Creating a Work/Life balance for your Physical, Emotional, Mental Health & Well being.

Do you find that there are times when the balance between life and work seems to go off track? With the combination of stress and long hours at work, your muscles and joints feeling tight, ‘jammed’ and the pain that was once ‘niggly’ is now intense; all these factors can get too much to handle. During these times you may have forgotten to take care of your health and well being, putting work first. Most people can relate to this because nobody is perfect. Life can become very overwhelming because families of different sizes have many demands. They may include meeting deadlines and performance criteria at work, caring for children, assisting their elderly parents, maintaining their home and garden, making time for their partner and amongst all of that finding time to relax!

As a result of the pressure they are under, there are many articles on the internet centred around stress in the workplace, work/life balance and wellness. For example an article written by www.clicktime.com provided 12 strategies to handle stressful careers. To read the full article CLICK HERE.

Instead of feeling exhausted or disheartened, let’s consider an effective approach to how we can create a focus and structure to our work/life balance. When we create a structure and introduce a health and wellness approach to reduce stress, relieve back pain, neck discomfort and help lower the overall impact stress has on other areas of our body; we start to feel we are taking back control of our life.

We have to be realistic and know that secular work is very important to keep a roof over our head and provide for our necessities. We also know that without good health, we are unable to function well and will be no good to anybody. Our health is our wealth.

Stress and its impact on our body

The correct amount of stress is good for us. Consider times when you have had to present a talk or sit an exam. The adrenaline surge helps you stay fully focused. Notice after you have had that adrenaline surge, you start feeling exhausted as your body recovers from the stress response, allowing your body to calm down and recover.

However with the daily pressures at work, people can start living on their adrenaline all the time. They live off the buzz or surge of energy. They may also develop nervous anxiety, feeling that they need to work ridiculous work hours to prove their worth to their boss or others. This is unsustainable in the long term, eventually the person will crash and burn.

As a Somatics educator I teach my clients how to reduce the impact stress has on our mind and body. The Total Somatics Approach to Health & Wellness Online Program (www.TotalSomatics.com) covers in greater detail the effects of stress on your body and more importantly what you can do to resolve these issues. I would like to share a small piece of information which can be found on the program regarding stress and how it influences your posture and in turn affects your physical, emotional and mental health.

When you are stressed your central nervous system switches in to the ‘fight or flight’ stress response. It tightens certain muscles in your body, commonly through the front. It is a automatic stress response created from a region of your brain which controls areas and actions of your body subconsciously, such as your heart rate and breath rate. This area is called the brainstem. The brainstem tells certain muscles to contract when you are stressed. These muscles include your ‘six pack muscle’ which attaches to your pubic bone and runs along the front of your belly and attaches to the bottom of your breast bone. When it tightens, your ribs and shoulders draw down towards your pubic bone and your pubic bone tilts up towards your ribcage. As a result the shoulders roll forward, the chest is depressed and your tail bone is tucked up and under because your pubic bone has been drawn towards your ribs. This reflex response can be seen in any vertebrae creature. Picture a dog for a moment. Have you ever noticed when a dog becomes anxious, their tail tucks between their legs? The muscles in and around the pelvis is responding to the stress response by drawing the coccyx or tail bone up and under. It subconsciously happens as a stress response from the brainstem.

Imagine how living in this stress posture can create so much pain and discomfort in your back, neck, shoulders. It also affects your internal organs because the chest and abdominal space has reduced significantly. If you live unaware or subconsciously in this posture, you start to move less and your body starts feeling stiffer. The wonderful knowledge and skills clients have gained from The Total Somatics Approach to Health and Wellness Online Program (www.TotalSomatics.com) allows them to identify when they are under pressure and falling into their stress response posture. However instead of living subconsciously and allowing the muscles to stay chronically tight, they have developed a repertoire of somatic movements to soften and release chronically tight muscles. They have used the online program to learn how to use a 3 step process called PANDICULATION to reset their muscle length, so they can move freely, improve their posture and reduce pain. With the layered learning in the area of mindset, mindfulness, movement and wellness, they feel empowered and educated, taking back control of their health and well being. The online program will help you design a balanced lifestyle to create a better work/life balance which in turn will reduce the detrimental effects stress has on your body.

Click HERE to download your FREE eBook entitled “Somatics - What is it? How can it help me?”

 

You will find frequently asked questions and the science behind Somatic Movement. You will see before and after photos of clients and read how Somatic movement has changed their life.

Throughout the month of June, I am inviting all readers of this blog to take advantage of the “Reduce Pain, Move Freely” Mid year offer. In order to get people around the world moving freely and reducing pain, I would like to offer you a 20% discount off the online program.

To receive 20% off the price, use the following coupon code:

somatics20mid

Enjoying taking back control of your work/life balance by learning these life skills in the comfort of your own home at a time that suits you.

Take care,

Heidi Hadley xx

www.TotalSomatics.com

 

 

 

 

 

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