Taking Charge: Managing Your Stress For Energy, Focus And Renewal

Stress Management Through Body Awareness

Description Of Presentation

This presentation is designed to help the participants learn strategies to manage stress on the job and at home, to become aware of warning signals in order to prevent stress from escalating, and to be able to distinguish between what we can change and what is beyond our control. The session involves active participation from the participants in terms of interaction with partners and in small groups, breathing and relaxation exercises.

Stress is always with us. Dr Hans Selye, often credited as the father of modern stress research, writes that stress is our body's response to any demand made upon it. He distinguished between two types of stress:

• "eustress" - good stress, a positive feeling, leading to happiness, creativity and satisfaction (taken from the Greek "eu", meaning good, as in the word euphoria)
• "distress" - continuous high levels of damaging, performance-draining stress

The positive eustress can be helpful in generating enthusiasm, motivation and action, but if not controlled it can easily slip over the edge into distress, leading to ineffective performance, uncertainty, unclarity and anxiety. On the job, this often occurs when too many demands are placed upon us at once, unreasonable deadlines are scheduled, constant interruptions do not allow us to get work done in a timely manner, and competition or unhealthy interactions between staff members develop. Suddenly we feel irritable, inadequate, unappreciated or confused, pain in the back and neck increases, and the mind races at night not allowing sleep.

We can't eliminate all stress from our lives, but once we recognise the symptoms of stress, there are ways to get out of the trap and to learn how to better manage the daily stresses of life - at the workplace and at home. This can only be done step by step, and the first step is awareness. Then begins the process of finding what is possible to change in our environment, in our attitude towards others and towards ourselves. By "taking charge" we can live a healthier life and have a healthier work situation through better communication - with our superiors, with our colleagues, with our employees, with our friends, and most importantly, with ourselves.