Jeanne Ricks - The Biology of Beating Stress: How Changing Your Environment, Your Body, and Your Brain Can Help You Find Balance and Peace

The Biology of
Beating Stress

How Changing Your Environment,
Your Body, and Your Brain Can Help
You Find Balance and Peace

By
Jeanne Ricks, CHC

Copyright 2014 by Jeanne Ricks, CHC

All rights reserved under the Pan-American and International Copyright Conventions. This book may not be reproduced, in whole or in part, in any form or by any means electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system now known or hereafter invented, without written permission from the publisher, The Career Press.

THE BIOLOGY OF BEATING STRESS
Cover design by Howard Grossman
Printed in the U.S.A.

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Ricks, Jeanne, 1961

The biology of beating stress : how changing your environment, your body, and your brain can help you find balance and peace/Jeanne Ricks.

pages cm

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 978-1-60163-330-9 (pbk.) -- ISBN 978-1-60163-450-4 (ebook) 1. Stress management. 2. Respiration. 3. Exercise. 4. Self-care, Health. I. Title.

RA785.R53 2014

155.9042--dc23

2014003196

For my parents, who taught me invaluable lessons
of strength and courage. They also shared with me a
tremendous appreciation for the music of language and
its power to communicate and create change.

I would like to thank my family of friends who constantly amaze me with their support and love.

Thank you to my advance readers: Lisa Fischer, Edna Williams, Delia McVoy, and Terri Rossi.

Many colleagues and friends directly and indirectly helped in the writing of this book: my Uncle Percy E. Ricks, Jill Clarke, Bill Weinberg, Jeanne Fletcher Mallette, Johnny Ananda Norman, Charles Walton, Kim Walton, Thomas C. Washington, Pamela Nunes, Evette Murray, Richard P. Stone, Paul Arnold, Frances Connor, Dorette Brown, Miguel Broom, Mark Brooks, Ehryck Gilmore, Paulette de Suzia, Robert Irving III, Eddie Maldonado, Chan, Veronica & Victoria Johnson, Studs Terkel, Joseph Campbell, Howard Thurman, Linus Pauling, Bruce Lipton, Candace Pert, Debbie Ford, Deepak Chopra, Joseph Mercola, Babette Rothschild, Larry Dossey, Brian L. Weiss, Panache Desai, Rupert Sheldrake, Gary Robert Buchanan, Roger K. Pitman, Ann Albers, Edwina Kee, Beth Dobrish, Jacqueline de Vries, Sheryl Levanthal, Sandy Beltramini, Sharon Mackey-McGee, Karen Mackey-Witherspoon, Keith Collins, Denise Richardson, Bob McCarthy; Neville Gupta, Mary Ann Donoghue, Christian Villalba, Ella Britton Gibson and many others too numerous to name here, but whom I hope know that I am grateful for their friendship and support.

Special thanks to Lisa Hagan of Paraview Literary Agency for her professionalism and attentive care. I thank also my publisher, Career Press Books, and their staff, who has shown such support and enthusiasm.

Last but not least, my thanks to you the readers around the world who make all of our efforts worthwhile.

The information provided in this book, by necessity, is of a general nature and not a substitute for an evaluation or treatment by a competent medical specialist. It is sold with the understanding that the author and the publisher are not engaged in medical, psychological, legal, accounting, or other professional services. The dietary and supplemental suggestions are based on tradition, scientific theories, and limited research. Although every attempt has been made to provide accurate information, neither the author nor the publishers can be held accountable for any omission or error. The author and the publisher specifically disclaim any liability that is incurred from the use or the application of the contents of this book. This information is provided for general educational purposes only and is not intended to constitute (i) medical advice or counseling; (ii) the practice of medicine, including psychiatry, psychology, psychotherapy, or the provision of health care diagnosis or treatment; (iii) the creation of a physician/patient or clinical relationship; or (iv) an endorsement, recommendation, or sponsorship of any third-party product or service by the author or the authors affiliates, agents, employees, consultants, or service providers. If you have or suspect that you have a medical problem, contact your health care provider right away.

There is an unparalleled Joy that you can only truly experience when your heart is free from worry and attachment to outcomes, appearance, and influence, which the inner critic constantly uses to keep you safe by habitually reminding you of your failures and mistakes rather than your triumphs.

But youve got bills to pay, a job to keep, decisions to make, investments to monitor, kids to raise, pets to care for, goals, dreams, passions, a need to push forward, a need to hold back, an identity to uphold, an image to keep, places to be, things to do, people to seethe Spector of times passage is always looming.

It will get done, it will all get donetake a deep breath and know that it will all get done.

Theres so much energy in that description, so much struggle, so much angst, anxiety, and fear percolating underneath all of those experiences. That energy is something weve come to ignore or dismiss. To a certain extent, its so much a part of us that were somewhat addicted and cant imagine life without it. We believe its presence is necessary to keep us moving along the right path. That energy is what we are going to learn to address productively together, instead of ignoring it passively.

This book is dedicated to it all happening for you and getting through it all without losing yourself.

Solutions (instinct and intuition can only be present in moments of clarity) cannot be truly clear with all of that pressure. You cannot find Joy when you are under stress!

This is a book about You.

At this moment, you are probably thinking, Wait a minute, who is she? She doesnt know a thing about me! Yes, I do.

No matter how many hours you fill in your day, you can always use more time. Youre generally quite focused, yet your mind drifts back and forth all day over things you need to do, should do, want to dodidnt doall while youre in the midst of doing something else. Its hard to stay in the present moment. You enjoy your friends but really dont get as much time with them as youd like. This includes your sex life, which also gets crammed in there with everything else. Free time? Does the extra 15 minutes that you spend in the bathroom count (after youve taken care of everything and everybody else)? Food? Well, lets just say youve promised to do better, but that too gets buried with other good intentions, such as getting more sleep. Sleep? Oh, yeah. Its that thing you do in between doing all that other stuff. There is a lot of time spent doing, yet nothing ever feels quite done.

How did I know all that about you? We all get so isolated and caught up in that tornado of thoughts between our ears that we dont realize everyone else around us is dealing with the same stuffto a lesser or greater degreeand were forced to wear these masks to show the world that we have everything under control. Your experience is not unique and you are not aloneit just seems that way. So in your isolation you feel overwhelmed, or like somewhat of a fraud or failure, or two seconds from a major cataclysmic event. Yet, you keep juggling all the balls in the air and you keep doing what needs to be done. Youre frustrated and exhausted