The Power of Relaxation

Could the Antidote for Stress be Relaxation?

We all have people close to us who are struggling with emotional control. We have all been through so much and I hope my story related to emotional control can help.

The broken neck and spinal cord injury changed my life forever. In addition to the physical destruction, the impact instantly took away my identity as a star athlete. The pieces can never be put back together in the same way. Yet, I learned (and my family instilled) that there will always be other opportunities and not to let fear of an uncertain future define me.

If you better manage stress, it will make your life continuously better. When you help others to manage their stress, will make two lives better.

The Hard Hat Dive

- Air flows into the suit and helmet through the hose tap controlled by your hand. The air exits the suit via a helmet valve inside the helmet that you must tap with your head. If the suit over-inflates, you cannot hit the "oxygen release valve" and you die. If the flow of oxygen is turned off or cut off, you die.

This hard hat dive represents an important stage in my mental recovery and is relevant to us learning about the incredible benefits of relaxation. This dive taught me more about why being in control of our emotions is so important. Why? Because I was locked into a self-contained dive suit with over 120 lbs of weight on me (including a 60 lb chest plate, 20 lb metal shoes, and a 40-pound belt). After being dressed with 120 lbs, I was unable to stand up and get into the water without help.

Once in the water, you sink like a stone and you rely 100% on other people to get you out of the water, get the helmet off, or save your life if there is a problem.

In this writing, we will examine some techniques that work (scientifically) to control negative emotions, help you focus on the present, and thereby reduce your stress level.

FREE download of my new AWARENESS meditation for managing stress - www.DougSmithPerformance.com/relax

The Power of Relaxation

Caroline was a 43-year-old accountant and mother of three teenage children. She was an active squash player who one day felt a twinge in her back when she hit a hard forehand shot. There was discomfort in her back, but she ignored it and finished her game. The next morning, the pain in her lower back was so great that she could barely stand.

At first, treatment with over-the-counter pain medication brought enough relief for her to go to work. After suffering for two days at work, she got a prescription pain relief drug from her doctor. She could not handle the side effects of the drug, so a different drug was prescribed. Still, there was pain and side effects so she was sent to an orthopedic surgeon.

The surgeon sent her for an MRI and found her back did not look too bad. There was a bit of bulging in one of the disks of her lower back and a start of some arthritis. He told her that many people had similar backs with no pain. Then he prescribed a powerful narcotic painkiller and sent her to visit a physical therapist.

The physical therapist put her on a program of exercise and massage. Together with the narcotic, this program got her through about a year. At that point, the pain and time off work were so bad that she went for surgery. After two back surgeries over a two-year period, the problem became even worse. Her life had deteriorated so that she could not even interact effectively with her children.

The surgeon explained to Caroline that they had done everything they could and that they could not find any medical explanation for the pain. She then went to a psychiatrist who in turn referred her to the Benson-Henry Institute for Mind-Body Medicine at Harvard University to see if stress reduction would help.

Dr. Herbert Benson told her that to heal she needed to believe that she could heal herself and practice relaxation techniques. The protocol called for 20 to 25 minutes a day of relaxation and visualization techniques. Within two weeks, Caroline was reporting less intense pain and longer periods of pain-free time. After a couple of months, she returned to work part-time. She dramatically cut down on her pain medication. Whenever her back started to bother her, she now had a technique to deal with it.

Emotions Come from the Subconscious Mind

The subconscious mind communicates with the conscious mind through feelings and emotions. Emotions bring love, joy, and satisfaction to life. They also bring stress and confusion. Thus, emotional control is vital for meeting the second priority of the subconscious mind to think clearly.

Our minds sometimes misfire. In an extreme example, patients with Coutard’s syndrome insist that they are dead, despite feeling their heartbeat or seeing themselves in a mirror. Patients with Capgras syndrome are convinced that their loved ones have been replaced by imposters. Severe cases of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) can also involve moments of irrational behavior. Fortunately, our minds normally respond in a rational manner.

Yet, rational minds sometimes take irrational actions. Sometimes negative emotions like anger or jealousy lead us to do things without thinking them through. And even if the negative emotion does not lead to questionable behavior, it will still produce stress to the detriment of our health. We need actions to deal with the negative emotions we encounter.

FREE download of my new AWARENESS meditation for managing stress - www.DougSmithPerformance.com/relax

The Antidote to Stress is Relaxation

Long-term stress reduction requires a commitment to relaxation. Dr. Walter Cannon of Harvard University discovered the fight or flight theory discussed in Chapter 4 of The Trauma Code, and published it in The Wisdom of the Body, in 1932. This discovery explained why the body releases stress hormones. Later on, Dr. Herbert Benson, working out of the same laboratory space as Dr. Cannon occupied before him, delved further by studying how the body responds when stress is taken away. In 1975, he published The Relaxation Response in answer to this research quest.

In contrast to the fight or flight response, (later modified to the fight, flight, or freeze response), the relaxation response prompts the body to release hormones like nitric oxide that act counter to the stress hormones. Stress hormones inhibit the immune system while nitric oxide enhances the immune system. Stress hormones increase blood pressure while nitric oxide reduces blood pressure by relaxing the smooth muscles around the blood vessel walls.

The Benson-Henry Protocol

Many relaxation methods bring measurable benefits. The Harvard Medical School has used the Benson-Henry protocol for decades as a method to achieve deep relaxation. It is a type of meditation that involves two phases: deep relaxation for 12 to 15 minutes followed immediately by an 8 to 10-minute visualization exercise. The 8 steps to Phase 1 are:

Step 1 – Pick something to focus on. It can be your breathing, a word, a short prayer, a phrase, or an image. Use something you are comfortable with.

Step 2 – Sit in a quiet place where you will not be disturbed.

Step 3 – Close your eyes.

Step 4 – Relax your muscles.

Step 5 – Breathe slowly and naturally.

Step 6 – Remain passive. Interruptions to your thoughts are normal. Accept them and return to your focus.

Step 7 – Continue for 12 to 15 minutes.

Step 8 – Commit to this as a daily exercise.

FREE download of my new AWARENESS meditation for managing stress - www.DougSmithPerformance.com/relax

Phase 2 of the Benson-Henry Protocol is a visualization exercise. Dr. Benson teaches that visualization is more effective when the body is relaxed. It is designed to address your specific health concern. You are instructed to simply imagine your body with the health issue resolved. Often, this can be achieved by remembering how you felt prior to having the health condition.

The Benson-Henry protocol is backed by numerous scientific studies. Many are outlined in Dr. Benson’s 2010 book Relaxation Revolution, Enhancing Your Personal Health Through the Science and Genetics of Mind Body Healing. A 2010 study led by Dr. Albert Yeung of Harvard with 331 patients found that the protocol produced significant improvements in headache, visual disturbances, dizziness, nausea, constipation, diarrhea, abdominal pain, backache, chest pain, palpitations, insomnia, and fatigue. It appears that virtually any health problem is helped by stress reduction. Stress reduction by itself will not normally cure a medical condition, but helps relieve the symptoms and may get the body into a better state to heal itself.

The obvious question is that if the scientific studies clearly show that the relaxation response is so powerful, why doesn’t everyone buy in? There are several reasons. The effect your mind can have on your body has not had the same emphasis in Western medicine as other treatments. Even the realization that the mind can be exercised like a muscle is recent. Since the Industrial Revolution, the fast pace of life in the Western world has conditioned us to expect to see results quickly. Dr. Benson recommends an 8-week program of daily practice and the work is not easy. Thus, the protocol takes considerably more time and effort than taking a drug. As you learn the technique, you will find it easier to execute and you will notice that you are making progress. As with any exercise, a little is much better than none.

Dr. Benson observes that good scientific data is lacking to compare one form of meditation with another. We simply do not know if mindfulness meditation discussed in Chapter 4 yields better health results than focused meditation techniques like Transcendental Meditation or the Benson-Henry protocol. In the end, researchers may find that individual preferences play an important role.

Short-Term Emotional Control

At times, a small accidental slight can become a major problem when negative emotions flare up. And they can spring up very suddenly. Road rage is a good example of an emotional response totally out of proportion to the incident that set it off.

When suffering from trauma, negative emotions can be especially problematic; at times, some unknown trigger prompts a flashback bringing back the negative emotions associated with the trauma. There are six techniques you can use to gain short-term control over negative emotions.

1. ? Pre-empt

????? Pre-empt simply means avoiding situations where you will experience the stress of negative emotions. For example, you may choose to avoid certain people who increase your stress. If you suffer from PTSD, try to identify those stimuli that trigger a reaction.

2. ? Express

????? Express simply means to show emotion. It is acceptable for a 5-year-old to cry in public, but not for a grown-up. When it comes to calming down, not everyone experiences the same relief when they express emotions.

3. ? Suppress

????? Suppressing an emotion is a technique of last resort. It is a poor technique for your stress reduction as the emotion tends to return. As well, suppression of emotion makes others around you uncomfortable when they subconsciously pick up on your discomfort. Other people feel your emotions through mirror neurons.?

4. ? Label

????? Labeling an emotion is simply recognizing it. This is a mindfulness technique whereby the conscious mind recognizes the subconscious mind is transmitting an emotion. By simply thinking about your emotion (something like “my mind is angry”), you can generally reduce the magnitude of a negative emotion. Being aware that you are feeling a negative emotion will help stop it from growing stronger.?

5. ? Distract

????? Distraction means getting your mind to think of something else. This technique can be difficult to use when the emotion keeps surfacing in your mind. Distraction techniques as simple as taking a deep breath or yawning can be quite effective.?

6. ? Reappraise

????? Reappraisal means you review what caused the negative emotion and convince your subconscious mind that the reaction was not appropriate. The challenge with reappraisal is that it takes more time than the other short-term techniques and this additional time might not be available to you in the social or business situation you are handling.

?How Effective Are Emotional Control Techniques

The technique you choose to control short-term emotional responses will depend on the situation. Using fMRI, Dr. Kevin Ochsner of Columbia University compared the techniques of distraction and reappraisal. He found the techniques involved different parts of the brain. Distraction was the most effective in calming down the amygdala (the emotional center of the brain), but reappraisal was best in decreasing the overall negative effects. Reappraisal addresses the concern so it is generally a better choice when you have the time to implement it.

Getting Back to Nature

You can calm negative emotions and reduce your stress level simply by taking a nature walk. Through his research studies, Dr. John Zelinski of Carleton University has shown that people are happier when they relate to nature. For example, a 10-minute walk through a park is more refreshing to our minds than a 10-minute walk through city streets. The thought patterns in our subconscious minds that we have inherited from our ancestors are not based on walking in city streets, so it is reasonable to expect that the natural environment will provide more relaxation. While it is not practical for us all to move out to a cabin in the woods, remember that your environment plays an important role in your stress level.

Summary

When I shattered my neck, I started on an emotional rollercoaster. The rollercoaster was sometimes out of control, but fortunately, my previous training in meditation provided a calming influence. Turning down the dial on my emotions was important in my recovery.

We all suffer from stress due to negative emotions. We can take action to reduce stress and thereby improve our health, productivity and happiness. Besides meditation, valuable tools include pre-emption, expression, suppression, labeling, distraction, reappraisal and simply taking a walk in the woods. You can choose to actively use these tools.

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