Hi

It's Tony here from the Aikido Health Centre with your Harmony Ezine packed with unique tips and insights on aikido, health and well-being.

In this issue is Stress and Anxiety - details below. Next month we turn the spotlight on Meditation Methods... stay tuned!

Stress and Anxiety

There are several great ways to reduce the kind of stress that we all feel from time to time. For some people it is far more serious and can stop you from enjoying your life. Here are some of my simple suggestions to minimize the effects of anxiety on your life.

Just because these methods are fairly easy to perform, doesn't mean the are not very powerful... they are!

1 - Deep Breathing Using the whole of your lungs. Breath in by pulling the air into your lungs by lowering your diaphragm and expanding your stomach. Empty your lungs by pulling your stomach in, as you breath out.

2 - Exercise Exercise at least 3 times a week - while breathing deeply. You could try walking, cycling, swimming, yoga, etc.

3 - Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT) It helps with long-term anxiety and other health issues. I successfully used it for my father-of-the-bride speech at my daughter Natasha's wedding in 2015.

What is EFT?

It shows you how to release emotional baggage, let go of stress and short or long term trauma. It is based on acupressure, neuro-linguistic programming (NLP), energy medicine, and thought field therapy (TFT).

EFT is sometimes called Energy Psychology, and known through Gary Craig's EFT Handbook, that was published in the late 1990s.

Many successful healers, therapists, and motivational speakers use it themselves and teach it to help remove psychological barriers that can block your ability to believe that you can be free of underlying issues.

How Is EFT Performed?

You begin by rating the emotional intensity of your stress reaction to an issue between 0-10. Then you repeat an affirmation based on the issue while tapping specific acupressure points on the body.

Research suggests that the fear of public speaking is greater than the fear of death. Obviously most people fear death to some degree or another. After all, it isn't something we can avoid :)

Public speaking is something that many people try to avoid. The fears around this include failure, embarrassment, tongue-tied, sweating, panic attacks, letting people down, forgetting what to say, blushing etc.

As I said, I used EFT to prepare for my father-of-the-bride speech at my daughter's wedding. It was important to me, so I decided to use EFT for several weeks leading up to my speech, to release my individual fears, and develop confidence in my ability to perform successfully.

When it came to my speech, I stood up, felt relaxed and confident, and delivered it as well as I had in my practise sessions. The audience were listening, and laughing in all the right places.

I was told it went very well, and had plenty of positive feedback, even from the event organisers who witnessed dozens of speeches every year.

EFT helped me a lot!

You can let go of limiting beliefs with EFT. It is like peeling an onion - as you release one layer other feelings come up that also need to be let go of. The process deals with unwanted feelings that pop into your conscious mind.

Many of our 'issues' are buried deep in our subconscious minds, and when they show up, we tend to suppress and push them back down. By bringing them up and releasing them, you'll feel lighter, more positive, and find that you can remove blockages between you and your goals.

There are plenty of videos available on YouTube. You may want to check out Gary Craig and Brad Yates, but there are many others.

Reduce stress and anxiety and... Experience Optimum Health

That's it, next month we will discuss Meditation Methods... stay tuned!