Dear Janie: STRESS!!!!

Yes, you had quite a week. Stressing through errands and government processes can leave its toll on the body and mind.  How related do you think your back pain was to the fatigue and worry through each day? There seems to have been an accumulate effect.

 

Stress is not ABOUT THE EVENT, but about the value and meaning you attach to it. It is looking through your own eyes (not any one else's) at the event or situation. Granted you had a couple of long days with surprises (test taking) and unplanned situations (dead cell phone.)  

*In my opinion, you  might consider carrying and extra charger in your dance bag and plug it in at the studio, if you think you can. Especially in a foreign country running errands alone, you want to have the ability to contact someone. Yet, I am sure someone in a store front would help you if went in and asked providing you can speak the language. We forget that cell phones keep us connected in a new way and we can still talk with people face to face.

I guess that your back pain was due to the burden of the stress. The body holds stress like the earth holds lightening and the sun. It absorbs it. Stree has to go somewhere.  Listen to the audios STEPPING TO SLEEP or Audition Excellence to relax and sleep.

We all have days like that where we get rattled. The idea is to catch yourself as you VEER of track and take an SOME action to calm yourself. BREATH is free and always available.

When a situation arises, you have to call on your resources. Your strengths, values, integrity to move toward a solution.

Here is a suggestion:  You're stressed.  THINK of a phrase that is grounding.

Example, "I am - OK."    or   "I am safe."

Break it into two syllables.   (I am  .... and ..... OK)

BREATHE IN and THINK " I am ...."

BREATHE OUT  and THINK  "OK."

Do it 5 times NOW. 

Create your own statement to meet the demands, or what you need.

Here is an GOOD example, I spent Tuesday in the ER with an immediate family member. I had a 5 hour seminar at which I was the primary presenter on WEDNESDAY. I was slated to teach for 4.5 hours. I honored the people I knew who achieved something beyond all odds, that forge through some difficulty to do what they needed to do. I used my breath and kept seeing success, high energy and clear headed. I also recalled times when I was strong and powerful. THAT IS WHAT I TOOK TO THE SEMINAR -

I was  powerful in my presentation. It was flawless, even with all the stress. I had a job to do. We honor our commitments whether it is to dance or life.  Self-importance gets us no where.

Certainly if there was a critical crisis I would have to consider, but how often do we CREATE the feel of urgency or a crisis when it really is not. There is always a solution.

You must change your mind/viewpoints. Some are accustomed to wanting life to be all for, and about them. We collide with each other, don't we?  

To avoid the pain in the body feeling, after a day like that, stretch, bathe, breathe, use a cd. Take SPECIAL care of your body because you use it as a dancer. You rely on your body for your livelihood.

SO WHEN AND IF YOUR CHOOSE TO STRESS,  take some care of your body immediately after.

Sanna Carapellotti, MS CHt

Hypnotherapist