Symptoms of depression and anxiety can be eliminated through the use of body awareness. Depression brings about a repression of one’s feelings and emotions. This in turn, makes the person feel tired, drained and disconnected from the body. By focusing attention to the body, the client begins to be aware of the areas in the body that are holding back energy. When a person is not in touch with their feelings, the emotions feel like a shadow, rather than parts of one’s own self.

One characteristic of following this approach to health is that the client has to take responsibility for health maintenance, by improving their life style through health promoting habits. By learning to eat a balanced diet, practice some form of exercise and daily meditation, a person can maintain good health. Unfortunately having the skills and motivation are hard to find. Having a health coach, with the positive attitude, to motivate you to move and eat well, a key to good health.

Learn to meditate and other healing practices!

MEDITATION - MINDFULNESS:

Mindfulness as defined by Jon Kabat Zinn, major teacher of this practice as, “the practice of paying attention on purpose, in the present moment, and non-judgmentally”. This practice is beneficial to counter the effects of daily stress in our life. The practice helps the person to slow down the thinking process and develop more space between thoughts and emotions, helping the person have more control over them.

This practice increases the discipline in the person, which can then be applied to other aspects of one’s life. Most people find that being mindful, can add more dimension to one’s life and makes us more present to our interactions with the world. Mindfulness can help us overcome anxiety and depression, hypertension, chronic physical pain and is a great coping skill for dealing with stress.

Body Centered Therapy:

Central to who we are as a person, is our body, but when it comes to psychotherapy, the body has been neglected and it’s only the emotions and thoughts that are given importance. The mind has been the only part of the person that has been focused on. For many years psychotherapy neglected the emotions, now they have finally become central in the process of therapy. How ever emotions are a body experience, so if we are going to work with emotions we are going to work with the body. By bringing awareness to the body, the person can experience a powerful transformation through the healing of emotional wounds.

Good health is based on good behavior. Not just genetics. Therefore, “mindbody" therapy is about teaching clients how to maintain healthy habits. The following disciplines teach people skills to maintain their health:

YOGA

Yoga is a series of body postures designed to relax body and mind. By continued practice, a person can gain good health. Yoga means “union”.Its purpose is to integrate the whole personality of the person, that includes body and mind. The attitude about doing yoga is to create movement without a lot of effort, as we discover an inner source of strength not based on muscular force. Besides, flexibility, a person also can develop inner and outer balance in one’s life. Scientific research shows that it can bring benefits to such conditions, anxiety, depression, diabetes, asthma, etc.

MEDITATION - MINDFULNESS:

Breathing:

The process of breathing is the essence of being alive. Our emotions have a major impact on how we breath. Notice that we are gripped by fear or shock, we hold our breath. Breathing has been used to help people gain control of emotions such as anger and anxiety. When people are able to breath from their belly they can feel more centered and grounded. It also helps to increase the intake of oxygen into the body and helps regulate the emotions and control our thoughts.

Energy Balancing(Polarity Therapy):

As is the tradition in Oriental Therapies like Acupuncture, Shiatsu and Reflexology, good health is equivalent to the free flow of energy in the body. Illness happens when the energy in the body is blocked and therefore becomes unbalanced. By using Polarity Therapy Techniques a person is able to restore balance in their body and become healthy again.

GUIDED IMAGERY:

Through the use of guided imagery, a person can foster good health by reinforcing the body’s own ability to heal its self. This technique can be used, once learned, to continue promote good health. Creating positive images is a effective way to counteract the negative of stress on the body. This technique uses the minds ability to create images. When we are in the grips of fear, these images are very negative and our bodies respond in a stressful way. When we use guided imagery, we are consciously creating positive and soothing images that can help the mind respond in a relaxed way, thereby promoting healing.

AFFIRMATIONS:

Our minds are in a constant process of self dialogue. Usually this dialogue can judgmental and self defeating. Affirmations are designed to counteract this tendency . To practice affirmations, one should construct a phrasethat is repeated on a regular basis that has a positive message that serves to motivate the person of their goal or purpose. An example would be: “I am getting healthy everyday”. The phrase is usually based on something that has a lot of meaning to the person.

HYPNOTHERAPY:

It is process of communicating with the unconscious mind in order to reinforce the intention to become healthier and overcome obstacles that may be getting in the way of wellbeing. Person learns how to get into a trance state, where relaxation of the body is promoted. Through this relaxation process, the person’s ability to heal is enhanced.

CENTERING and GROUNDING:

Though a series of exercises based an ancient martial arts techniques, the person is able to become more connected to their body and to their surrounding. Stressful situations tend to “knock us off our center”. By practicing these exercises, person can develop an attitude that helps them better cope with the “attacks” that can come from life. Centering process can help people improve posture, breathing, clearer thinking and emotional control.