Christ Universal Church

"Impacting Our World"

Health and Wellness is our holistic model for peace in your life. It is based on  3 John 1:2... "Beloved, I pray that you may prosper and be in good health, even as your soul propser." We want to see you prosper in every aera of your life: mind body and soul. 

Step One - Read the Word of God everyday

Step Two - Speak into your life... I am happy, healthy and wealthy, everyday I'm getting better and better in Jesus name.

Step Three - Be active.

A balanced approach will help you look better, feel better and enjoy improved function in your everyday life. The tightly scheduled business traveler may use work time efficiently, but not include time for relaxation or pleasant, nutritious meals. He or she may feel in control about work, but deprived and out of step with the enjoyable aspects of a balanced life. Developing strategies and taking positive actions in all areas of life will give you the balance that helps to enhance and maintain health in evry area of your life.

Balancing for Health

Healthy actions, even those that take as little as 15 minutes a day can make a significant difference. The key is to make small, positive changes everyday.

Stress is familiar to everyone. You may associate it with an ache in your stomach, sweaty palms, a pounding heart, a headache or a dry mouth. What causes these stress reactions? It depends. It could be a traffic jam that makes you late for work, a misunderstanding with a close friend or spouse, a death in the family, or fear of failure at work. But all these events are not necessarily stressful. They are potential stressors - situations, thoughts or feelings that can trigger the stress response. This stress response is your body's physical reaction to events that you interpret as threatening or challenging.

Whether your body reacts with the physical stress response or not depends on how you view the events in your life - not necessarily the events themselves and how much "stress" you are already dealing with.   

Benefits of Positive Stress

Change is a process, not an event. It is a journey - you start in one place and move to another through a series of steps and stages. In any journey, it's important to know where you want to go. Then you can take the actions that will get you there. Decisions about timing and pace are yours to make.

The items below indicate when you enjoy the benefits of positive stress in your life.

• when meeting deadlines at work
• when participating in athletic competitions
• when working as part of a team
• when playing as part of a team
• when involved in interesting activities
• when involved in fun activities
• when doing things for the people you love
• when doings things you love
• when involved in physicallly challenging activities (sailing, skiing, mountain climbimg)
• when involved in mentally challenging activities (solving problems, mastering new ideas)
• when involved in creative activities (drawing, painting, writing, playing or composing music)
• when feeling in control
• when invloved in activities that contribute to feeling physically fit
• when doing your personal best

Strategies for Managing Stress Effectively

Most likely, you already do many simple things to manage stress everyday like: taking a quiet walk, talking to a friend, working out or exercising, getingt a massage, listening to music, or writing your troubles away in a journal. These are great strategies for "releasing" the impact of a hard day and for getting a feeling of renewal. But if you want to develop ongoing stress-management strategies you will need to take more focused actions.

Attention to breathing is one of the most common methods for focusing the mind. In particular, diaphragmatic breathing can help you elicit the relaxation response. Even though you breathe in air about 20,000 times a day, you may often use your chest wall muscles rather than your diaphragm muscles to take in air. Chest breathing is shallow and mainly draws air into the upper and middle sections of the lungs. because most oxygen exchange takes place in the lower portions of the lungs, chest breathing makes you work harder to get the oxygen you need. Deep inhalation can create a diversion from the intensity of a stressful situation. Breath retention raises carbon dioxide levels and promotes mild lethargy, while slow exhalation reduces tension in the body. This technique can be used after or at the beginning of any relaxation technique.

Diaphragmatic breathing is easy to learn and is very efficient at bringing in all the oxygen you need. Follow the simple steps below to try it out:

1. Assume a comfortable position. Relax and close your eyes. Keep your back straight, your chin slightly in, and your shoulders back but loose.
2. Place your hands around the sides of your lower ribs and let your fingertips point toward your belly.
3. Slowly inhale through your nose. As you breathe in, your fingertips should feel the lower ribs will move out to the side. The upper part of the chest will push out shortly after.
4. Breathe out slowly through your mouth. Each time you exhale, allow some tension to leave your body and relaxation to enter.

Well you focus attention on your breathing, a natural breathing process emerges. Diaphragmatic breathing requires less energy expenditure and will cause the body to return to its natural breathing rate. Efficient breathing ensures that you will have all the energy you need. Generally, respiratory rate and depth of breath will decrease as will the rate of other bodily functions. Slow, deep breathing can help you feel more relaxed and less stressed.

With practice, this can become your normal breathing pattern. For best results, practice this for 5-10 minutes, 1-2 times per day. You can use it to reduce anxious feelings during stressful situations or to elicit the relaxation response.

Deep Muscle Relaxation

This technique involves tensing specific muscle groups and then relaxing them. For each muscle group, a method is described that creates first tension, then relaxation. This technique is sometimes called progressive muscle relaxation. The key is to learn the difference between the tensed and relaxed state of the muscles - awareness of this difference is critical. This technique can also be used to elicit the relaxation response.

Assume the position for relaxation (eyes closed, sitting in a chair or lying on the floor, keeping a passive attitude). Go through the instructions that follow for each muscle group. If you'd like to use the exercise yourself, either tape your voice reading the instructions or ask someone to lead you through them until you can remember each step. Remember to give yourself each instruction twice. Hold each movement for five seconds.

Helpful Stress - Management Strategies

Outlook skills

• I recognize what I can change and what I can't change.
• When I make mistakes, I remind myself that no one is perfect and then look at what I can learn so I don't do it again.
• When I need to, I step away from a problem for a while to clear my head.
• I replace my negative self-talk or thoughts with more positive and realistic ones.
• I look for the positives in difficult situations.
• I look for and see the humour in difficult situations.
• I accept my own and other people's limits.

Time - Management skills

• When I'm feeling overwhelmed, I take things one step at a time.
• When I have too much to do, I set priorities and a realistic schedule.
• I plan carefully and set goals to determine how to best use my time.
• When I find myself procrastinating, I ask myself questions to determine what may be stopping me (Is the task still a priority? Do I have enough information to move forward?).

Personal - Care skills

• I exercise regularly to stay fit and reduce my tension (aerobics, tai chi, yoga, etc.).
• I try to get enough sleep so I have the energy I need for my day.
• To keep up my energy level, I try to eat regularly during hectic times.
• I meditate or use deep-breathing techniques to relax.
• I treat myself well by including things and people I enjoy in my weekly activities.
• I balance my work and leisure time.  
• I take frequent time-outs when I am feeling overwhelmed.

Relationship skills

• When I have a problem, I talk it over with a friend or relative.
• I openly tell people my feelings instead of bottling them up inside or exploding later.
• I stand up for myself when there's something I don't like.
• When I don't want to do something, I say no and set limits.
• When I'm not sure how to handle a problem, I ask someone for help.
• I ask for and show caring and affection.