STRESS HAPPENS...

Stress happens when you feel overwhelmed by the things going on in your life. It affects you at every level—your body, mind, and spirit. Stress is not always bad. Some stress keeps us motivated and alert, while too little stress can create problems. However, too much stress can trigger problems with mental and physical health, particularly over a long period of time. This can create an imbalance that has negative effects on your health and well-being. In short, stress can happen as a result of any experience that compromises your energy or well-being, whether the cause is physical, mental, spiritual or emotional. 

Why is stress so dangerous?
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the American Medical Association (AMA), medical research estimates that up to 90% of illness and dis-ease is related to stress. Some examples of stress-related problems listed by the CDC include high blood pressure, heart disease, ulcers, allergies, asthma, and migraine headaches. For even more examples of how stress can affect your body, you can read the list in the CDC article http://www.nasdonline.org/document/1451/d001245/stress-management-for-the-health-of-it.html. Do you notice how a little stress can often snowball into a lot of stress? Stress, when it comes, seems to pile on, doesn’t it? Can stress be avoided? Probably not. If you’re alive, you have stress.

When does stress begin?
So when does stress begin? I believe stress starts from day 1—your “birth” day. Think about it. You were all cozy and warm and comfortable, and then suddenly, through no fault of your own, you were forced from your snuggly cocoon into a cold bright world. There were probably a lot of scary noises, with large looming faces making strange and annoying sounds at you. Stressful? Very likely, and that was only the beginning, right?

If you’re anything like me, you’ve had some stressful experiences, even beyond the day to day stuff. Have you ever had serious dis-ease? From a very young age, I had numerous health ailments and always seemed to have one health crisis after another. One issue required major reconstructive surgery in both left and right ears. Ever go through the trauma of a serious accident? In a 10-year time span, I was involved in 7 car accidents. Yes, 7! Both dis-ease and accidents can be considered major stressors. They certainly were for me. What about everyday stress, like that car that cut you off this morning or worrying about paying the mortgage on time? And finally, what about the stress you don’t even consciously remember, like the time someone on the playground pushed you down and everybody laughed? It may not seem important now, but it certainly had an effect. What effects have these major and minor stresses had on you?

How can we handle stress in a healthy way?
It seems that everywhere we turn, there is stress. It would be easy to fall into a pattern of “victimhood,” feeling that stress happens “to” you. A better approach would be to find tools and techniques to empower you to manage stress in healthy ways. My goal is to help you empower yourself. I’m not the healer, just the facilitator. You are your own healer. I pledge to do all in my power to help you on your healing journey. In fact, helping you has a significant effect on my own personal healing—probably because we’re all connected.

There are many tools that have great potential to help you manage stress, from body work, such as massage therapy and one-on-one yoga, to energetic tools, such as SCIO Quantum Biofeedback, V-Plus and, Energy Infuser. If you have any questions about Healing Touch Therapy or the methods we use to help manage stress and improve well-being, you are always welcome to call.