“Transformation” – overworked perhaps, yet, nevertheless, a term with which I feel a rather powerful connection.

A few years ago, in the final stages of my twenty-seven year stint in corporate life, I was appointed to the ‘Transformation Directorate’ of the IT division of one of the world?s largest companies.

As corporates are inclined to do, with frustrating regularity, our company had embarked on a cycle of major restructuring. The IT division, suffering from post ?bubble-burst? syndrome, had been challenged to halve its annual operating costs (running at nearly $0.5bn) within a mere three years!

In a refreshing and innovative approach to cost cutting, the Directorate agreed to institute a programme of workshops aimed at helping the global staff compliment of many thousands, understand, deal with and – by designing solutions – contribute to the challenge

The workshops were unlike any I had experienced before.

The conventional approach was only too familiar? A few large ‘town hall’ style meetings with designated senior executives addressing fearful audiences of hundreds of staff to inform them, with the bare minimum of detail, of the need for job cuts, and to plead for co-operation while the process – with its top-down design – was set in motion.

This, however, was very different. Staff were encouraged to gather in work teams – small groups of no more than twenty at a time, with trained coaches facilitating discussions. These ‘transformation coaches’ allowed time and space for letting off steam, then offered up simple models of change and practical tools and advice for dealing with it, both in the workspace and the personal capacity.

The words “opportunity” and “possibility” were frequently and repeatedly used. Creative juices were stimulated by relaxing boundaries and staff were given the headroom to put forward their own blueprints for the future ‘half-cost’ environment. The results were quite astounding.

A plethora of practical strategies for sustainably reducing costs were devised, so effective that that the need for job reductions was rendered minimal. Even then, the ?victims? were restricted to those who had seen the opportunity in volunteering to leave. Target cost reductions were successfully achieved in just 30 months.

I didn?t appreciate it at the time but it?s clear to me now that the astute use of personal and group coaching methods was the catalyst for a hugely successful transformation.

As I reflect back on that experience – and relate it to the life coaching industry, of which I am now proudly part, I believe the key to transformation lies in gradually shifting people’s focus?

?From the axis of resistance and worst fears, fuelled by limiting beliefs, to the axis of opportunity, fuelled by creative thought (and self confidence derived from past achievements) and ultimately, to the axis of commitment to a new future, fuelled by the desire to change.

Coaching is so much more than a service. Coaching is the power to transform lives.

The feeling of panic is never a pleasant one. People suffering from stress got through their very own road to Calvary. Generalized anxiety disorder symptoms include shortness of breath, incoherent thoughts, and excessive sweating. Who wants all those? This is no way to live and survive. Life is meant to be enjoyed and savored. Therefore, most people deal with the struggle for years at a time. They have exhausted themselves to searching for possible answers.Science thought of bringing solutions through the help of drugs. As good as its intentions are, many have suffered the ill-effects of drug dependency. What happens when the drug wears off? You’re back to being the nervous wreck that you are.It is truth fact that medicines do help but they can only go so far. If you do not fix what’s in you, you may end up entirely too dependent on them. So, it is better to look for anxiety natural remedies to overcome panic attacks.One of the best anxiety remedy is the solution provided by Joe Barry, a former sufferer of all too frequent panic attacks and generalized anxiety disorder symptoms. He reveals his own natural approach to overcome panic attacks in his eBook called Panic Away.Try and research the reviews of this book on the web. You’ll soon realize that it has managed to win the favor of even the harshest skeptics and biggest critics. The solution goes beyond your expectations. It takes you back to the natural route.Joe offers you a chance to live a normal life, one that is free of apprehension. His end goal was to give people a safer solution to dealing and removing anxiety. So, if you are exhausted to searching an effective technique to overcome panic attacks, simply click here to read the eBook and go through the exercises.

Wouldn’t it be nice if we could all see into our own futures? Wouldn’t it be even nicer if we had someone cheering us on along the sidelines telling us what direction to take and how to take it? Well, in a way, that is what professional intuitive coaches do for their clients. A reputable intuitive coach will be able to streamline client goals and whip them into professional shape to create genuine and sustainable success in life without all the extra baggage that’s been carried around for way too long.

Metaphorically, reading between the tea leaves is how an expert intuition coach can provide accurate insight and wisdom in the how-to’s of manifesting goals and in achieving real life transformation. It’s not that individuals aren’t capable of improving their overall lifestyles; in fact, many of us are fairly capable of doing just that. It’s in many cases, however, where people have come to a crossroad and they’re not quite sure how to proceed; or in some cases, where individuals have so many emotional issues that their minds are clouded with negativity. That’s when an intuitive coach can help people open their minds to different thought processes and alternative perspectives.

In addition to teaching clients how to excel in areas of life that are lacking, a professional life coach can get the creative juices flowing to help individuals overcome past emotional baggage and everyday problems. There are a number of mental tools that experienced intuitive coaches use to assist clients in personal and professional development, and emotional and spiritual growth. Some of the common techniques that intuition and life coaches facilitate include NLP (Neuro Linguistic Programming), Hypnotherapy, journaling, past life regression therapy, inner child retrieval and healing, meditation practice, visualization, and one-on-one intuitive counseling, among others. A number of well-known life coaches also offer a compilation of meditation CDs, self-help books, journals, and home meditation exercises intended to help in the self-healing process.

Life is quite the journey from beginning to end. And while tea leaf reading can sometimes interject a shot of excitement and anticipation in our lives, tea leaves don’t always give us the precise answers and resolutions we need to create real forward motion in our lives. That’s what an intuition coach does – she can read the proverbial writing in our mind’s eye and keep us on track toward success without all the extra additives. Leave the tea leaves for drinking, and let the professionals do their job at snapping you back into a winning position in life!

Realizing the need of stress management, many experts have been continuously conducting studies in order to give people who suffer from it as many options as possible. As defined, stress management is means of managing stress using various techniques that are key in equipping people with coping mechanisms that can be effective when they undergo different types and levels of stress.
Experts say that over the years, there have been so many stress management techniques that have been developed in order to help people deal with psychological stress, physical stress, and even emotional stress. But, these stress management techniques is not tailored for all types of people. Many of these will work on other people while some of it may not be very effective or helpful to other. So, for stress management to be effective, an individual must utilize a specific technique or strategy and see if he or she can cope with various stressful circumstances.
Managing stress effectively
Stress is one thing that many people cannot live without. In fact, there are those people who use stress to fuel their drive to do something or accomplish tasks in time. Although stress can be beneficial to some people, this is not always the case for everyone because too much unmanaged stress can be detrimental to physical and psychological well being.
As defined, stress refers to an individual’s “physiological response to an internal or external stimulus that triggers the fight-or-flight response.” Meaning, it is something that is innate for people and normal once it is managed properly.
To date, there are various models of stress management that are being recommended to people who want to effectively manage their stress levels. The most common stress management models include the transactional model and the health realization or innate health model.
The transactional model says that stress that is not a direct response to a certain stressor but from other sources can be controllable. Here, the stress that a person goes through may be reduced by changing the stressors’ perceptions, thus, providing people with different strategies and techniques for them to cope up and gain back their confidence in completing tasks at hand.
Another stress management model is the health realization or innate health model which says that being stressed doesn’t always need a stressor to be felt. This model aims to help individuals that are being stressed to better understand the nature of a person’s thinking specifically in giving them the realization that to know when they are feeling stress so they will know how to overcome it and eventually reduce their stress levels.
To effectively manage stress, there are some techniques that can be used to manage it. Majority of which can help people who get stress to cope with it or even control it during crucial instances. Experts say that most of these techniques can vary depending on the theories that are being taken into consideration.
The techniques to manage stress include meditation, cognitive therapy for anxiety or clinical depression, nootropic, autogenic training, exercise, deep breathing, conflict resolution, various relaxation techniques, which include either fractional and progressive relaxation or using stress balls.
You can also use natural medication, alternative treatments that are validated by the clinic, effective time management, and through listening to certain types of music that are relaxing which include new age music and classical music.

Stress is generally defined as a mentally and emotionally disruptive

influence. Though there are positive types of stress such as sex and laughter, most people tend to think of stress in terms of its negative effects.

Of all of the body’s systems, the nervous system is probably the most fragile and easily affected by stress. The delicate balance of your nervous system is taxed by a combination of emotional, physical, and chemical factors (including food allergies, sensitivity reactions, poor diet, poor water, air pollution, and noise). Stress may also appear as a response to pregnancy, family or job-related problems, a major physical trauma, or a personality type that is overly

self-critical and has unreasonable expectations of others.

As a result of stress, you may suffer from a host of disorders including insomnia, nervous tension, reduced circulation, aches and pains, certain types of arthritis, alcoholism, asthma, backache, canker sores, headaches, hypertension, sexual problems, mood swings, lethargy, reduced immunological function, insomnia, dermatitis and other skin disorders, colitis, and ulcers and other gastrointestinal

disorders.

Although it would be both impractical and impossible to eliminate all forms of stress and tension, there are numerous herbal approaches that we can take to minimize their effects, and the Bach Remedies are among the most useful.

Do You Overeat to Compensate for High Stress?

Many people use food to soothe their emotions and to compensate for excess tension. Are you one of these individuals? There are a number of signs that a person can evaluate to determine whether or not they are prone to obesity through stress.

These include the following:

• You eat, move about, and walk rapidly.

• You are impatient.

• You speak quickly and speed through the ends of your sentences, often speaking without sentence structure.

• You are unable to relax without feeling guilty about not working or taking care of some “important business,” even on vacation.

• You usually attempt to do two or more things at the same time, for example, working while eating breakfast.

• You are extremely shy and have difficulty communicating your needs. When confronted with an important choice in social situations, you will go with the decisions of others even to your own detriment so long as you can avoid

conflict by doing so.

• You think that time management means doing more things in less time.

• You define success by how fast things are accomplished.

• You are compulsive about owning things or controlling things rather than enjoying them.

Stress Can Be Beneficial and Harmful

Although many people assume that stress is negative, this is not always the case. A certain amount of stress and tension are necessary, and are actually important in living a balanced and productive life. It is how you respond to stress that is the key. There are many ways to respond to stress that do not involve food. Too much stress overloads the body’s resources and can prove very harmful. If the body cannot handle the stress overload, it may reach a state of “pathological” tension or extreme stress. When this stress increases, your breathing may become shallow, which has a pronounced effect on the blood circulation throughout the body and reduces the amount of oxygen that reaches the brain. Stress at this level may even lead to a feeling of terror, extreme mood swings, and even emotional breakdowns. In addition to shallow breathing, your muscles will tighten up, especially around your pelvis, neck, and shoulders. As a quick fix to reduce this tension, you may reach for high-calorie snacks and high-fat foods. Be aware that it is not only obesity that can result from excessive stress.

 

Stress-Reducing Exercises

Concerning weight management, the goal of using Bach Remedies is to help you to understand the underlying cause of your anxiety and overcome it. Many herbal practitioners and physicians report that Bach Remedies can be effective in treating chronic, moderate anxiety states as well as simple phobias. In subtle

ways, these remedies can assist a person in modifying eating patterns. This may be done without necessarily addressing the underlying causes of fear and anxiety. I have personally found this technique to be effective when combined with a variation of an approach known as systemic desensitization. In our approach, the client is taught a stress-reducing technique in which they visualize

eating a fulfilling meal while passing over high fat or other foods that are best avoided.

Even if you are a high-stress person, there are ways to reduce the impact of stress that enable you to be as effective as possible. I recommend that you practice these stress-reducing tips on a regular basis. By doing so you will be healthier, both physically and emotionally, and more effective in making conscious choices. Here are some exercises to help you relax your body and your mind:

 

1. Clench your fists as tightly as possible for about five seconds and then release them. Now shake your hands loosely.

 

2.With your head still and your eyes focused straight ahead, raise and lower your eyebrows as quickly as possible. (This will relieve forehead tension and headaches.)

 

3. Open your eyes as wide as you can and then squeeze them together tightly. Repeat this three or four times. Do it throughout the day to relieve eye stress and tension.

 

4. For range of motion of the arms, stretch and move your arms, legs, and head. These stretching exercises will give you a feeling of lightness and reduce stiffness throughout your body.

 

5. Develop a regular exercise program that you use at least three times a week. A good way to begin is by walking briskly or swimming laps for half an hour three times a week. For indoor aerobic exercise, use one of the exercise videotapes available or use a rebounding apparatus (a trampoline-type unit).

 

6. To release emotional frustration use your bed or a thick pillow for the following exercise: raise both of your arms over your head with your fists tightly clenched. Hit the bed or pillow with your forearms and fists at the same time. Continue banging on the soft surface until you feel a sense of release, which you may experience as exhilaration or exhaustion.