Cut Stress: Four Exercises To Help Deal With Emotions

2023 Author: Jessica James | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-08-25 04:20

A quarrel with a friend, an emergency at work, a serious illness of a loved one, a failure of a project, a failed deal - situations that cause stress constantly occur in life. This is a protective reaction of the body to something new, unexpected, unpleasant. There are many ways to prevent stress, but what if you need to deal with it right now? How to reconfigure ourselves, we asked Vitaly Smolkov, a specialist at the Moscow Psychological Aid Service.

Focus on the body

Stop thinking about the cause of stress, focus on your physical sensations. Try answering the questions: “What feelings do you have in your face, neck, shoulders, arms, legs, chest, and stomach? How do I perceive my own stress? This will help deal with negativity.

via GIPHY

Assess soberly

Sometimes we come up with reasons for the frustration ourselves. The "Five Questions" technique helps to objectively assess a stressful situation.

Exercise 1:

If you feel that negative emotions are rolling over you, take turns answering the following questions:

• What social role am I in now?
• Where am I?
• What's going on at the moment?
• How do I feel about it?
• What can I do about it now?

For example: “I am a passenger on the subway. I am sitting in the carriage. Thinking about past relationships. I feel hurt and anxious. I'll try to shift my attention so that I don't think about it anymore."

Switch attention

During times of stress, we involuntarily focus on the situation that is traumatizing us. There is a technique that allows you to quickly distract yourself.

Exercise 2:

“On one hand, you lock your fingers in the middle to index - ring to pinky position. On the other hand, "middle to the nameless - index and little fingers separately." And then quickly try to reverse the position of the fingers. This exercise allows you to switch your attention from negative thoughts in a matter of seconds and stabilize your emotional state."

Happened? Here we do not immediately. But all the attention was captured by the process!

Relax

Relaxation breathing techniques can also be an effective way to relieve stress.

Exercise 3:

“Breathing can be controlled by arbitrarily narrowing and widening the ribs (upper breathing) or by drawing in and protruding the abdomen (lower breathing). Try to focus your attention on the movement of your abdomen and ribs, and then take three short breaths and four breaths. And then vice versa. Repeat this exercise several times in turn."

There is also the method "Muscle relaxation according to Edmund Jacobson". When a person is under stress, their nervous tension creates tension in the muscles. The body is preparing to defend itself at an unconscious level. That is why we feel the muscles of the face, neck and shoulders, and sometimes the whole body, tighten.

The essence of the method lies in the fact that we artificially create tension in the muscles in order to tire them a little, and then relax them to a state of "softness and raginess".

Exercise 4:

“Turn your attention to the sensations of the muscles in your arms. Feel your fingers, hands, elbows, shoulders. Take a slow deep breath. As you inhale deeply, begin to strain your arms. When you have completed a deep breath, hold your breath for a moment and contract all the muscles in your arms with maximum force. Maintain this tension for two to three seconds, and then begin to exhale slowly and gradually relax the muscles. When you exhale fully, your arms should be so relaxed that it feels like your arms are like the arms of a rag doll. Do this exercise five times. Now turn your attention to your legs (belly, chest, etc.). Then take a deep breath and strain completely. Then exhale slowly and start relaxing all your muscles."