Imagine, a tiger is chasing you… chasing you NOW! Run faster, run faster… you beg your legs, please run faster!! You are desperate to find a place to hide. You wonder, how much faster can you go? How far can you run? A tiger is chasing you!
Well, at least that is what your mind and your nervous system is thinking right now. Adrenaline is coursing through your veins. Heart beating faster. Breathing shallower and faster. It doesn’t matter that it is just a picture, your mind and body begin to react as though it is happening to you. Pictures, words and feelings all create chemical responses in the body.
You cannot stop the fight, flight or freeze response in the body. It happens automatically. You can rationalize, you can decrease the potency, by telling yourself it is just a picture.
But, what if it was a suspense, thriller, action movie? In the theatre, in 3D. With surround sound thumping your ears and body. Now, it is even more real to your mind, body and nervous system. It’s not real. And yet, it creates a real reaction within you.
The same is even true when you read. It’s not just words on a page or screen. The words create pictures in the mind, and we respond to the images that our mind creates.
Have you ever seen a picture that got you all riled up that you were ready to Fight (Flight Response)? Have you ever been jacked up from reading something that you were ready to Quit (Flee Response)? Have you ever been so upset by something you watched that it made it impossible for you to take Action (Freeze Response)?
This is the Fight, Flight or Freeze response gone wrong in your mind and your body. Or an adrenaline rush. Adrenalin, released from your adrenal glands on top of your kidneys, makes your body react quickly, heart speed up like it’s racing, increased blood flow to muscles and brain so they can function faster, causing a surge of energy that makes you shake, and opens the airway to increase oxygenation to the muscles and brain.
There is no difference between Real and Imagined to your brain and nervous system.
We are surrounded by triggers that cause an adrenaline rush every day in what we view and read. Sometimes minor. And sometimes these triggers happen over and over, all day, every day, more and more, bigger and bigger until we are swimming in a sea of adrenaline. AKA Stress.
In nature, or a true emergency our body burns off the adrenaline by producing speed, strength, and quick thinking. We react. If a tiger is chasing you, you run! Faster! But, we can’t run from our thoughts and we can’t change the world around us. Our minds race, replaying, rethinking, analyzing, stimulating a constant adrenalin response. It is like a relentless form of torture.
So what can You do to Stop the adrenaline response to life around you?
Realize that you have control over what you are thinking. Your thoughts are not happening to you, you are creating them. Changing your thoughts is your responsibility. You can accomplish this through hypnosis and neurolinguistics programming (NLP). By using techniques and thought identification you can stop and decide whether the thoughts you are having are useful or un-useful. You can turn down their intensity, slow the internal response and even tame or shrink the metaphorical tiger that is chasing you! And a cool side effect is that you cannot be stressed in hypnosis!
But, what can I do in the meantime!?!
RUN!!! Run away from the tiger!! Now! I mean it! Your subconscious and nervous system already thinks there is something chasing you, so burn up that adrenalin by moving your body.
Moving your body is the fastest and easiest way to change your mood, mind and emotions. It doesn’t matter whether you actually run, walk, dance naked in front of your tv or do a workout. The choice is yours. OR…Suffer in a stew of adrenalin. Moving your body, every day, in a way that is fun or relaxing, and you can tame the tiger that is chasing you!
Or even better, what if…what if you become the Tiger? What if you use your thoughts, energy and imagination to become a tiger chasing your goals, your outcomes and aspirations? What if that shifted your mood? What if it could give you strength and power? Harness that energy and shift the mood of being chased into a useful state of mind chasing something you want! How much more strength would that give you?
Hypnosis helps people shift from un-useful states of mind to useful resource states of mind. Hypnosis has a natural side effect – decreased stress. It is impossible to release stress hormones in hypnosis. Trisha Fuller has been helping clients and students change their thoughts, with hypnosis and NLP for 9 years. Their training with these techniques helps them feel more in control, safer and more confident. If you would like to learn more about hypnosis and NLP techniques call 403-334-9766 or email learnhypnosis@outlook.com. For more information visit learnhypnosis.ca or hypnosisforhealthandhappiness.ca.