Andi Ipschitz from Ignite4Life is a close friend of our Pilates instructor Robert Rhode and will be writing articles for us on the issues of stress, depression and anxiety. Please note that these articles are based on her experiences as an energy healer and neither Andi nor Newtown Gym are pubishing these articles as a prescription or solution to mind based issues. They are intended to bring out points for discussion only. We always recommend seeking professional help or contacting support lines (ie beyond blue) should you be adversely affected by any mind related issues (ie depression)
Here is Andi's article on Stress and how we often bring it upon ourselves...
Stress, can we bring it on ourselves?
In today’s society we all feel the effects of stress in our daily lives. I’m always hearing how stressed everyone is, trying to get through the day with the countless lists of tasks that need to be done. Along with looking after kids, trying to fit in some exercise and social time with friends and family. Stress seems to be the never-ending cycle that we all seem to be in and it’s starting to take its toll!
So what is stress exactly?
Stress is the body’s physical, mental or chemical reaction when we get excited or confused or we otherwise feel unsafe or threatened. Stress is the outcome of you and I reacting. If daily demands are easy and well balanced, we’re fine. It’s when we decide the pressure is unreasonable or the situation is upsetting, that the potential for damage occurs. That’s when we’ll say we’re feeling stressed.
Over and above the basic functions of day-to-day living - biochemical chain reactions or “stress” reactions could be labelled as bad when the body over-reacts to demands made on it. It means you experience certain acute physical symptoms when you are presented with things that trigger a state of alert in your system. Your body goes into the “high gear mode.” This means your heart beats faster, your breathing rate increases, you sweat more, your muscles tense, and various chemical reactions take place in your brain.
Stress can be important when we are faced with life threatening circumstances. This is known as the ‘fight or flight’ it heightens our abilities to think quickly, move fast and allow us to get out of potential near death situations.
Nobody else can actually give you stress, you have to react to something and allow yourself to become stressed. We need to understand that the only thing you can control is YOU. It takes awhile to get used to the idea that being stressed-out is in fact a choice. That indeed, after your first spontaneous reaction, you can accept the stress reactions and feel overwhelmed or, you can practice stress management and become calm.
Stress can lead to depression very easily, when we don’t understand that we can control our life situations, it’s very easy to become the victim of our circumstances. When we are in a prolonged period of living in blame, denial or make excuses, we lose our own self –empowerment, this can lead to depression. Unfortunately this is a program that has been built into us since birth. Today’s media, world leaders and religion haven’t made it easy for us to feel in control of our own lives in the western world.
On the flipside, panic attacks and anxiety are also linked to stress. We humans have on average between 50,000 – 70,000 thoughts are day. Can you imagine what our stress levels would rise to if the majority of thoughts were fear based and negative?
Anxiety stems from a need to be perfect, quite often the high achiever can suffer from this. When we come from a negative mindset of ‘I need to get this done perfectly or I’m a failure” a feeling of unease occurs within, leading to a build up of pressure to perform and eventually panic stations alert. Again anxiety is self -inflicted based on the patterns of thoughts we think before attempting a task. By becoming self -aware and cognitively being able to manage your thought patterns you can stop the anxiety and panic attacks from emanating.
By Andi Ipschitz:
enquire.ignite4life@gmail.com
Here is Andi's article on Stress and how we often bring it upon ourselves...
Stress, can we bring it on ourselves?
In today’s society we all feel the effects of stress in our daily lives. I’m always hearing how stressed everyone is, trying to get through the day with the countless lists of tasks that need to be done. Along with looking after kids, trying to fit in some exercise and social time with friends and family. Stress seems to be the never-ending cycle that we all seem to be in and it’s starting to take its toll!
So what is stress exactly?
Stress is the body’s physical, mental or chemical reaction when we get excited or confused or we otherwise feel unsafe or threatened. Stress is the outcome of you and I reacting. If daily demands are easy and well balanced, we’re fine. It’s when we decide the pressure is unreasonable or the situation is upsetting, that the potential for damage occurs. That’s when we’ll say we’re feeling stressed.
Over and above the basic functions of day-to-day living - biochemical chain reactions or “stress” reactions could be labelled as bad when the body over-reacts to demands made on it. It means you experience certain acute physical symptoms when you are presented with things that trigger a state of alert in your system. Your body goes into the “high gear mode.” This means your heart beats faster, your breathing rate increases, you sweat more, your muscles tense, and various chemical reactions take place in your brain.
Stress can be important when we are faced with life threatening circumstances. This is known as the ‘fight or flight’ it heightens our abilities to think quickly, move fast and allow us to get out of potential near death situations.
Nobody else can actually give you stress, you have to react to something and allow yourself to become stressed. We need to understand that the only thing you can control is YOU. It takes awhile to get used to the idea that being stressed-out is in fact a choice. That indeed, after your first spontaneous reaction, you can accept the stress reactions and feel overwhelmed or, you can practice stress management and become calm.
Stress can lead to depression very easily, when we don’t understand that we can control our life situations, it’s very easy to become the victim of our circumstances. When we are in a prolonged period of living in blame, denial or make excuses, we lose our own self –empowerment, this can lead to depression. Unfortunately this is a program that has been built into us since birth. Today’s media, world leaders and religion haven’t made it easy for us to feel in control of our own lives in the western world.
On the flipside, panic attacks and anxiety are also linked to stress. We humans have on average between 50,000 – 70,000 thoughts are day. Can you imagine what our stress levels would rise to if the majority of thoughts were fear based and negative?
Anxiety stems from a need to be perfect, quite often the high achiever can suffer from this. When we come from a negative mindset of ‘I need to get this done perfectly or I’m a failure” a feeling of unease occurs within, leading to a build up of pressure to perform and eventually panic stations alert. Again anxiety is self -inflicted based on the patterns of thoughts we think before attempting a task. By becoming self -aware and cognitively being able to manage your thought patterns you can stop the anxiety and panic attacks from emanating.
By Andi Ipschitz:
enquire.ignite4life@gmail.com
