How can you combine cognitive therapy with other stress relief strategies, such as meditation or exercise?

Having come from a very traumatic childhood, I have realised that our emotions and feelings do get stuck in us from this trauma. And we can start to feel that this is us. A flawed human being with all these bad aspects to our personality. This was so far from the truth. When we learn to purge these old emotions and feelings from the body, our mood does improve. Our sense of unworthyness and low self esteem start to diminish and disappear over time.

This constant bombardment of thoughts in the head has been called the 'Monkey Mind' by the Tibetan Monks. And all these thoughts are energy. And this energy is not limitless. It has a price attached to it. This can first lead to emotional exhaustion, and then physical exhaustion. When we learn that these thoughts and feelings are transient and we can change the way we feel, with simple techniques, it is a revelation. We start to take back control of our mind and body in ways we never dreamt possible.

Journaling is such a powerful tool to ensure that your thoughts are your own. And then identifying where they came from is also important. Ensuring they have validity and significance in your life is really key here. Deep breathing will help with this process of monitoring your thoughts. In fact, this is part of my coaching course. I get clients to sit for five minutes and do a deep breathing exercise to come into the parasympathetic nervous state, and then monitor their thoughts after that. It really works and is effective.

Meditation is such an enormous subject and is a word used by the western world to incorporate so many different practises. It is about focusing the mind. The mind is continually wanting to be stimulated and the body to be comfortable. We have both taken these two wants to their extremes in todays world. An amazing type of meditation to use to help this is Qi Gong. I actually teach the Korean style of Ki Gong. I found focusing my mind on my body and my breath very relaxing. First, I had to convince myself that this was the only thing I had to do in this moment. And when I finally convinced myself of this, that is when the stress and anxiety melted away. My traumatic childhood took a little longer.

Meditation and exercise could be a way of explaining Qi Gong. What we are finding out now in our modern science is that energy actually forms matter. Energy doesn't get destroyed only transferred. So we can refresh the energy of the body through exercise. This is so important. With Qi Gong body tapping, you can stimulate your mitochondria and bring new energy into the body. And over a period of time, this will help to rid your body of the old conditions of emotions and traumas stuck in your body. Actually body tapping is now being introduced to trauma therapy. Exercise is so important. The body is designed to move. Exercise helps to keep your mind healthy too.

Whatever you do, do it daily. I would suggest a breathing exercise every morning and evening, with some gentle circulation exercises, all over body tapping and stretching to start off with. This will help you get used to working the body and mind together. Qi Gong will help you do this. And it is fun to learn different sequences and forms. And it is a workout for the mind. If you keep softening your body with your mind, you will soon feel your body warming up because you are using your mind as a power for good.

I agree with all of these suggestions. I would add to this that there is a tendency for most of us to separate mind from body. This is a mistake because the two are one. Cognitive therapy, meditation, and exercise are all part of a wellness approach that can only be successful if physical well being is also present. Don't neglect the health of your physical being and be aware of new frontiers in health that can shed light on mental wellness, such as genetic testing.

In a study just coming out of California, it shows that deep breathing every day helps to rid the body of a harmful protein that is thought to lead to altzheimers. I feel our technology has over run us as beings, and we need to reconnect our mind and body together to get healthy once again. If you find the right instructor, this can be a fun process. And you can feel the benefits really quickly. Anyone suffering from stress, anxiety or even trauma, I feel can deal with this. But you have to do the work yourself. Find yourself someone to help if you procrastinate. And make sure you make the effort. You are amazing as a human being, and you are worth it. So make the effort.

Cognitive Behaviour Therapy has already integrated mindfulness. When the client has an overthinking tendency, it is suggested to use mindfulness. The somatic aspects of thoughts and feelings help in grounding the racing thoughts. All neuroticism issues can be alleviated using mindfulness. The Sleep disorders find maximum resolution when integrated with relaxing techniques like Progressive muscle relaxation.