Ancient Healing Methods for Modern Stress #1

This is the first of one of my online classes that many people have found useful. I am not a doctor or a psychologist, and I do share information from several sources and give credit to them in the sessions. There are some really fun exercises in these sessions. I hope you enjoy them and maybe learn something that can help you with some physical or emotional issue. Ariele M. Huff

Ancient Healing Methods for Modern Stress #1

Anxiety and stress will never be gone from our lives. They are a fact of life and we need them for creativity and for survival and for getting messages from our bodies and emotions and spirits about how we are treating ourselves. However, we can make these unpleasant sensations our friends, even our servants. To do this we need methods to moderate the symptoms and to redefine the symptoms. The methods we’ll discuss and explore are ones I’ve used and researched. I have worked professionally in a couple of these areas (at a naturopathic clinic and as an astrologer using the I Ching), but, by and large, these are methods I use in my own life for self-care.

Talking helps reduce fears and anxieties, but often others can’t afford to hear these things. Why?

1) They may be afraid of “catching” the stress because they don’t have appropriate defenses themselves.

2) They may feel powerless to help another. This is a misunderstanding for 2 reasons: that all fear and anxiety should be ignored and that there’s nothing another person can say or do to help. Reassurances ARE powerful, especially those coming from personal experience and expressed with conviction. For example, saying “Fear is a feeling triggered by thinking. Witnessing it has made it dissipate for me.” or “It’s common to feel anxiety about that. I have felt anxious about that too” are dynamic things to share with a person who is stressed. Acceptance of and release of feelings is a powerful paradigm to demonstrate.

3) Others may not want to hear about your anxieties because it makes you seem needy. Often this is perceived as a deficiency in the anxious or stressed person. The listener may conclude s/he will be asked to provide more than s/he has to give…or wants to give. A function of anxiety can be to help us learn more about our affinities and connections: A friend in need is a friend indeed.

In primitive societies, the practice of passing the talking stick or story stick allowed everyone to have the floor uninterrupted, to talk about whatever felt necessary. You might start trying this with a trusted friend or two.

Homework: Answer morning questions which are from Stress, Anxiety & Insomnia by Michael T. Murray, N.D.

MORNING QUESTIONS: What am I most happy about in my life right now? What am I most excited about in my life right now? What am I most grateful about in my life right now? What am I enjoying most about my life right now? What am I committed to in my life right now? Who do I love? Who loves me? What must I do today to achieve my long-term goals?

Ariele M. Huff has been teaching in Washington for the last 45 years, including many writing classes as well as personal work classes like Get Rich…$tay Rich, Processing Loss, Pain—Therapies & Treatments, and Ancient Healing Methods for Modern Stress.

SHARING STORIES is a weekly column for and about the 50 plus crowd living in the Puget Sound region. Send your stories and photos to ariele@comcast.net. Tell local or personal stories; discuss concerns around aging and other issues; share solutions, good luck, and reasons to celebrate; poems are fine too. Pieces may be edited or excerpted. We reserve the right to select among pieces. Photos are always a plus and a one-sentence bio is requested (where you live, maybe age or career, retired status, etc.).

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