Jenks Hypnosis and Training Center, LLC

805 N. Fir, Jenks, OK 74037 (918) 298-6884
Located in Jenks, America, near the heart of south Tulsa

Stress and its management

When you hear the word “stress” what comes to mind?

For many of us it is the thought of our daily grind; the pressures that are put on us by managers, customers, family, friends, …and ourselves.

Stress is a part of our lives. Actually, it is a necessary part of our lives. Stress is the motivating force that moves our lives along. It is that little part of us that pushes us on to the next step. And when that particular task is done we feel the relaxation of the stress along with the satisfaction of a job well done.

The problem comes along when the stress, or motivating force, stays with us. This may happen if there are several tasks to be done at the same time, and by the time one task finishes another comes along. Or there may just be one long task with a lot of pressure to get it done. With some people the outside pressure is not nearly as great as the feelings inside. In fact, many people are much tougher on themselves than any outside stress.

Stress causes our body to energize itself for action. It expects to carry out those actions and then to rest. When we don’t get the rest but just get more stress (energizing), our muscles tend to get tired of the tension they are holding. After a while they will get cramped and sore and we feel it as a headache, or soreness in our back or shoulders, or other symptoms.

You will notice that I said “management” and not “elimination” or even “relief” of stress. We need and want some stress to keep us going and achieving, but we need to get rest fairly often so we will have the energy and stamina to utilize that boost which the stress gives us.

So, managing stress means to get the rest and relaxation at appropriate times such that we can continue to accomplish our goals in our daily lives.

How can you accomplish this? The secret is to pay attention to what your body is telling you. When your body says that it is time to rest, then put down your (metaphorical) load and (metaphorically) sit down.

There are many people who can help you to schedule your time or organize your work to be more efficient so that you will have time to take breaks from your work. Learn from them. But don’t use that extra time to schedule in more work!

What you can learn from a hypnotherapist is how to REALLY RELAX. You can also learn to PAY ATTENTION to your body for signals that it is building up the results of stress.

Relaxation

Many people find it very difficult to really relax their muscles consciously. Our body has a special way of keeping us ready for movement almost instantaneously. It does this by keeping a slight bit of tension in our muscles that only actually relaxes when we go to sleep. Since each muscle keeps a little tension, the offsetting muscles cancel each other out and the net effect is no movement of the limbs. As soon as the brain commands a change in position, the contraction of the appropriate muscle is increased by the proper amount and the movement occurs. But, since this muscle tension or tone is controlled by the subconscious, it can be very difficult to overcome and let the muscles actually relax completely.

One of the devious things that stress does to us is that it often increases this unconscious tension in the muscles. And, since it increases both muscles in a pair by the same amount, no movement occurs. So, we do not notice any change in the muscles.

But that tension – contraction – in the muscles continues until the stress lessens and allows the muscles, both of them, to relax back to their normal level. If the muscles maintain their tension for too long they will start to complain (hurt).

Certain muscle groups in our body are required to maintain more tension normally than others. One of those areas is the neck. It is necessary to hold up the head and to move it often. When the stress increases and the tension increases, that increase often occurs in the neck muscles. The shoulders are not far behind when it comes to holding stress.

Hypnotic Relaxation

Hypnosis is a state of focused attention. Relaxation is not required for the state to occur, but deep relaxation is often associated with hypnosis. One reason for this is that if suggestions for relaxation are used during an induction, the person can feel when those suggestions are being accepted by the subconscious. They can feel the relaxation and know they are going into the hypnotic state. But the best reason, and not a very technical one, is that it feels really good to achieve that deep relaxation.

Perhaps the reason that hypnotic relaxation feels so good is that it is a deep relaxation in both muscles of all of those muscle groups as discussed above. This is also why the body feels so heavy during hypnosis for many people. The slight tension is gone and the muscles have to receive a more complete contraction signal from the brain before a body movement can occur.

Now, this amount of relaxation normally happens only when the person is asleep – unconscious – and so the average person never experiences this amount of relaxation consciously. So they have no standard of relaxation to compare to.

When you know what deep relaxation feels like, you know what your goal is when doing your stress management.

A part of stress management will often be to teach self-hypnosis. Hypnosis is a natural state but we learn to achieve and maintain the deeper, working levels used in hypnotherapy. Once a person has experienced the deeper, working levels of hypnosis, he can easily learn to reenter those levels using signals he can give to himself. One of the easiest trance phenomena to re-experience is deep relaxation.

There are many other signals that can be set up which will trigger a relaxation of the muscles, or perhaps only a certain troublesome group of muscles.

Awareness of tension

The real challenge in any program to manage stress is learning to become aware of it as it is happening. Each and every person is different and must learn for himself how to recognize the stress tension building up in his body. And then when the stress tension is recognized, that person must utilize a relaxation strategy to relieve that tension.

The amount of muscle tension or tightness in a person’s shoulders and neck can be gauged when they really turn their attention to those muscles. This is especially true if the person knows what it feels like to be truly relaxed.

What Our Clients Say

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I was having trouble with my blood pressure and stress when I was referred to Jenks Hypnosis Center. Ms. Reno did a great job. I have referred several people to her.

Kerry W., Tulsa