Stress
when life is too demanding …
What is Stress?
Stress occurs when you are facing a situation you doubt you are capable of succeeding in and the implications of failure are considered important. For example;
- You are about to take your driving test and worry that you will make silly mistakes (capability doubts). You think the outcome will have a big effect on your future (important implications). You are going to feel stressed.
- You are sitting GCSE exams and are concerned that you will forget what you have revised (capability doubts). You think that these exams will determine your future (important implications). You are going to feel stressed
- You are to present a speech at the next team meeting and worry that you will “dry up” (capability doubts). You fear this will lead to “loss of face” with your colleagues (important implications). You are going to be stressed.
In all these situations, you want to feel calm and be able to think clearly but this is the very opposite to what your body feels. You may experience a higher heart rate, sweaty palms, churning stomach and dizziness.
So, you find yourself fighting against your body. It feels like it is working against you. In fact, it is trying to help you, just in a very “out of date” way. It is producing the “fight or flight” response.
I’ve missed more than 9000 shots in my career. I’ve lost almost 300 games. 26 times, I’ve been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed.
~ Michael Jordan, American Basketball Legend
How I Can Help You to use Stress Positively
We are not seeking to eliminate stress. At the right level, it can be healthy, invigorating and enhance your performance. Think back to what you have achieved in your life and you are likely to have experienced stress doing it.
You will learn how to frame external situations into their correct proportion and change the way you react to stress; turning it back into that positive, performance enhancing emotion. I will use proven techniques from sports psychology, psychotherapy and hypnotherapy to help you achieve this.
Allowing you space to explore and describe how you feel is a vital first step to you returning to your more centred, calm and in control self.
Hypnosis is a powerful tool in tackling stress. The feeling of relaxation that you will experience will show you that you do have the resources within you to feel differently. We will “anchor” these relaxed feelings so that you can “call them up” in the exam room, driving test or conference hall. In hypnosis, we can talk directly with your subconscious to re-frame previously stress-inducing situations to situations you can look forward to with excitement.
Want To Find Out More?
Please call me on 01323 508811 for an informal chat about how I can help you. Alternatively you can use the button below for more ways to contact me.
18 separate studies have found that patients receiving psychotherapy plus hypnosis for weight loss, anxiety, depression, and insomnia showed greater improvement than most patients receiving psychotherapy alone.