5 Stress Relief Methods That Work
Posted by Sylvia on July 29th, 2008
Are you still looking for the stress relief technique that works for you? It can be difficult. I know.
What I discovered about stress relief is that if you’re too wound up, nothing seems to help. It’s a catch-22. You need a method that will relax you, but many methods won’t work unless you can relax.
When I worked for the Canadian Mental Health Association, I ran a set of Relaxation Workshops for the entire community to experience. I contacted community service providers who willingly agreed to provide their services for free for this one-time event.
It was a fun project to organize because once everything was set up, I got to experience all of the stress relief methods demonstrated.
It was wonderful, because I am tense by nature!
The stress relief techniques offered included Shiatsu, Therapeutic Touch, Massage, Progressive Relaxation and Hypnosis.
1. Massage
I’d heard a great deal about the benefits of massage and expected that to be the best choice for me. I don’t know whether the masseuse was just too rough, or whether that’s what it’s supposed to feel like, but it hurt. When she was done, I felt strangely ill. Maybe you need more than one treatment for it to work. Many people swear by them.
2. Progressive Relaxation
Next on the list was progressive relaxation. That’s where you sit with your eyes closed and gradually relax your entire body, starting at your feet and working your way up to your head. It helped, but the effects weren’t quite as dramatic as I would have liked.
3. Hypnosis
Hypnosis sounded ideal. If I could have quieted my mind, I’m sure it would have been effective, but I kept wondering if what I was feeling was “it”, or was I supposed to go into a trance. This preoccupied my mind so much that this method didn’t work very well either.
In fairness, I must add that since then, I’ve discovered that hypnosis combined with progressive relaxation do work well together to bring stress relief. Now, when I do these exercises, I feel relaxed and refreshed and come away with a much clearer head. They work well to improve your sense of well-being, especially mentally.
4. Therapeutic Touch
Therapeutic Touch was interesting. The idea here is for the practitioner to run her hands over your body without touching you. Our bodies have energy fields flowing around them. By running her hands over this energy field, the therapist helps free the flow that has become blocked by tension. While I didn’t get much from this exercise, it is best applied in more than one sitting for maximum benefit.
5. Shiatsu
The exercise that surprised me most was the Shiatsu. If you aren’t familiar with this technique, it involves the practitioner applying pressure to certain stress points throughout your body. For me, it was the muscles between the shoulder blades and on top of the shoulder. Most of you probably know exactly what that tense spot feels like.
When pressure was applied to those muscles, it was quite painful for the first few seconds, but gradually it eased and suddenly my entire body felt a kind of ‘weakening’. I think it was because the pressure she applied released energy that was tensing my other muscles as well.
It was quite pleasant to feel all that stress melt away.
In the end, I decided that Shiatsu was the absolute best stress relief option for me.
I recommend that you try each of these stress relief methods for yourself and see which one works for you. At the very least you will get to experience some interesting sensations.
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