Tel: 07788 588815 or email CMB Training here

E

ach of our sessions contains large amounts of knowledge condensed into single lessons. There is no padding or filler or timewasting as there is such a lot of information to impart. However, the sessions have a relaxed feel (we certainly don't want to be introducing any more stress to your staff) and the time flies with everyone generally finding the sessions enjoyable and very beneficial. Of course it is then down to them to start applying the principles and techniques they learned. From experience we know that some will take them on board and practice regularly and make it a part of their life because they can see and feel the benefits so quickly. Many others, however, will practice for a while then put them to one side as more pressing things occupy their minds. They will likely remember a few tricks when they are next stressed or ill but these will only be of limited benefit without regular practice.

For this reason we offer ongoing sessions to keep the staff motivated and to continue the work we started. These enable us to break down the principles and give the staff more time to practice and so start to gain real benefits.

Everybody has a different reaction to different kinds of stress. What may be motivating for one person may be debilitatingly stressful for another. Every individual differs in the amount of stress they can cope with, in the kinds of pressure they find difficult and also with how and where they store tensions in their body.

There is no 'one size fits all' approach to stress management. It's important that each person gets some individual attention and help to identify their own patterns of tension and assistance in the best ways to release those tensions and so prevent them from continuing to build up.

We work with both individuals and groups. Even in group work each person gains an understanding of how they, as an individual, responds to stress and begins to learn how to minimise the impact that pressure has on their physical, emotional and mental health. Each individual is encouraged not only to try to identify what types of situation they find stressful but more importantly to identify what effects that stress has on their mind and body.

There are certain methods that we use to help the group or individual analyse their stress responses and also to minimise the impact those stresses have. These include the following:

The tensions that we habitually hold onto show up in our posture. By understanding the principles of effortless posture and learning to stand, sit and move in a different way we can cope with pressure much better without it having such devastating effects on our health. Everyone on the courses is primarily taught the 'posture of power' - a relaxed posture that doesn't hold onto stress and feels balanced and stable. It is of particular use for teachers as it helps them to maintain emotional control, gain a sense of detachment from the stresses of the classroom and generate a look and voice of calm authority with virtually no effort.

Also taught are exercises to release tension in the shoulder area as that is a key place where much tension is stored - draining the body of energy and causing headaches and mental fatigue. After doing these exercises many people experience the rather strange sensation as if their shoulders were down around their knees instead of up by their ears as is their normal experience. They feel very relaxed and wonder how to maintain this marvellous sensation.

Who would have thought that we'd need lessons in how to breathe properly? Breathing is one of the most fundamental of our bodily processes yet is constantly changing to meet not only physical demands but also in response to our emotions.

We take time ensuring each person is understands and can feel the benefits of good breathing. We put such high value on good breathing habits for the following reasons:

• Good breathing promotes general relaxation through the whole of your body
• Breathing helps you to feel areas of tension and emotional upset more clearly
• Good breathing can bring in lots of energy and wake you up
• Healthy breathing prevents hyperventilation and panic/anxiety attacks
• Breathing properly supports your voice and helps you to speak with power and confidence
• Good breathing can help speed up elimination of toxins thus increasing the rate of healing of illnesses and injuries
• Good breathing habits take some of the strain off your heart normalising your blood pressure and reducing heart and breathing rates
• The increased intake of oxygen means every cell in your body now has the resources it needs to do its job properly thus allowing the whole of you to flourish.

Our bodys respond to the world around us in different ways and when those ways become unbalanced we feel them as emotions such as fear, anger and happiness. Although these emotional responses do have some use all too often our high-stress lifestyles mean that our emotions are pushed out of control too often and this can have devastating effects on our health and wellbeing.

CMB Training aims to help you understand these responses and teaches you ways to gain much better control of your emotional responses. The training is of particular help to those who suffer from the following:

• anger issues
• panic/anxiety attacks
• some forms of depression
• fears/phobias

We use breathwork, NLP and Cognitive Behavioural Therapy in a unique way to help you manage emotions successfully.

Communication, or rather a lack thereof, can be a major source of stress in any organisation, or indeed family. Usually the source of the stress comes down to one person saying something and the person they are talking to believes they said, or meant, something entirely different. These communication breakdowns are great when they happen in sitcoms but not when they happen in real life particularly when you've already had a stressful day. Each of us is a unique individual and likes to be communicated to in a different way. Perhaps if you understood how best to approach a person then they would take your points on board more readily. Maybe we can help you to achieve that.

These are the main 4 pillars of our training: posture, breathing, emotional management and communication. Each can help us live a less stressed existence or add to the pressures we are already under. We can also include in the sessions some periods of guided relaxation which takes the individuals down into a deeply relaxed state and helps them feel refreshed and rejuvenated afterwards. Regular practice of this works wonders at relieving the physical effects of stress.

There are, of course, other things a person can do to release stress and they include regular activity of any kind. Of particular help are activities such as yoga or tai chi - both of which seem almost designed with the stressed Westerner in mind. We can run tai chi classes in school for those that are interested.

Why not email us and book a free taster session today? These are available to organisations and schools in the Berkshire area so you can see what benefits our training could have for your staff morale, turnover and sickness levels. There are no strings attached - it's just an opportunity for you to try us out and see whether our courses meet with your stress management needs.