Stress Relief Tools and Techniques

The human stress response was designed to protect us in physically dangerous situations. The negative stress most of us experience daily is psychological, as Robert Sapolsky, Stanford University professor and stress researcher, reveals in a recent National Geographic special airing on PBS stations around the nation: Stress: Portrait of a Killer.

Negative stress is caused by a variety of factors, including emotional reactions to communication issues as well as distressing world affairs. The American Institute of Stress reports that illness and disease that results from stress costs our nation more than $300 billion each year due to accidents; absenteeism; employee turnover; direct medical, legal, and insurance costs; diminished productivity; worker’s compensation awards; and tort and FELA judgments.

In our interactions with bosses, coworkers, and customers, each person’s viewpoint is unique to their personal history. StrateGems Stress Relief Tools and Techniques helps groups of individuals who work together understand the importance of making communication agreements for reducing workplace stress. Participants learn how physiological processes operate and discover new techniques for navigating stressful situations. Understanding how differing beliefs and assumptions erode teamwork helps workgroups focus on the big picture and achieve their goals.

Session benefits include: Time-tested solutions for preventing stress; relaxation and visualization tools for reducing stress; an understanding of how important agreements are for reducing stress; increased productivity; improved morale; and reduced absenteeism. In just two hours, your staff is well on the way to greater success! Program modules include:

How Stress Affects Your Body and How to Prevent It

The stress response begins in the mind, which starts a chemical reaction that engulfs our entire body. Chronic stress (lasting more than an hour) leads to reduced immune system function, which opens the door to health problems. Research shows that common health issues are caused or worsened by stress:

Reducing Stress at Work: Choosing Comedy over Drama

Life can be rather dramatic, yet in comedies the characters figure out what’s going on in time to do something about it. Ultimately, choosing comedy over drama enables humans to work through differences in ways that do not compromise personal and organizational health. When challenges arise, we reduce stress by agreeing up-front to avoid high drama or conflict, key to making the workplace a safe haven in an otherwise negatively stressed world. Happy people are healthy people.

Relaxation, Visualization, and Meditation Benefits

Mountains of research are showing the benefits of using relaxation, visualization, and meditation techniques to balance our overactive left brains with our creative, calm right brains. Participants learn simple, repeatable techniques for finding inner peace amidst our noisy outer world.

“Thank you Janna Raye! Your stress relief seminar that the managers of our organization participated in was incredibly valuable for all of us. I liked it best how you reminded everyone to pay attention to how we tend to stress each other out and to start by stopping that. It is so true, but often not mentioned, how we start some people up on a spiral of negative energy all for the sake of connecting with them. We are in fact connecting with the other people but at a huge cost. Your course asked us to be conscious and assess the situation we are faced with first before running through the office screaming fire. This piece of your course alone has created a real sense calm throughout our work place. Co-workers are just not turning little problems into major catastrophes anymore. They are coming to conclusions themselves. I recommend all businesses bring you into their workplace as you are gifted and incredibly knowledgeable about the inner workings of management and office structures.” —Christopher Oscar, Advertising Sales Manager, Sonoma Index-Tribune

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