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The Stress Busters Guide

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Last Updated : Nov 08 1996 | 12:00 AM IST

Thats chapter 8 Self Hypnosis. As it points out, Self-hypnosis is a powerful technique that you can quickly and easily learn to counteract stress and stress-related illness.

In the neurotic 90s, combatting stress has become big business. And anybody setting up a special course to teach techniques of stress reduction can walk away with big bucks. Overwrought executives and tense housewives are willing to pay Rs 250 and above per session for a meditation class. You can generally spot an yoga classroom in every bylane in the four metros. And the more exotic stress relaxation techniques like Reiki, Autogenics, Aroma therapy and Cue-controlled relaxation can cost you an arm and a leg.

You could save all that money by forking out a mere Rs 175 for The Relaxation & Stress Reduction Workbook.

In 21 easy to read chapters, it will walk you through practically every technique thats ever been tried out to bust stress. And whats more, it will provide you with nifty tables to measure your stress levels, quantify your response rates to various techniques, and even chart out your progress reports.

The workbook starts off with the chapter How you react to stress (after, of course, the mandatory two-pages on How to get the most out of this workbook) and then goes on to Body awareness before hitting the first McCoy Breathing. As anyone who has dabbled in Yoga knows, proper breathing is not as easy as, well, sucking some air into your lungs. There is a right way to breathe and there is a wrong way to breathe. And being a modern man (or woman), it is more than likely that you are following the wrong way.

After mastering the basics of breathing as outlined in detail fashion in the book, you can progress to Breathing for awareness and relaxation, breathing to release tension, and breathing for symptom control.

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Chances are, if you have mastered all those breathing techniques, and get proper nutrition (chapter 19) and exercise (chapter 20), you will have already learnt to counteract stress in everyday life. Of course if you are the anxiety ridden, neurotic sort who tends to go hyper every time there is a deadline to meet or your boss yells at you, there are far more sophisticated techniques.

Self hypnosis is a good one the book points out that you can make yourself believe that you are a winner if you repeat it to yourself often enough. (Thats called the power of autosuggestion and has launched a thousand dedicated books including the cult title of the 80s Im OK, youre OK.)

Self hypnosis is of course one of the easier techniques. There are tougher ones like self biofeedback, assertiveness training and negative thought stopping. In fact, trying to master all the techniques in a crash course can itself be a rather stressful experience.

But then, that is not the intention of the workbook. To use it to its maximum potential, you need to go easy, step by step, until you have achieved complete mastery and nirvana.

But personally, what I found most interesting was the chart which helps you measure your stress levels. The chart, developed by Thomas H Holmes, MD, of the University of Washington, gives the mean values of various stressful events.

I dont know whether it is a misprint or not but in the stress stakes, marriage seems to be the all-time winner with a mean value of 501. In contrast, divorce has just a mean value of 73, being detained in jail, 63, and being fired from work merely 47. One suspects the good doctor is a misogynist and that has blurred his research. On the other hand, just in case it turns out to be true, try and stay single. (Or if you are unfortunate enough to be already wed, try and get a divorce as soon as possible.) And then, sit back and try and reduce stress. And as the famous ad in the seventies used to say Relax, have a Charminar.

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First Published: Nov 08 1996 | 12:00 AM IST

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