How
tense are you?
Do you recognise any of these symptoms?
• Excessive Tiredness • Insomnia • Bowel Problems • Headaches
• Frequent Anxiety • Palpitations • Digestive Problems • Restlessness
• Constant Irritability • Trembling • Congested Skin • Restricted
Breathing
• Sore, Tight Muscles • Poor Circulation • Recurrent Infections
All these symptoms have been associated with stress and tension.
How many, how often and how long, will tell you how tense you are.
We often seek external means to ease tension such as smoking, drinking,
comfort eating, taking pain killers etc. To release the tension sometimes
we self-harm or take it out on others.
Our
body, too, responds to stress and tension by shutting down or speeding
up various systems e.g. slowing down digestion, increasing heart rate.
None of these are Healthy Solutions. Eventually they lead to:
• dependency e.g. on drink, smoking, comfort eating, pain killers etc
• guilt for being dependent on these things
• damage both emotionally and physically
Turning to these ways often makes them into habits, and habits are hard to break.
When we are full of tension we are of no benefit to others and are harming our
own
health in the process.We owe it to others to be relaxed. In this state we
feel secure and confident and are able to show compassion to all - even ourselves.
We frequently think that stress and tension are the result of events and situations,but
it can be our response to those situations that creates the stress and tension.
With a relaxed approach the same situation can seem very different.
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Tension, therefore, can be the result of ongoing physical or emotional stress.
Physical tension may occur after sport, after injury, from incorrect posture, from repetitive strain or from impaired mobility.
Physiotherapy, Chiropractic treatments, Alexander technique, Fitness training,
(including Pilates for example) and Beautifully Balanced Massage are among the therapies which can help relieve physical tension.
Emotional tensions are invariably due to a deep inner sense of ‘un-okayness’. This underlying ‘un-okayness’ may well be hidden by years of habitual behaviours and personality characteristics. For example, avoiding conflict, continually making vicious remarks, incessant happiness, denying any sadness.
At times we can appear to be held together with emotional tension:
• the constant effort of doing the right thing.
• the nagging feelings of guilt, shame , unworthiness.
• the desperate need to be liked.
• the continual fear of losing control.
• the persistent resentment of being pressured by others.
When tension is a habit, bizarrely it brings with it a sense of safety and it can actually feel scary to let go of the tension. It is therefore important to establish a deep inner sense of safety and security before releasing such emotional tension.
Beautifully Balanced Relaxation Therapies, The Rosen Method, psychotherapy, counselling and NLP are among the methods which can help to relieve emotional tension. |
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