Mike
2005-10-20 09:51:14 UTC
My mother (age 85) reminded me today that in "her day" no-one spoke about
suffering from "STRESS" and the idea of having time off work for such a
thing would have been greeted with scornful derision.
"We just got on with life!" is what she and many of her generation say.
Of course infant mortality was much higher then and people died much earlier
(usually of "natural" causes!) and many people over 60 were in wheelchairs
or bed-ridden.
There was less pesticides, less pollution, less traffic on the roads, more
family life, more community life, more physical exercise, no television, no
junk food, infinitely less information to absorb, less bureaucracy, less
paperwork, less taxes, less junk mail, no telesales calls invading work and
leisure time, no spam emails and a much slower pace of life in general and a
far slower rate of change in particular.
STRESS, VIRUS INFECTIONS AND THE IMMUNE SYSTEM
When Hans Selye introduced the word "STRESS" to our vocabulary, half a
century ago, he could never have imagined that stress would become so
crucially linked to our health and well-being as it is today.
Even the most sophisticated of our medical science treatments can be
rendered helpless if we do not have an immune system that is "firing on all
cylinders". This is especially true where virus infections such as
influenza and drug-resistant bacteria such as MRSA are concerned.
From the very beginning of his studies into "The General Adaptation
Syndrome" i.e. the effects of living under constant stress, Prof. Selye was
struck by the powerful inhibitory effects of stress on the immune system.
The inhibitory effects of stress on the body's defences against illness were
clearly visible, both externally and internally.
BOOSTING IMMUNITY by LOWERING STRESS
The Good News!
------------------
Human beings have amazing, natural and incredibly powerful, mental,
hormonal, emotional, behavioural and resources for coping with stress and
conserving precious life-energy to fuel the immune system.
These stress-adaptation and stress-coping systems come to us via human DNA
which has been developed, tested and refined over millions of years of
evolution.
The Bad News
----------------
Our human stress-resistance genes have unfortunately not changed
significantly in the last 30,000 years - evolution is a very, very slow
process.
So most of our stress responses come from the 98% of our DNA that is
ape-like and 2% comes from ancestral cave-dwellers!
Our innate stress reactions work well in life-or-death, "kill or be killed",
physical survival struggles but are quite inappropriate in a 21st century
home or workplace.
Not only do we have to repress our quite natural instinct to hit a critical
boss/partner, or stubborn employee/friend, over the head with a tree branch
but we also have to avoid yelling loudly and trashing everything within
reach (nostalgic sigh!) when our environment becomes unduly restrictive or
the pressures on us become unacceptably high.
CLEARING INNATE STRESS RESPONSES
Our natural, instinctive, defences against uncomfortably high levels of
stress (i.e. run away, fight to the death or "freeze up in terror") actually
become an additional hazard rather than a help in most 21st century stress
situations. To be quite frank, they can easily land us up in court, or on
the dole!
So the first step in stress management is to curb our natural impulsive
reactions (e.g. to choke the life out of someone who is speaking hurtful
words!) and replace them with more civilised responses.
Natural, impulsive reactions, honed over millions of years are energy-rich
entities and physics teaches us that energy cannot be destroyed - only moved
from one place to another, or transmuted from one form to another.
CLEARING AND TRANSMUTING HELD-IN DESTRUCTIVE FEELINGS
Destructive energies that are "held-in" or "held-down" over a period of time
will eventually drain us of our life energy and eventually make us ill.
Clearing and transmuting our stress is not a luxury - it is a "life or
death", "nourishing the will to live" and "preserving our energy and peace
of mind" everyday necessity.
So how can we shift and transmute our - often destructive - primitive stress
responses before they sideline our energy or "shoot us in the foot",
creating additional stress?
REDUCING THE TIME AND FINDING THE MOTIVATION!
Stress management can be yet another time-consuming, money-consuming or
tedious chore (goal-setting, to-do lists, workouts at the gym etc) , or it
can be a rich, entertaining and nourishing experience requiring minimum
investment.
HOW CAN THIS BE? WHAT IS THE SECRET
The secret lies within the heart of the problem - in those primitive genes
that so easily lead us into unskilful, "foot in mouth", "self-sabotage"
responses to irritation, frustration, pressure and impossible demands..
Primitive techniques of stress management act simply, powerfully, naturally
and speedily on our primitive nervous systems.
This realisation is undoubtedly fuelling the current rise in ancient forms
of spirituality (paganism is the UK's fastest growing religion) and the
human race's most ancient forms of healing: shamanic healing
(www.lovehealth.org/tools/shamanic.htm), Ayurvedic medicine, Chinese Taoist
medicine and various forms of "Faith" healing
(http://www.brothermichael.org.uk)
STRESS-RELIEF and HEALING EVENTS
If you are within travelling distance of Cambridge UK and would like to
boost your energy level and immune system as the darker months of the year
tighten their grip, why not enjoy some ancient stress-relief practices in
forthcoming events and workshops?
See www.sunflower-health.com/workshops.htm for details.
FREE ONLINE SELF-HELP FOR STRESS
You will find a whole bunch of self-help resources, including stress
management cartoons, animations, articles and poems at:
www.stress-counselling.co.uk
suffering from "STRESS" and the idea of having time off work for such a
thing would have been greeted with scornful derision.
"We just got on with life!" is what she and many of her generation say.
Of course infant mortality was much higher then and people died much earlier
(usually of "natural" causes!) and many people over 60 were in wheelchairs
or bed-ridden.
There was less pesticides, less pollution, less traffic on the roads, more
family life, more community life, more physical exercise, no television, no
junk food, infinitely less information to absorb, less bureaucracy, less
paperwork, less taxes, less junk mail, no telesales calls invading work and
leisure time, no spam emails and a much slower pace of life in general and a
far slower rate of change in particular.
STRESS, VIRUS INFECTIONS AND THE IMMUNE SYSTEM
When Hans Selye introduced the word "STRESS" to our vocabulary, half a
century ago, he could never have imagined that stress would become so
crucially linked to our health and well-being as it is today.
Even the most sophisticated of our medical science treatments can be
rendered helpless if we do not have an immune system that is "firing on all
cylinders". This is especially true where virus infections such as
influenza and drug-resistant bacteria such as MRSA are concerned.
From the very beginning of his studies into "The General Adaptation
Syndrome" i.e. the effects of living under constant stress, Prof. Selye was
struck by the powerful inhibitory effects of stress on the immune system.
The inhibitory effects of stress on the body's defences against illness were
clearly visible, both externally and internally.
BOOSTING IMMUNITY by LOWERING STRESS
The Good News!
------------------
Human beings have amazing, natural and incredibly powerful, mental,
hormonal, emotional, behavioural and resources for coping with stress and
conserving precious life-energy to fuel the immune system.
These stress-adaptation and stress-coping systems come to us via human DNA
which has been developed, tested and refined over millions of years of
evolution.
The Bad News
----------------
Our human stress-resistance genes have unfortunately not changed
significantly in the last 30,000 years - evolution is a very, very slow
process.
So most of our stress responses come from the 98% of our DNA that is
ape-like and 2% comes from ancestral cave-dwellers!
Our innate stress reactions work well in life-or-death, "kill or be killed",
physical survival struggles but are quite inappropriate in a 21st century
home or workplace.
Not only do we have to repress our quite natural instinct to hit a critical
boss/partner, or stubborn employee/friend, over the head with a tree branch
but we also have to avoid yelling loudly and trashing everything within
reach (nostalgic sigh!) when our environment becomes unduly restrictive or
the pressures on us become unacceptably high.
CLEARING INNATE STRESS RESPONSES
Our natural, instinctive, defences against uncomfortably high levels of
stress (i.e. run away, fight to the death or "freeze up in terror") actually
become an additional hazard rather than a help in most 21st century stress
situations. To be quite frank, they can easily land us up in court, or on
the dole!
So the first step in stress management is to curb our natural impulsive
reactions (e.g. to choke the life out of someone who is speaking hurtful
words!) and replace them with more civilised responses.
Natural, impulsive reactions, honed over millions of years are energy-rich
entities and physics teaches us that energy cannot be destroyed - only moved
from one place to another, or transmuted from one form to another.
CLEARING AND TRANSMUTING HELD-IN DESTRUCTIVE FEELINGS
Destructive energies that are "held-in" or "held-down" over a period of time
will eventually drain us of our life energy and eventually make us ill.
Clearing and transmuting our stress is not a luxury - it is a "life or
death", "nourishing the will to live" and "preserving our energy and peace
of mind" everyday necessity.
So how can we shift and transmute our - often destructive - primitive stress
responses before they sideline our energy or "shoot us in the foot",
creating additional stress?
REDUCING THE TIME AND FINDING THE MOTIVATION!
Stress management can be yet another time-consuming, money-consuming or
tedious chore (goal-setting, to-do lists, workouts at the gym etc) , or it
can be a rich, entertaining and nourishing experience requiring minimum
investment.
HOW CAN THIS BE? WHAT IS THE SECRET
The secret lies within the heart of the problem - in those primitive genes
that so easily lead us into unskilful, "foot in mouth", "self-sabotage"
responses to irritation, frustration, pressure and impossible demands..
Primitive techniques of stress management act simply, powerfully, naturally
and speedily on our primitive nervous systems.
This realisation is undoubtedly fuelling the current rise in ancient forms
of spirituality (paganism is the UK's fastest growing religion) and the
human race's most ancient forms of healing: shamanic healing
(www.lovehealth.org/tools/shamanic.htm), Ayurvedic medicine, Chinese Taoist
medicine and various forms of "Faith" healing
(http://www.brothermichael.org.uk)
STRESS-RELIEF and HEALING EVENTS
If you are within travelling distance of Cambridge UK and would like to
boost your energy level and immune system as the darker months of the year
tighten their grip, why not enjoy some ancient stress-relief practices in
forthcoming events and workshops?
See www.sunflower-health.com/workshops.htm for details.
FREE ONLINE SELF-HELP FOR STRESS
You will find a whole bunch of self-help resources, including stress
management cartoons, animations, articles and poems at:
www.stress-counselling.co.uk