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Relax, Rejuvenate, Refuel
In our busy modern day lives, we are under tremendous stress. That's
significant, considering job stress is estimated to cost the economy
$200 billion every year in lowered productivity, compensation claims,
absenteeism, health insurance and direct medical expenses, according
to the International Labour Organization's World Labour Report.
Stress usually occurs when there is an imbalance between the demands
of our lives and the resources we have to deal with those demands.
Some stress is actually stimulating and can help you concentrate,
focus and meet challenges. However, too much stress or unhealthy responses
to potentially stressful situations can lead to emotional or medical
problems. Here are just a few of the warning signs of stress:
- Headaches
- Mood swings
- Fatigue
- Irritability
- Indecisiveness
- Anger
Over the years, we build up stress and tension in our bodies. This
build up of stress uses energy that would otherwise be available to
better realize our potential. This is particularly true in our technology-oriented
society:
People in offices, particularly people who
work at desks and especially at computers, develop a lot of muscular
tension in the neck, shoulders, back and arms. If untreated, that
tension often develops into chronic pain, joint problems, headaches
. . . a wide variety of physical problems that can develop from
habitual work postures. - Rick Rosen, Director of the Body Therapy
Institute
While we may not be able to avoid stress in our lives, we can learn
to deal with stress in a healthy manner. Body therapy is a way to
release stress and tension and learn more about where you hold your
stress and how you create it. It removes negative, stored energies.
It harmonizes the energy centers along pathways that feed life into
our bodies, increasing internal energy. It restores the balance between
mind, body, and spirit.
Benefits
There are direct, measurable benefits to body therapy. Consider the
following:
A study by the Touch Research Institute at the University of Miami
found that after five weeks, a group of 26 employees who had twice-weekly
body therapy fared better than a control group of 24 employees who
were just told to close their eyes and relax. The body therapy group
experienced reduced stress and improved performance, while the control
group did not. Using electroencephalograms (EEG), researchers measured
alpha and beta waves in both groups, and found the body therapy recipients
to be more alert. Stress hormones of the body therapy group were lower
than in the control group. The body therapy workers completed math
problems in half the time as the normal and with half the errors they
had before body therapy. The math skills of the control group did
not improve. The body therapy group also said they were less fatigued
and more clear-headed.
When employees at Lotus Development were furiously working on the
newest release of the "Lotus 1-2-3" software package, they didn't
rely on coffee or cigarettes to get them through the 80-hour workweeks.
Instead, they took body therapy to bolster their energy and relieve
stress. This approach also boosted morale. Said employee Doris Holness,
a technical writer, "This is a good thing Lotus is doing for me. I
feel that they care about my health." (Jean Fain, West County Times)
Pepsi, Apple Computers and Merril Lynch and Company are just a few
of the major corporations that offer employees body therapy as part
of their benefits programs.
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