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Stress busting for accountants, part two

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26th Mar 2009
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In the second of a two-part series, Ivor Murray of Meditations Ltd shares his tips for reducing and managing stress.

Relaxation breathing
It’s long been known that breathing can affect your mental state. Yoga and many martial arts include breathing exercises as an important part of their practice.

One of the most beneficial breathing exercises is ‘alternate nostril breathing’. Many yogis consider it to be the best technique for calming the mind and nervous system. Practice it before the start of your working day and, if possible, once or twice more during the day.

  1. Close the right nostril with your right thumb and inhale through the left nostril. Do this for a count of four seconds.

  2. Immediately close the left nostril with your right index finger and hold your breath for a count of eight. Now remove your thumb from the right nostril, and exhale through this nostril. Do this to the count of eight seconds. This completes a half round.

  3. Inhale through the right nostril to the count of four seconds. Close the right nostril with your right thumb and hold your breath for a count of eight. Now remove your finger from the left nostril and exhale through this nostril to the count of eight seconds. This completes one full round.

Start by doing three rounds, adding one per week until you are doing seven rounds.

Creative imagery
Imagery is a potent method of stress reduction and can be a helpful way to trigger relaxing thoughts at potentially stressful times in your working day.

You will be aware of how particular environments can be very relaxing, while others can be intensely stressful. The idea behind the use of imagery in stress reduction is that you use your imagination to recreate and enjoy a situation that is very relaxing. The more intensely you imagine the situation, the more relaxing the experience will be.

Practice using imagery for a few minutes before you start your working day to put you into a calm, relaxed state.

  1. Imagine a scene, place or event that you remember as safe, peaceful, restful, beautiful and happy. You can bring all your senses into the image with, for example, sounds of running water and birds, the smell of cut grass, the taste of cool white wine, the warmth of the sun, and so on. Use the imagined place as a retreat from stress and pressure.

  2. Scenes can involve complex images such as lying on a beach in a deserted cove. You may ‘see’ cliffs, sea and sand around you, ‘hear’ the waves crashing against rocks, ‘smell’ the salt in the air, and ‘feel’ the warmth of the sun and a gentle breeze on your body. Other images might include looking at a mountain view, swimming in a tropical pool, or whatever you want. You will be able to come up with the most effective images for yourself.

  3. As you practice this technique, mentally say to yourself ‘calm mind, calm body’. This not only deepens the feeling relaxation, but will also start to act as a ‘trigger’ for calming you. Eventually, you will be able to relax at any time and in any situation simply by saying to yourself mentally ‘calm mind, calm body’.

For example, get into the habit of saying it before you start a client meeting to calm your mind enabling you to base your discussion on clear-headed thinking. Repeating it if you feel that you’re under pressure or if you become agitated will enable you to reduce and manage stress so that you can use your best levels of judgment to decide how to proceed with the meeting.

Managing stress with regular exercise
Taking frequent effective exercise is one of the best physical stress-reduction techniques available. Exercise not only improves your health and reduces stress caused by being unfit; it also relaxes tense muscles and helps you to sleep.

Exercise has a number of other positive benefits you may not be aware of:

  • It improves blood flow to your brain, bringing additional sugars and oxygen that may be needed when you are thinking intensely.

  • When you think hard, the neurons of your brain function more intensely. As they do this, they can build up toxic waste products that can cause foggy thinking (you may have experienced the feeling that your brain has ‘turned to cotton wool’). By exercising, you speed the flow of blood through your brain, moving these waste products faster.

  • Exercise can cause release of chemicals called endorphins into your blood stream. These give you a feeling of happiness and positively affect your overall sense of well-being.

There is also good evidence that physically fit people have less extreme physiological responses when under pressure than those who are not. This means that fit people are more able to handle the long-term effects of stress, without suffering ill health or burnout. (N.B. If you are not used to taking exercise regularly, then it may be appropriate to take medical advice before starting an exercise programme).

An important thing to remember is that exercise should be fun. It is difficult to keep going with an exercise programme that you do not enjoy.

Meditation
Meditation is a technique which gives a unique quality of rest to mind and body. It allows stress and tiredness to be released in a natural way, resulting in greater energy and enjoyment of life.

Traditionally meditation was (and still is) used for spiritual growth. Meditation can bring on increased awareness, greater ability to live in the moment, freedom from the ego, inner peace and many other spiritual benefits.

More recently, meditation has become a valuable tool for finding a peaceful oasis of relaxation and stress relief in a demanding, fast-paced world. After meditating, you will feel more relaxed, calmer and have a greater sense of well-being. You will notice that your reaction to stressful events changes and that you act with greater control and in more constructive ways. Meditation has a cumulative effect; after a time you will find that the qualities of calmness, inner-peace and tranquility will integrate with all aspects of your life.

Thousands of research studies indicate that meditating for as little as 15 or 20 minutes a day promotes improved mental and physical health and well-being.

Meditation machines
The impact of learning to meditate on your professional performance will be enormous. It’s the best method of reducing and coping with stress and will enable you to work with greater clarity and insight.

Using traditional techniques, however, it can take many years of difficult practice before you gain control of your mind and attain meditative states. Fortunately, there are now technology-led aids that enable you to shortcut the learning process and put you on a fast-track to meditation. The most effective of these new aids are meditation machines.

Meditation machines are small, light, highly-portable devices that present pulsed audio and visual stimulation to the brain via headphones and special glasses. After a short period of time, the brain begins to resonate at the same frequency as the stimulus. In this way, meditation machines can slow down brainwaves producing the effect of meditation. In fact, with only 15 or 20 minutes use of a meditation machine, it is possible to experience the same peace and tranquility as an experienced practitioner of meditation.

Very importantly for people suffering from problems sleeping, using a meditation machine immediately before going to bed will help naturally to quieten your mind and relax your body. It will also help to produce the brain wave patterns that trigger sleep. If you awaken during the night, using it again will help you fall back to sleep.

In a more general way, using a meditation machine over time will improve the way you handle stress and will condition your mind to be quieter and calmer. This will have a cumulative effect in improving your sleep patterns enabling you to wake up refreshed and rejuvenated. As a not unimportant by-product, using a meditation machine will make you a calmer, more relaxed, healthier and, ultimately, a more successful accountant.

Ivor Murray
[email protected]
www.Meditations-UK.com

View part one of Stress busing for accountants here

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Replies (5)

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By The Minion
01st Apr 2009 15:26

OOPs
Sorry forgot to count to eight and passed out :)

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By The Minion
01st Apr 2009 15:16

OK so here goes...
Closing right nostril with right thumb and inhaling through the left nostril.

1
2
3
4

so far so good

closing left nostril with right index finger and holding breath

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By carnmores
31st Mar 2009 18:19

yesterdays Torygraph
stated that 7 minutes reading reduced stree levels by 2/3

i dont think it was referring to tax books or CPD..

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By carnmores
30th Mar 2009 13:44

close your eyes
and then try breathing thro your eyes

very good for helping you sleep

concentrative rather tham contemplative meditation

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By User deleted
28th Mar 2009 12:53

Another quick win - try mindfulness
Both as a stress reduction tool and a time leverage technique, I teach my clients mindfulness. Mindfulness is the act of consciously paying attention, in the present, on purpose and non-judgmentally. The opposite of being on "automatic pilot’’, mindfulness is efficient, reduces repetition and aids retention and understanding. Plus the ability to notice what is going on, as it arises, also fosters flexibility in stressful situations.
Quick demo: Sit in front of a clock and watch the passing of one minute. Focus your entire attention on your breathing, and nothing else, for the full minute. Practise daily to build that mindful muscle so you can flex it at work. Find out more at www.theaccountantscoach.com

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