Stress can be a major problem for many people. Trying to juggle all of our responsibilities and the ever-increasing demands being placed on us can place a huge toll on our health. As our stress levels go up, so do our health risks. Hypnotherapy can help you to calm right down.
Current surveys show that around a quarter of all Americans experience high levels of stress. If you count yourself among that number, you might consider hypnotherapy as being a wonderful way to help you to relieve the burden of stress and encourage feelings of relaxation and well-being.
Often stress occurs when there are too many demands being placed upon us and we feel unable to cope. These demands may be a culmination of balancing work, caring for elderly relatives or children, or any combination of external factors that challenge us on a regular basis. When we have too many deadlines to meet and are feeling under pressure then the stress we feel can be overwhelming.
It's important that we look after ourselves by taking time out of our busy schedules and ensuring that we don't reach a breaking point. There is a catalog of health implications relating to chronic stress, which include a higher risk of heart disease, diabetes, obesity, asthma, and headaches.
Stress Management Relief with Hypnosis
Hypnotherapy can help by allowing us to really relax deeply in a very nourishing and healing way. Sometimes we can get stuck in the stress response so hypnosis can give us that valuable outlet where we can let go of our cares and concerns and drift into an altered state of awareness. Similar to the benefits a person might get when meditating, hypnotherapy creates an oasis of tranquil calm that we can float into — but with the added benefit of positive suggestions to create a deeper sense of wellbeing and a strong resourceful state.
It can also be the case that some people feel very stressed even when there aren't many demands on them. In these instances, stress is caused by our internal processes. We can worry about lots of things and stress about what might or might not happen in the future, what people might think of us, or any other scenario that's relevant to us at the time.
Some of our internal processes that generate stressful conditions include:
- Negative self-talk
- Black and white thinking
- Being pessimistic
- Setting unrealistic standards of perfectionism for ourselves
- Having a too-rigid viewpoint
Hypnotherapy can help to soothe that internal chatter in a comfortable, safe environment. During the hypnotic experience, the subconscious mind can be communicated with in a way that can benefit our whole system. This part of our mind is responsible for our automatic behaviors — the things we do without even thinking about it. So, if we have fallen into the habit of stressful thinking, then hypnotherapy can help us to revert back to more useful and healthy responses.
Stress Is Subjective
Our capacity for stress is also very subjective. Some people can handle a great deal of responsibility and thrive under pressure. You might think about how CEOs of large corporations and heads of government appear to manage under an amazing amount of stress. Also, there are people in everyday jobs whose function is to save lives and act in clear-headed and calm ways at all times — think of the emergency services like firefighters and paramedics.
Another person might feel stressed if they have to take a train to work or boil an egg and make a cup of coffee at the same time.
We can appreciate, then, that it doesn't really matter what's happening on the outside — it's how we feel on the inside that counts and recognizing when hypnotherapy might be able to assist us.
Many of us have heard the story of the frog who doesn't react to boiling water if the water is heated slowly. He stays and eventually dies because he just isn't aware of the increasing heat. Stress can feel like that. We take on more and more and feel increasingly worn down and overwhelmed but we don't seem to have an internal regulator to tell us when we've had enough.
Reclaiming Calm and Resilience
When we take a step back we can become more observant about the types of stress we are encountering day to day. We might become aware of feeling a growing sense of irritation with those around us, being short-tempered, frazzled and simply overwhelmed with the pressure of life's demands.
When those types of feelings and behaviors start affecting our lives, then learning to relax through hypnosis is one of the most valuable gifts we can give ourselves. When we calm right down it might feel as if our whole body experiences a gentle sigh of relief.
As we explore the sensations of comfort and peace, our brainwaves will slow down and enter a kind of re-set mode. During this period of focused relaxation, the hypnotherapist can communicate with our subconscious minds using a variety of techniques and language patterns. Being immersed in this altered perception can allow for our critical thinking brains to meander along, following stray thoughts and ideas, whilst the subconscious learns what it needs to in order to create the beneficial change that we are seeking.
These new mindsets then underpin our general sense of wellbeing when we return to our day-to-day life, able to cope better with stress and feeling more resilient and in control.