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Stress puts us at risk; Relaxation; Thought Quieting; Meditation; For more information and
resources; Information Request Form

Stress puts us at risk

There is fairly clear scientific evidence that high levels of psychological stress arousal affects our  immune
system, makes us more likely to get certain physical illnesses and can hinder control of disease as well as
recovery. Procedures to manage stress, such as Relaxation Training, can help.¹

Please click here for a stress test (PDF 10.1K) that indicates proneness to getting sick.

(Requires Acrobat Reader to open. Link to download Reader can be found below.)

               Please click here for assessing your level of anxiety.

            Click here to assess your stress level.

            Please note that the Therapist Locator feature of the above site does not work for Canadian resources.

Relaxation, Thought Quieting, Meditation

From time to time, in therapy with me, you may be offered procedures to help you in

• calming yourself,
• reducing anxiety,
• managing depression,
• improving sleep,
• coping with physical pain,
• soothing after heavy emotional work in session,
• quieting your racing thoughts,
• and becoming more fully present in the moment.

These procedures include ...

Thought Quieting with "The Four by Four"

The "Four by Four"  is a quick, handy breathing exercise for quieting your busy mind,  generally calming down,
and preparing to tune in to your inner feelings.

Please click here for guidelines to using the "Four-by-Four" for thought quieting. (PDF, 40K)

The Four-by-Four guidelines document linked above is in Portable Document Format (PDF) requiring the Acrobat Reader for
viewing. If you do not have a copy of Acrobat Reader on your computer, click on the link below and download "Reader" — it's free.

Please click to hear Ralph guiding you in the Four by Four. (PDF, 31K)

Mindfulness

Mindfulness is a soothing meditation procedure that focuses and quiets your mind, enabling you to tap into a
deeper, calmer state of being.

• "Physiologically, meditation reduces stress, lowers blood pressure, and decreases heart rate, thereby facilitating physical self-soothing and reducing susceptibility to a heart attack. Psychologically,
  meditation has been found to reduce fears, phobias, and anxiety, thus demonstrating an emotional
  self- soothing aspect."² 
• Mindfulness meditation can also help you if you experience recurrent depressive episodes, enabling you to
  manage depression better as well as to prevent relapse.³
• Mindfulness can enhance your ability to cope with pain that doesn't go away.

The introductory mindfulness procedure would teach you to focus your attention on one aspect of your experience --
the rise and fall of your chest and  abdomen as you breath in and out. When your mind wanders, as it certainly will, you notice "Ah, there goes thinking again", you congratulate yourself for noticing, and gently bring yourself back to the awareness of your breathing.

Further mindfulness practice would teach you to focus your attention fully in specific activities you are engaged
in -- eating a meal, walking, brushing your teeth -- without going on auto-pilot of mind wandering. You would
gradually learn to slow your thoughts down. As your thoughts dominate you less, you can live more fully in present
time. You can gradually develop moment-to-moment awareness in your daily life.

Slowing down, being present, can set the stage for

• connecting with others more fully, instead of half-listening
• becoming less agitated
• becoming less self-critical
• becoming less reactive to the ups and downs of external happenings
• an alive sense of presence
• awareness of your authentic self, "Identifying less with your image and more with your essence ..."²

For more information and resources

• Audiotape of Ralph guiding Relaxation Exercises

Please click on image for larger view

• Audio CD or tape of "Calm and Confident based on EMDR" by Mark Grant which I will suggest you listen to
  regularly if you are needing to reduce high levels of psychological stress or anxiety.

• Audio CD or tape of "Pain Control Based on  EMDR" by Mark Grant which I will suggest you use regularly if
  you are needing to cope better with chronic pain.

• Audiotape of Guided Sitting Meditation by Jon Kabat-Zinn a mindfulness meditation stress reduction tape
  for daily practice.

• The book, "Full Catastrophe Living: Using the Wisdom of Your Body and Mind to Face Stress, Pain and
  Illness" by Jon Kabat-Zinn.

• The book, "Wherever You Go There Your Are" by Jon Kabat-Zinn, soothing essay on mindfulness meditation
  in everyday life.

• The book "Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy for Depression" by Zindel V. Segal, John D. Teasdale, &
  J. Mark G. Williams which applies mindfulness procedures to help in managing depressive symptoms and
  prevent relapse.

• The website for the Center for Mindfulness.

________

¹ Scovern, A. W. (1999) From placebo to alliance: The role of common factors in medicine. In Hubble, M. A., Duncan, B. L., & Miller,
S.D. (Eds.) The heart & soul of change: what works in therapy (pp. 259-295)  Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.

² Amodeo, J. (1999-2001). The authentic heart: an eightfold path to midlife love. Wiley.

³ Segal, Z. V., Williams, J. M. G., & Teasdale, J. D. (2002).  Mindfulness-based cognitive therapy for depression: a new approach
to preventing relapse. NY: Guilford.

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