Taking a vacation to Hawaii will no doubt take you away from your daily stress. But, for me, I had to learn Hawaiian healing practices to make the relaxation response last.
To cope with the demands of a hectic job like my own as Manager of Alta Bates Summit Diabetes Center in Berkeley, California, I embraced traditional Hawaiian mind-body healing techniques that are beneficial in dealing with stress and as an adjunct to any medical regimen.
According to the ancient Hawaiian Huna philosophy, stress plays a part in all illness. More and more, modern medical research continues to prove this relationship between stress and illness, linking stress to everything from high blood pressure and heart disease to chronic pain and obesity.
Of course, we are always going to have spikes of stress in our jobs and our lives, but we don't want it to be chronic. There are many ways, such as yoga and meditation, that I use on a daily basis to relax my body and mind. But when a crisis hits, I use the "instant healing" techniques taught by Serge Kahili King, PhD, a Hawaiian-trained kupua healer, to stop the stress reaction dead in its tracks.
The body's innate self-healing abilities can be restored if you relieve the tension caused by physical, emotional, mental or spiritual stress, teaches King.
On the physical level, my favorite tip from Dr. King to relieve stress is deep belly breathing, which can both calm the release of stress chemicals in the body and oxygenate your cells. "Piko-piko is a special Hawaiian breathing technique that simultaneously relaxes and energizes the body," says King. Imagine breathing in energy from the sun and breathing it out through your navel. (In addition to being a nurse, you'll be a shaman drawing on the healing power of nature).
To relieve mental stress, pay more attention to what you like, rather than what you don't. Criticism, whether of yourself, another person or even the weather, creates mental stress and then tension in your body, explains King. He recommends a quick mental stress reliever, "Saturation Praise," spending one minute focusing on everything you like about yourself or the world.
On the emotional level, anger is often tied to inflammatory processes, so practice forgiveness. Even if you don't know what you're angry about, you can place one hand on a painful area of your body and point the other hand toward the earth, and say, "Whatever this is related to, I release it and let it go forever" until the tension and pain eases.
On the spiritual level, tension can come from feeling isolated or separate, and the antidote can be as easy as meditating for a minute on something beautiful, until you feel a sense of relaxation come over you and a greater connection to spirit, your higher self, or God (work with your own beliefs about this). Once you're in that relaxed state, it's a good time to ask for answers for any problems or to express gratitude for the good in your life.
Dr. King offers more self-healing tools and techniques, such as healing touch and massage, which are also taught at Hawaii Health Getaway retreats, offering 24 CE's for nurses and other healing professionals and a healing experience for everyone.
Ann Doherty, RN, CDE, is a holistic health educator and Manager of Alta Bates Summit Diabetes Center in Berkeley, California. She leads an annual holistic health retreat featuring ancient solutions for modern-day health challenges, including yoga, meditation and mind-body healing techniques. See HawaiiHealthGetaway.com HawaiiHealthGetaway.com for more information.
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