The Never Updated Blog

Following on from yesterday's post about how stress can manifest itself in our lives and that when it does it can incapacitate us bit by bit, I'd like to talk a bit about ways of dealing with the stress that will inevitably come into our lives.

I'll do that by telling you a story. This morning I was running late for a massage gig. That's a feeling that I hate, and if you're in business I'm sure you  do too. Now I could tell you how bad traffic was or that it was only the second time I've been late since starting my business nearly two years ago, but that isn't the point of the story. The point is that as I was sitting in the fast lane doing 2km/h I could feel myself tensing up.

I was beginning to have the feeling that it was going to be "one of those days". Eventually I made it past the problem and off I go trying to make up for lost time. When I arrived at the company we were doing massage at, I grabbed my equipment and went inside as quickly as possible. So now I'm trying to provide a relaxation service (chair massage)to someone when I myself am not relaxed.

Instead of worrying about it I focused on the massage I was giving and on my technique. I forced myself to control my breathing and to become calm. Fortunately it's relatively easy regulate your breathing when you are doing something as metered as massage, but doing massage professionally has made me realize just how important controlled breathing is to maintaining your stress levels.

I'm not suggesting you try to massage someone the next time you feel stressed, although, I do teach a couples massage workshop if you do want to learn to regulate your breathing by helping those around you!

I AM suggesting that the next time you have something stressful come into your life, that you consciously think about the fact that you are experiencing a stress response, then try to take long and deep rhythmic breaths until you start to feel yourself relax a bit. I promise you'll be in a better place to deal with whatever it is after you do!

Here's to Feeling Good!

Andrew

PS On the way home the sun was shining, traffic was good and I was belting out whatever song was on the radio. . . I guess being 10C in February will do that to a guy!

PPS Tell me about a stressful time in your life and how you dealt with it in the comments!