6 Super-Doable Exercises for Relief from Pain and Stress

Are you always angry or stressed? This post from Vogue shares 6 simple, effective and super-doable exercises to bring back happiness into your life!

“I choose to be happy today,” is easier said than done. But, if we adjust how we perceive things, life can be a lot better.

Paul Emery, a master therapist at Ananda in the Himalayas, devised a treatment –  QEPR (Quantum Emotional & Physical Release) – that can provide relief from pain (physical and mental), stress and anxiety. It also helps you give up smoking, deal with anger and grief, fear and frustration, depression, emotional eating, aches, etc.

And, if you cannot make it to the mountains while he’s there in January 2017, don’t fret. We got Emery to tell us all about the practice, and how you can try to liberate yourself through simple exercises and techniques.

What is QEPR?

“I came up with QEPR while thinking about what I did and the techniques I use. I didn’t want to be pigeon-holed as a therapist who only did one specific modality. I have a Kaisen philosophy of always improving and updating what I do,” said Emery. And so, Emery works towards resolving whatever problem the client brings to him. “A part of my work involves working with the body’s meridian energy system, sometimes at a sub-atomic quantum level. This simply means that I can work and incur positive results from a distance without touching the client,” said Emery.

How he does it

Emery gets a brief outline of the problems his client wants to resolve. “My therapy is a proven, effective and rapid body/mind therapy. It’s a psycho-sensory therapy as I gently and comfortingly use my hands on the clients’ upper body – normally the face, arms and hands – as I guide them through a simple, relaxing process. If the client prefers not to be touched, then they can perform the treatment on themselves, with my guidance. However, most clients ask me to perform the treatment on them,” says Emery.

The result

The technique ensures that all his clients are freed from stress permanently. It also unblocks and re-balances their energy system. Usually, clients feel lighter, more relaxed, happier, within a session or two.

Six Happiness Exercises

1. Breathe Technique: This technique calms and relaxes you, balances your autonomic nervous system, helps you sleep better, makes you less reactive and raises your anti-aging hormone.
How: Focus on the area of your heart as you gently inhale through the nose to a slow count of 5. Then, exhale gently to a slow count of 5, and repeat. Do this for about 10 minutes, or for as long as you want.

2. Anchor happy and calm feelings: This requires a little practice but you will soon be able to harness good feelings quickly and easily.
How: Sit quietly and recall a time you felt really happy and calm. Go through the memory over and over in your mind as you make the images big, bright, bold and colourful. Make sure that the sounds in your memory are loud and crisp, the feelings stronger, happy and calm, giving it a colour. Then, imagine spreading that colour throughout your entire body from the top of your head down to the tip of your toes, and imagine doubling that feeling. When you really feelthose good positive feelings throughout your body, squeeze your thumb and middle finger together. This squeezing is anchoring the good feeling to a very specific, unique and replaceable gesture. Clear your mind for a moment by just looking around the room. Then, test your anchor by squeezing your thumb and middle finger together again. The happy and calm feelings should return. The more you practice this method, the quicker and stronger the feelings will be.

3. Anger Release Secret:This is a great technique to reduce anger instantly.
How: Think about something that made you angry. Then, relax your bottom jaw, and with open, relaxed hands, push down on the side end (facing you) of the little finger of either hand with the forefinger and middle finger of the opposite relaxed and open hand. Now try and get angry – you can’t!

4. New Beh Gen: Do this exercise first thing in the morning and last thing at night. You will soon notice the changes in your life to match the new image of yourself. 
How: Sit quietly, close your eyes and think of image of yourself looking exactly how you’d like to be – happy and calm in stressful situations for example, or healthier, slimmer, more radiant and confident in your daily life. Make it the best image of you that you can make. Then, make the image big, bold, bright, clear and colourful. If there is something you’d like to change about it, change it. When you are completely happy with the image, imagine a wonderful, big, bright movie of this new you going about your day.
What do you see, hear and feel? When you have completed this, for a while, come back to the beginning and bring up that wonderful image again. If there is anything you’d like to change about the image, this movie, to make it even better, do that. When you’ve done that see the appealing image in front of you again and this time imagine stepping into this new you, like trying on a new set of clothes.

5. Tap Out Stress: This is one of the most powerful ‘tapping’ sequences to eliminate stress from your mind and body.
How: Think of a specific problem – something that bothers you. Now, tap the following points for 10 times each, in the exact sequence below. You can tap either side of the body with either hand:

Beginning of your eyebrow – next to the bridge of your nose
Under your eye pupil – on the edge of the eye socket
Under your arm pit about 10 cms  – level with your bra strap if you are a woman
Under your collarbone – that soft indentation next to your breastbone
Side of your index finger – next to the end of the nail facing you
Under your collarbone again
Side of your little finger – next to the end of the nail facing you
Under your collarbone again

Then, think about your problem and notice what has changed. Keep repeating the sequence until you feel better.

6. Affirmational Havening: This is a wonderfully effective yet simple technique based on neuroscience. It will increase your serotonin – that feel-good brain chemical – and make you feel happier and more relaxed.
How: Sit comfortably and think about a positive state you’d like to have more of; sum it up in one word – happy, confident or calm, for example. Next, connect with your positive emotion and place both hands on top of each opposite shoulder. Then, whilst chanting your chosen word, gently and comfortingly, stroke from the top of your shoulders to your elbows. Keep repeating this as you recite your word for a couple of minutes.
Perform this technique as often as you can, on a daily basis. It will have a positive effect on your emotional well-being.

Source: Six exercises to bring back happiness into your life