Stress

Are you a worrier?

It’s not quite the happiest of New Years. Financial difficulties. Looming recession. The flu bug that’s going around. Wars and disasters on the TV.

Lots of challenging situations for all of us, but if you are a worrier it’s just so much worse. As if the reality of the situation wasn’t bad enough you can’t stop worrying about it.

Do these statements apply to you?

• You’re not able to calm down
• You imagine the worst
• You feel anxious far more than you should
• You just can’t stop worrying
• You feel out of control

If they do IntegrityNLP is running a short course in Hexham that will help you:

• Feel calm
• Stop worry in its tracks
• Get back control of your mind.
• Gain greater peace of mind.

The course will be held at The Bodywork Centre, 19 St Mary’s Chare, Hexham on Friday 27th March from 9:30 am to 5:30 pm.

The full cost for the full day workshop is just £69.00.

To find out more click on Coping With Worry – A Short Course

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The NLP Cafe run by IntegrityNLP is starting the New Year in style by taking one of the most important aspects of life very seriously! Laughter!

This laughter workshop is hosted by Keith Adams of Voluntary Aspirations.

The event will be fun, stimulating and you will laugh out loud a lot. There are a maximum of 18 places so be sure to book in advance to get in for the laughs.

“Life today is very stressful. More than 70% of all illnesses have some relationship to stress. The best way to reduce stress is through laughter – its the best medicine and the least expensive. Research shows that laughter decreases stress hormones. Epinephrine is lowered both in anticipation of and doing laughter.

There is more. Laughter therapy helps to increase antibodies – its good for the immune system. Laughter stimulates heart and blood circulation. It is claimed that one minute of laughter is equal to ten minutes on the rowing machine. It also tones facial muscles and expressions – people look younger and are more fun when they laugh.

Laughter is socially bonding. It stimulates the creative side of the brain and leads to clear thinking. ”

Keith Adams

Time & Place

The workshop will be on Tuesday January 20th from 7-9 pm with all refreshments provided for just £10.00.

St. Oswald’s Hospice Teaching Centre,
Regent Avenue, Gosforth,
Newcastle upon Tyne, NE3 1EE

Thursday 10:30 pm

Tomorrow I’m going to the dentist for a filling and scale and polish. I don’t mind the filling too much it’s the scaling I don’t like. Most of the dentists I’ve been too like to dig away like frustrated navvies while I lie there wondering whether they are going to pull my teeth out.

As I think about it my level of discomfort at the prospect is at a seven. In keeping with the advice that I give to my clients about using EFT to prepare for future challenges I decide to take a dose of my own medicine. I just tap on the EFT points with my fingertips whilst letting my mind dwell on tomorrow’s appointment. I don’t use any fancy setup phrases, I just tap and imagine lying back on that chair whilst a charming young lady in a white coat chips away with a chisel.

After a few rounds of tapping my discomfort level is down to between two and three. I decide to up the ante and imagine the proceedure as vividly as I can whilst tapping.

In the waiting room feeling apprehensive (tap, tap, tap), climbing the stairs to the surgery and siting in the chair presents no bad feeling. Once there the image of the descaling implement come to mind – a sharp hook on a handle, bright metallic and menacing hovers in my field of vision (… tap, tap, tap). I tap through several rounds whilst thinking of this instrument of torture. Now in my imagination she’s digging into my gums (tap, tap, tap) and it’s uncomfortable (tap, tap, tap), it’s going to hurt (tap, tap, tap).

Friday 11am

It went quite well. I was fairly comfortable throughout and I didn’t break into a sweat like last time. Things have moved on since my last scale and polish, instead of manually chipping away at my tartar the dentist inserted what felt like a small rotivator and mechanically gouged away at the back of my teeth. A bit disconcerting but not as bad as the manual method. I only needed to remind myself to relax my hands a couple of times.

If reading this has made you a little uncomfortable it might be worth visiting your local EFT or NLP therapist so that going the dentist might be a little more comfortable.

The warmer weather prompts me to repost this article by my good friend Masha Bennett

Having been a horticulturist in my “past life”, I would like to include some leafy and flowery thoughts to contribute to your happiness and well-being. It is well known that gardening can be therapeutic – but no tips on digging or pruning in this article, you may be pleased to know! Instead, I will try to share my ideas on how to get the most enjoyment and pleasure from your own (or someone else’s, for that matter) garden.

Read the rest of this entry »

Here’s a stress reduction opportunity for the run up to Christmas that is simple and discrete. All you need is a shop window and enough time to take three breaths. If you’re rushing about trying to get all that shopping done, it’s very easy to get totally caught up in the task in hand, thinking about what you need to do next, where you need to be, what you’ve forgotten to do, or should do next.

With so much stuff rattling around in our system it’s easy to get carried away, infected with urgency. It can be very relaxing just to slow down for a few moments.

• The first step is actually the hardest: realise that you’re rushing around! If you’re rushing it’s very easy not to notice.
• The second step is find a convenient shop window, stand in front of it, and pretend to look at something particularly interesting.
• The third step is take three natural breaths, noticing the flow of the breath in and out of your system. No need to think, plan or remember things, just notice the breath coming and going three times. Just noticing can be quite calming, it can also be quite difficult, the flywheel of the mind just want’s to keep spinning.

That’s all there is to it, no-one will notice, you’re just looking in a shop window. It only takes a few moments to recollect yourself, and you can do this as many times as you like during the course of the day.

Bonus points: If you like a real challenge and find yourself on an escalator, just be aware of your breathing whilst you’re travelling between floors. It’s a little longer than three breaths, but you get that much more benefit.

If you’ve been here from the beginning you will realise that this is a recycled article from December 2005.

My good friend, and colleague at IntegrityNLP, Nigel Hetherington is running an introduction to hypnosis weekend at the beginning of December here in Newcastle.

This workshop will concentrate on how to use hypnosis for beneficial change work and entering states of relaxation for the purposes of meditation, healing, deep relaxation and stress elimination.

The workshop will run over two days where day one concentrates on the fundamental skills and day two really puts these skills to practical uses.

The two days will be about doing hypnosis so this means the days will mostly consist of practical exercises with short feedback sessions.

Participants will receive a comprehensive set of course notes. This hypnosis workshop take place in Newcastle upon Tyne in early December – just in time to put your new skills into practice over the holiday period!

This introduction is not about stage hypnosis. You wont be able to use this to make someone act like a chicken! However you will learn how to use your other than concious mind for relaxation, stress relief and much more.

Nigel is an excellent trainer and I think you can be guaranteed a very relaxing and rewarding weekend. I think it would make a very pleasant alternative to Christmas shopping.

You can find out more on the Communicating Excellence website.

This is a collection of some of my earlier articles explaining how to use EFT to reduce the stresses and strains of everyday life.

• TV Therapy – how to use the humble television as a therapeutic aid. By using EFT on whatever emotions arise while watching TV programs you can get extra benefit from what ever you are watching.
• Composting for beginners – simple approach to getting over the stresses of the day. EFT isn’t just for dealing with major traumas you can use it to defuse everyday niggles.
• Bus grumbling – using a trip on public transport to uncover an unhelpful pattern of behaviour. One of many everyday opportunities that point out where we could be happier.
• Fingertip EFT – a simple way to use EFT in public without getting stared at.
• Driving stress – one way of using Fingertip EFT to relieve the stress of big city driving.