Biography
Biography: Neil Shah
Abstract
Stress is our body’s primitive, automatic response that prepares the body for ‘fight or flight’ and is an inevitable part of modern life. The Stress Management has adopted an engineer’s definition of stress: Force over Area equals Pressure. When a bridge is put under too much pressure it will eventually collapse. Before this happens, there will be warning signs such as bowling and buckling. The same principle can be applied to people. When a person’s bridge is starting to bow and buckle there are quick stress stoppers which can be highly effective in strengthening the bridge. Shallow breathing uses only 25-30 % of our lung capacity. Deep breathing allows us to take in more oxygen which benefits us by purifying blood, creating an upsurge in energy, and relaxing the body and mind. Breathing into the belly rather than into the chest also allows more oxygen intake and is our natural way of breathing. Self-massage is a quick and accessible way to release tension in the muscles, relieve stress and when done after exercise it prevents the buildup of lactic acid in the muscles which means you’ll feel better the day after, too. Visualizing success is an effective way to get through difficult and stressful situations. A simple arm extension exercise can demonstrate that most people perceive their limit to be smaller than their actual physical limit. After a visualization exercise people can normally stretch further than they thought they could before because they are in a more relaxed, positive state of mind and body. Biography Neil Shah is a leading international expert on Stress Management and Wellbeing. Neil is the Founder and Director of the Stress Management Society (www.stress.org.uk), one of the UK’s leading authorities on stress management and wellbeing issues. He is the BBC’s featured expert on Stress and also writes regularly for newspapers and magazines including The Guardian, Men’s Health, Top Sante and The Huffington Post. Neil is a qualified practitioner in Hypnotherapy and Counselling & Communication Skills and a licensed practitioner of NLP. Also the author of amazon number one best seller ‘NLP: A Practical Guide’ (Icon Books) and ‘The 10-Step Stress Solution’ (Random House).