STRESS!!!! If you were being chased by a massive shark I am guessing your stress response would be really, really ,useful! In fact completely necessary to your need to leg it as quickly as possible right?!!

Yesterday on Sky I watched an amazing program called Mermaids: the body found. It blew me away as it purports to the discovery of what they refer to as the aquatic ape – mermaids, an actual body was found.  Scientists proposed that a segment of human society, many aeons ago, began a sea dwelling existence and that over millions of years adapted to the sea – yes real living right now mermaids!

Well these brethren and sisters of ours live in a world where they get chased by sharks, eaten by them in fact – scientists believe they found the body of a mermaid in a sharks body in 2004.

For those of us with two legs opposed to a tail and not being chased by sharks, at least not the real ones, as my friend commented we live with other kinds of sharks! However the threat is hopefully not a  life and death one.

We are still evolving and evolutionary change takes a long, long, long time.

Our stress responses, which were set up to escape sharks and similarly dangerous land creatures, has not quite managed, for many of us, to understand that we don’t have to implode if the tube is late – there are far worse things.

So our bodies are highly sensitive and receptive to making sure we stay alive – our stress response releases adrenalin in to  our blood stream a surge of power and energy that tells us to FIGHT OR RUN NOW!!!

If you are not a  mermaid but live in a western equipped civilisation you might find that your stress response kicks in at other things:

Overdue bills, being squashed on the tube, trying to learn wordpress  (that’s my personal one at the moment!), people who cut in front of you as you drive, traffic jams , late trains, leaves on the tracks and of course many more.

Sometimes the stress is a useful reminder of something that needs to be done, great use it as exactly that – however when it disables you from getting on with things it is time to support yourself in being back in charge.

 

You are not a mermaid – holding your breath is not obligatory!

 

1.      BREATHE: INHALE AND EXHALE DOUBLY LONG

It might be useful for you to count to 7 as you inhale and exhale on the count of 11

Known as 7 11 Breathing.

That is it – if this does not sort you out read on as you continue BREATHING in for the count of 7 and out for the count of 11

INHALE                               EXHALE 

 7                                                   11

 

2.     Acknowledge how you are feeling – this may take some practice. A good question to ask is How am I feeling right NOW?

Practice asking this question even when you are not stressed – it is a question, courtesy of Eckhart Tolle in the fantastic book The Power of Now that is designed to bring you in to the present. Set your watch or phone to remind you throughout your day perhaps every hour to ask yourself the question:

HOW AM I FEELING RIGHT NOW?

 

This will support you in beginning to really notice what is going on inside you – tuning you into and recognising your feelings is the first step to releasing them.

Well once you know how you are feeling NAME IT

Most of the time we are trying to pretend we are not feeling an unnerving feeling – now we acknowledge and name it by saying:

I feel crappy, sad, head whirring, obsessive thinking, angry, upset, unappreciated, anxious stressed, overwhelmed, out of control , helpless.

Or whatever it might be for you.

3.     ACCEPT IT

Have you ever tried to have a fight with someone who will not fight back – eventually you either pummel them to the ground or calm down because it is like trying to fight a Buddhist monk who keeps smiling at you no matter how many times you hit them!

Acceptance can, for some people immediately, for others over a period of time be created by simply speaking the emotion e.g. sad, sad, sad, sad, sad

Either in your head or aloud

DO NOT:

I am sad because Linda left me and now …….etc etc etc

Having a conversation with the emotion just feeds it , if you catch yourself doing this say

Having a conversation,  Having a conversation, Having a conversation, Having a conversation, Having a conversation

It is like a layer cake and once one emotion you might notice that under sadness follows a further emotion

For most people hopefully what you will begin to feel is a sense of release as the emotion is fully acknowledged and accepted.

During this whole process BREATHE and breath specifically in this way

STAY CALM DON T PANIC AND LOOK FOR THE EXIT, IT IS THROUGH YOUR NOSE!

INHALE                               EXHALE 

7                                             11

FACEBOOK ENTRY AND AMENDMENT:

Well this week I watched a documentary about Mermaids and fell in love with the idea that there were mermaids in our deep deep seas – I was so convinced and could not get them out of my mind! What a lovely dream I was in –I then found out that my mermaids were a mocumentary – well i have been disappointed that so far…… we do not have definite proof – i am ever hopeful.

What i do know is that if we breathe well we think well and when we think well, just like that mocumentary we can fool ourselves into believing things that we thought were impossible – making them possible and real

So next time you catch yourself mocking your ability to believe in something that seems impossible remember any story can be made true if you breathe, think in the right direction and take action – all beginning with the story you imagine in your head.

Anyone interested in some beautiful simple breathing techniques have a look at my Shine Cognitive Hypnotherapy page – its free to look and definitely free to breathe xxx