Take 5: De stress

At JoLiz Coaching we understand the benefit of giving our clients takeaway techniques they can use in addition to our face-to-face or Skype sessions and workshops.
We have designed our new Take 5 audiocasts to be a series of easy to use coping mechanisms and in Part One we bring you the 5 minute de-stress technique Liz calls The Magic Magnet.
You can use this technique anywhere and any time — before an important meeting, as a way of resetting your balance before an audition, or to perhaps help cope with a bereavement. It’s a useful and considered approach and we know you will see the benefits instantly.
You can download the link to the Take 5 — De Stress, here:
Hello and welcome to Take 5. Part one — De stressing.
For the next five minutes I would like you to be relaxed and let go of everything that you are thinking about or dealing with today. This is your five minutes of relaxation and time to get away.
So before we begin, I want you to all think about how you feel about stress. And I would like you to consider that perhaps stress is not actually the problem, but the way we see stress. If we see stress as a bad thing then it will always be a bad thing in our lives and actually it’s quite normal to have a little bit of healthy stress in your life. Now, I’m talking about a balanced amount but if we can start viewing it as a good thing in our lives, and treating it positively then this will help our lives immensely.
So I’d like to give you a little technique today that will help you in certain situations where perhaps you feel like the stress levels are being raised too high, then it gets you back into a balanced state. This will take five minutes out of your day and can be used at any time.
Now before we begin this technique I’d like to make sure that you’re not driving or operating any machinery or doing anything that requires your full attention. You should be in a place that’s comfortable, and somewhere where you can relax and close your eyes and obviously not be interrupted. So if you’ve found that place, let’s begin.
I like to call this technique the “magic magnet technique”. This is a very quick technique and can be very helpful and very useful in daily life.
I’d like you to start by closing your eyes and then I would like you to take a deep breath in through your nose and out through your mouth and continue breathing at a rate that’s comfortable for you. In and out.
And as you breathe out, I want you to start thinking about different parts of your body that you’re going to start relaxing.
So on every out breath I want you to relax a different part of your body.
And just feel the muscles relaxing.
And feel yourself sinking into the chair or the bed or wherever you are.
Just notice your body’s contact and how it’s feeling heavier.
Notice how you’re connected, notice how your muscles have started to relax. Perhaps your shoulders are moving lower.
And your body is sinking down.
And when you feel particularly relaxed, I want you to imagine there’s a magnet and this magnet can be wherever you like; but it’s probably going to be close to your head.
Mine is a green furry magnet. It could be a shower cap, or a bicycle helmet, or just a plain old magnet as long as it’s what you want it to be and wherever it is — above your head, to the side of your head, surrounding your head, it’s going to be serving you. And once you’ve got the image of your magnet in your head I want you to start imagining that all of the negative thoughts in your head are just floating out of your head and being pulled away by the magnet.
Just imagine them floating out of your head, the negative thoughts and feelings of the day.
Let them just flow away from you, let them keep flowing, all of those negative feelings, all of those negative emotions.
I want you to visualise them flowing out of your head, or any part of your body, and floating, with a gentle, comfortable pull towards the magnet.
Just take your time with it, let all those feelings flow out.
Let all those thoughts pass through, out of you into the magnet.
Just give that the time it needs.
And when you feel ready, and lighter and freer and calmer, you can let the magnet float away to be used for another day. Off it goes. Floating away into the distance and feel the lightness that emptying your mind and body of negative thoughts and feelings gives you.
A light, free and calm feeling and then just feel how balanced you feel.
Just be aware of it before you open your eyes and come back into the room, and carry on with your day.
This technique is a great technique. It feels too easy almost but it’s really, really powerful and can be used at any time in the day.
This is just one of the techniques we teach in our Stress Workshop and for times and availability of our next one, please look at the training section of our website: www.jolizcoaching.com
Thanks for listening. See you on the next one!
If you are experiencing stress, anxiety, addiction, panic attacks, feeling over-whelmed or just simply want to talk, please get in touch to book a one-to-one session with either Jo or Liz.
