All of us experience a level of stress at different times in our lives; some of us cope better with it than others so that is doesn’t become a serious emotional or physical condition. Stress can come from any situation or thought where we react by feeling overwhelmed, frustrated, angry, nervous or anxious. Increasing your awareness of your ‘triggers’ for stress is a very important tool that will help you to stop the physical or emotional consequences before they occur.

We can deal with stress in two important ways:

Firstly, by retraining your brain to react differently to stressful situations, by becoming aware of the thoughts that create a whole range of unhelpful emotions and taking control of them.

Secondly, by using physical relaxation techniques, especially when you are in a ‘fight or flight’ state of mind and are feeling a lot of pressure to perform a task well. Simple breathing techniques are the most effective to help you change your focus away from the difficult feelings and to calm and relax your body.

The mind and body are deeply connected, so these techniques work well together when practised.

As your stress and relaxation coach, I will;

• Help you to become aware of your triggers for stress
• Help you to understand the effect of your unhelpful thoughts
• Help you to stop the unhelpful thought before it takes control
• Help you to react differently in stressful situations
• Teach you some breathing and relaxation exercises to help calm your body