Stress

Some stress is good, it can even help with productivity, engagement and success.

Short bursts of high stress are OK and even beneficial if managed properly and released.

Stress becomes a problem when it is ongoing with no release or let up.

Our brains do a poor job distinguishing between daily stress and life-threatening events. 

• Mental Stress
• Parenting Stress
• Marriage Stress
• General Financial Stress

• Negative self-talk
• Unrealistic expectations/Perfectionism
• All-or-nothing attitude

In days gone by we would run, or fight, yell, and tremble, which all served to release the build-up of stress and stress hormones.  We also had more down time than we do now.

In our modern ‘civilised world’ we don’t have the same opportunities to release stress, the world is awake 24/7.

We are often unaware that our bodies are reacting to everyday things; like the ding of our phone or the appearance of an email, the worry about our weight or finances, or the day to day juggle of life, the toxins in our food and environment. And we do react to these as if they were threats to our survival by releasing stress hormones which instruct our bodies to act in a protective way.

We often have too much to deal with on a weekly, daily, hourly basis.

On a physical level the ongoing stress and constant high level of stress hormones can reduce our immunity, leading to inflammation, which may progress on to disease and illness and the often gradual breakdown of our bodies.

On a cognitive level with continual stress, we stop functioning from the logical ‘thinking’ part of our brain, and as part of the natural fear response we move into the ‘emotional’ part of our brain.  When operating from the ‘emotional’ part of our brain our reactions are subconscious – driven by our early life learnings (beliefs). We become more reactive, we can’t think straight, our memory becomes impaired, we might act out of character and have mood swings and feel out of control.

We can think of ourselves as stress pressure cookers.  We can cruise along just fine putting stress in and letting some out, maintaing a balance.  The problems arise when the outlet gets blocked or the cooker gets too full.  Then it can take just one more seemingly little thing for the whole lot to blow.  This can show up as outbursts, acting out, illness, skin problems, not thinking clearly, sleep problems….

Tapping is shown to reduce cortisol (a stress hormone), in one group trial by 43%.  Regular tapping at home can help manage your stress.  Barb works with you reduce your stress levels and get to the source of your stress and stress reactions to release these.