Christmas can be a very stressful time, and sometimes we just need to take a few minutes to ourselves, to refocus and relax.
I’ve already written about EFT (Emotional Freedom Technique) in two previous posts: Emotional Freedom Technique Part 1 ~ EFT Part 2 – Getting started. If you are familiar with EFT, it’s an excellent tool for winding down from Xmas stress.
But today I want to talk about something much easier. It’s really three techniques rolled into one, so feel free to pick any part of it, or use them all together.
Emotional Stress Release technique
This technique was part of my Touch for Health kinesiology training. We call it “holding the ESR points”. It brings blood to the front part of the brain, and helps get you out of a stressed state.
Put two fingertips on your eyebrows and move up a couple of inches till you find two bumps near the top of the forehead. You can place two fingertips on each, or cover them with both palms, or use one palm to cover both, as in the picture below. Whichever is most comfortable for you is fine.
You’ve probably automatically done this many times when feeling agitated, but today we’re going to do it with more awareness. If you need some emotional First Aid, feel free to just clamp your hand on your forehead, any time, anywhere, and it will help. But today, I want you to get into a really relaxed state.
So find a comfortable place where you won’t be disturbed and lie down. Close your eyes, cover your ESR points, and relax.
If a particular thing has been bothering you, let thoughts of that come into your mind. You should find after a while that it doesn’t seem to matter quite as much, and you feel calmer about it.
If it’s more general Christmas stress, let everything float into your mind and float out again – financial worries, all the work you need to do in the next week, stress about what to buy for people, how will the family behave on Xmas Day, or whatever your particular stressors are.
Deep breathing
Deep breathing will help you feel calmer all by itself, but today let’s combine it with the ESRs. Just slowly breathe in and out.
To take it to the next level, “watch” your breath. Feel it coming in, and feel it going out. If you focus just on your breath, it can become a meditation. When your mind wanders, bring it back to the breath.
Visualisations
Once you’re feeling more relaxed, you may like to start imagining better outcomes for everything that is stressing you. If you start to feel agitated again, just focus back on your breathing for a while.
Remembering to do it
If you just read this and then go onto the next post, you won’t remember it when you need it.
Half the solution is knowing what to do, and the other half is remembering to do it. So how about practicing it right now?
Take five minutes for yourself to practice now, and when you really need to relax, take a full 10 or even 20 minutes. You might think you can’t spare 20 minutes, but it all comes down to choice. Choose yourself.
Thanks for reading, and wishing you the peace and joy of Christmas – not the stress!
Follow me for more health, nutrition, food, lifestyle and recipe posts.
I am now on Peerhub offering one on one nutritional coaching and EFT (Emotional Freedom Technique) sessions by Skype.
Some of my previous posts on HEALTH AND NUTRITION: The wide variety of healthy diets out and what they have in common ~ The travels of Weston A Price and his discoveries about healthy diets ~ Good fats vs bad fats ~ DNA testing for better Health & Fitness ~ DNA testing part 2: How Well Do I Digest Carbs? ~ DNA testing Part 3: I can’t eat Carbs & How to Manage that ~ About the Gut & Psychology syndrome (GAPS) diet Part 1 ~ GAPS diet Part 2: Foods we can’t have ~ GAPS diet Part 3: Foods we CAN have ~ GAPS diet Part 4: What if I can’t eat some animal foods ~ Salicylate intolerances ~ Thoughts about Breast Health ~ I’ve got a cold & how to handle it ~ Sleep like a kitten Part 1 – 3 tips ~ Sleep Well Part 2 – What’s your sleeping style? ~ Sleep Well Part 3 – Resetting your body clock ~ Six days training in a new natural therapy
