Stress - Performance - Health
The Connections...
Let’s face it: until there’s death, there’s stress. Call it stress, pressure, motivation, or whatever,
it’s vital to figure out the complex effects of stress on performance, satisfaction, and health. I once had a radio
radio DJ as a client... for just one session. In the course of his initial relaxation experience he quite successfully
calmed himself more than he had ever experienced — so successfully that he got up and left, never to return.
His  parting explanation
was that if he got that relaxed he’d never be able to hold his audience’s interest.
Yes, it can be frightening at
first... simply to relax! That paradoxical fear is natural because the experience is
so new: most people never experience any deeper relaxation than just watching TV
— or having a glass of wine — if they're really lucky maybe a good therapeutic massage.
Everyone's natural concerns therefore arise:
Maybe I'll get lazy? What if I lose my edge? Is this really safe?
If my DJ friend had given me just a moment I would have reassured him with a metaphor: When you turn down the valve controlling a firehose so water trickles
slowly enough for drinking, that doesn’t mean you’ll never again be able to open the valve wide enough to fight
a fire!
Learning stress management means developing skills — becoming flexible and responsive to the needs of
varying situations. The result is more energy and power to respond when the situation requires. True, a really
deep relaxation can feel like losing control the first time; yet the entire process is about gaining real control
and avoiding the tension and rigidity that impairs performance and health. No, it’s not an easy skill to develop
— but that’s why we’re meeting, isn’t it?
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