breathing it out the open window until it has gone.
The technique I teach in session is a more sophisticated version of this, but even this simplistic version will go a long way. If you did this every day, you would not be hanging onto stress.
Deflecting stress
Now that you are carrying less stress, you can start protecting yourself against new stress. Mick was going through a divorce. He was separated from his wife, but living in the same house. She was bitter and cold towards him, mostly completely ignoring him. In fact she was deeply depressed and the energy in the house was frozen like ice. He would come home and find himself feeling immobilised in the atmosphere. Their son was suffering emotionally from this environment also. It was gloomy, to say the least.
Mick would have liked to have moved out immediately, but he did not want his wife to harm herself, which is what he feared she might do. He needed coping strategies.
One of the things I showed Mick how to do was to create an energetic boundary, using his imagination. I relaxed him into a hypnotic trance and I asked him what the boundary between himself and his wife looked like, now. He said it resembles a trampled fence. I asked him what needed to happen for that boundary to become strong and effective, so that he could function normally in that space.
Interestingly he came up with a symbol of a golden Buddha which would float around him, rather than a fence-type structure. He said that the Buddha made him feel cheerful, rather than be affected by his wife’s moods. I asked him to refine that image so that it could work at its most effective level for him. He saw it greeting him at the door when he came home, and following him around.
Before long, Mick was emotionally up to playing soccer with his son, and tinkering in the shed. he was no longer a victim of his environment. This works well for stressful environments or people who cause you stress, as opposed to the stress you yourself create.
When stress is too much, there are steps that you can take to clear and manage the way you respond. If you need help, get in touch. Horizons Clinical Hypnotherapy Sunshine Coast.