Creative visualisation

This technique was developed in 1970s by Carl Simonton that helped cancer and tumour patients stay positive and contribute to their own healing. Since then, many self-healing visualisation techniques have been developed that have been successful. This method constitutes visualising relaxing images such as beautiful and peaceful places—a beach, a calm lake, fruit-laden trees or colourful, chirping birds.

For example, imagine you are on a beach relaxing on the sands. The waves slowly start to wash over your body. With each passing wave, imagine that as each wave is returning into the sea, it is also reducing your anxiety and stress. With each wave you are bound to feel a little more relaxed.

Megha Vohra, a resident of Chembur says she used creative visualisation to reduce the stress she felt on her wedding day. “I used this technique on my wedding day. I remember when I was waiting for the baraat, I was so stressed thinking about how will it go. But then I just closed my eyes and imagined that I was alone on the beach and having the time of my life. With every passing second, I felt all the stress just melt away.”

Research shows that visualisations practised under the guidance of an expert lowers pain, reduces blood pressure, cures phobias and speeds up the healing process.

Sound therapy

Sound therapy consists of listening to therapeutic, soothing sounds, which again is known to lower blood pressure and reduce stress levels. Many doctors recommend acute depression patients to listen to such music for at least two hours a day to a total of 100 hours. Apart from these specially created sounds, you can easily utilize the sounds from nature that are known to soothe. Sounds of the ocean, rustling of leaves, chirping of birds and listening to mantras are known to benefit. It has been proved that meditating on the sound of ‘OM’ can have a calming effect on nerves, muscles, blood circulation and brain.

Tina Sengupta, who listens to the Gayatri Mantra daily, believes that doing so has made her calmer. “Listening to mantras and soothing music has quietened me. Earlier even a small squabble would bother me but after a few months of this practice I feel a lot more centred.”

Tai chi

Though popular as a system of self-defence, Tai chi is also a great stress reliever. Based on the ancient Chinese philosophy of Taoism, this system is picking up fast as a modern day stress buster. Apart from the physical benefits of strengthening muscles, joints and organs, regular practice of Tai chi helps lower BP and direct energy (chi) to flow through the points where energy is getting blocked. It is also known to raise energy level and improve blood circulation.

Dancercise

Along with the various forms of dance, dancercise – a combination of dance and exercise – is fast catching up. A half hour session of dancercise complete with warm-up and cool-down sessions gives your body a complete cardio workout. Many people prefer it over an aerobic workout or a gym session as this is more entertaining and over a period of time helps the person develop his / her unique dance style. This form of exercise is a good stress buster as it is more of a cathartic experience, releases all pent up emotions and is a great mood up lifter. A person can choose jazz, hip hop, Bollywood or masala bhangra dance forms.

Komal Sharma, a resident of Mulund opted for a masala bhangra dancercise class. “I hate regular gyms and so I wanted to join something that was interesting, help me lose weight and also a great stess reliever. Dancercise was everything I was looking for. And now after three months I feel lighter and much more graceful with my movements.”

Aromatherapy

Aromatherapy is a form of alternative healing that makes use of essential oils and other aromatic compounds for the purpose of improving a person’s mood and health. Ingredients such as lavender oil are known to help a person get better sleep and reduce stress levels considerably. Eucalyptus oil is used in spas and work places to make people more alert, aware and active. These aromatherapy oils can be utilized by massaging directly into the skin or by adding a few drops of the oil to bathwater.

Pick up any of these stress-busting techniques and watch your stress melt away.