{"id":857,"date":"2016-12-14T22:38:50","date_gmt":"2016-12-14T22:38:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.frot.co.nz\/design\/deb-gully\/?p=857"},"modified":"2024-11-17T00:19:37","modified_gmt":"2024-11-17T00:19:37","slug":"quick-easy-calming-tip-for-xmas-or-any-time","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.frot.co.nz\/design\/deb-gully\/2016\/12\/14\/quick-easy-calming-tip-for-xmas-or-any-time\/","title":{"rendered":"Quick & Easy calming tip \u2013 for Xmas or any time"},"content":{"rendered":"

Christmas can be a very stressful time, and sometimes we just need to take a few minutes to ourselves, to refocus and relax.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

I\u2019ve already written about EFT (Emotional Freedom Technique)<\/a> elsewhere on the site. If you are familiar with EFT, it\u2019s an excellent tool for winding down from Xmas stress.<\/p>\n

But today I want to talk about something even\u00a0easier. It may not go as deep, and cover as many aspects as EFT, so think of it more as first aid.<\/p>\n

This is\u00a0really three techniques rolled into one, so feel free to pick any part of it, or use them all together.<\/p>\n

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Emotional Stress Release technique<\/h3>\n

This technique was part of my Touch for Health kinesiology<\/a> training. We call it \u201cholding the ESR points\u201d. It brings blood to the front part of the brain, and helps get you out of a stressed state.<\/p>\n

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. Whichever is most comfortable for you is fine.<\/p>\n

You\u2019ve probably automatically done this many times when feeling agitated, but today we\u2019re 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.<\/p>\n

So find a comfortable place where you won\u2019t be disturbed and lie down. Close your eyes, cover your ESR points, and relax.<\/p>\n

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\u2019t seem to matter quite as much, and you feel calmer about it.<\/p>\n

If it\u2019s more general Christmas stress, let everything float into your mind and float out again \u2013 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.<\/p>\n

Deep breathing<\/h3>\n

Deep breathing will help you feel calmer all by itself, but today let\u2019s combine it with the ESRs. Just slowly breathe in and out.<\/p>\n

To take it to the next level, \u201cwatch\u201d 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.<\/p>\n

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Visualisations<\/h3>\n

Once you\u2019re 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.<\/p>\n

Remembering to do it<\/h3>\n

If you just read this and then go onto the next thing, you won\u2019t remember it when you need it.<\/p>\n

Half the solution is knowing what to do, and the other half is remembering to do it. So how about practicing it right now?<\/p>\n

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\u2019t spare 20 minutes, but it all comes down to choice. Choose yourself.<\/p>\n

If you still feel stressed after trying this technique, remember my Xmas EFT offer<\/a>, and give me a call.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Christmas can be a very stressful time, and sometimes we just need to take a few minutes to ourselves, to refocus and relax. I\u2019ve already written about EFT (Emotional Freedom Technique) elsewhere on the site. If you are familiar with EFT, it\u2019s an excellent tool for winding down from Xmas stress. But today I want to talk about something even\u00a0easier. It may not go as deep, and cover as many aspects as EFT, so think […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[13,4],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.frot.co.nz\/design\/deb-gully\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/857"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.frot.co.nz\/design\/deb-gully\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.frot.co.nz\/design\/deb-gully\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.frot.co.nz\/design\/deb-gully\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.frot.co.nz\/design\/deb-gully\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=857"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"http:\/\/www.frot.co.nz\/design\/deb-gully\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/857\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1222,"href":"http:\/\/www.frot.co.nz\/design\/deb-gully\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/857\/revisions\/1222"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.frot.co.nz\/design\/deb-gully\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=857"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.frot.co.nz\/design\/deb-gully\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=857"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.frot.co.nz\/design\/deb-gully\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=857"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}