Move Your Body to Reduce Stress
A female business executive has been experiencing depression for over a decade. She is good at pretending that she is perfectly fine, though, using work to numb herself. “Holiday” is just another term for a working day in casual clothes. Her depressed emotions left markings on her face, i.e. pimples due to imbalanced hormonal secretion. In a personal coaching session recently, Conrad worked with her on “I am worthwhile”. He invited her to “talk” in body language and facial expression after hearing certain instructions. They were: 1) putting on best versus worst clothes; 2) promoting to a most-wanted post versus demoting from it; and 3) accompanied by a dream boyfriend versus a nightmare enemy.
Her mind was obviously deep in thought each time she heard an instruction. At the same time, her body was still, totally out of action. Without the participation of the body, she could not get into the corresponding emotional state. And she continuously said, “I couldn’t think of it!” Of course, for sensations and feelings come from the body. Those from the mind are at best imaginative. By using conscious thinking to deal with emotional upheavals, no wonder she was stuck in depression for so long.
Apart from doing balances with her, Conrad told her to use her body to express herself more frequently. Just laugh out loud when glad; hit a pillow when troubled; scream when fearful; and cry when sad. She might feel uneasy, not know what to do, and be unable to actually do it. But these were nothing. Just do it! Practice makes perfect. Six weeks passed and pimples on her forehead were largely gone, leaving no scar at all. There were much less on her cheeks than before.
