This reduce anxiety without medication or therapy interview discusses techniques that will help you alleviate stress. No matter if it's because of traffic on your way to work or if it's the consequence of a traumatic life event. Find peace within yourself and in your life.
Reduce Anxiety Without Medication or Therapy Interview
Tom Stone is the author of Vaporize Your Anxiety without Drugs or Therapy. Through his research, he has identified effective stress reducing techniques that individuals with post traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD, have used with success.
About Pure Awareness Techniques
LoveToKnow (LTK): What are Pure Awareness Techniques?
Tom Stone (TS): We call these new techniques Pure Awareness Techniques because all of them not only resolve problems like stress and anxiety but they bring you to the experience of your own awareness which is the quiet silent background in which our thoughts, feelings and perceptions occur. Awareness is that part of us that allows us to experience everything. We normally don't pay much attention to awareness itself because usually, we are busy using our awareness to be aware of things. We use the term Pure Awareness because when you use these techniques you experience awareness all by itself. There's nothing else there. There are no objects of experience, nothing but awareness itself, thus it is "pure."
There are descriptions and audio recordings of examples of guiding people through the techniques (just the ones in which you need guidance) on the Internet at the Great Life Technologies website.
LTK: How well do your techniques help individuals with anxiety?
TS: We have been compiling some data on the use of our Precision Somatic Awareness Techniques for the reduction of anxiety at presentations, seminars and training programs. The longer the presentation or training, the more symptom reduction we are seeing.
Most recently, we did a pilot study on reducing PTSD symptom severity. The study involved eight subjects who went through six hours of training in one day in which they learned and used the techniques. We did pre and post assessments using the 17 standard questions for diagnosing PTSD and people self-rated their experiences on a scale of 0 to 10.
There was a 63 percent symptom severity reduction after the six hours. An additional self-assessment was done one week after the training and the reduction of symptom severity was then 73 percent indicating that not only did the results last they got better over time.
We have numerous cases of veterans and victims of crime in which the PTSD symptoms have been completely resolved. These people now enjoy normal lives without PTSD symptoms at all.
LTK: What are some of the symptoms your techniques help reduce?
TS: People have found relief from the following symptoms:
- Hyper-vigilance
- Startle response
- Sleep problems
- Nightmares
- Flashbacks
- Anger
- Anxiety
- Fear
- Depression
- Grief / loss
- Survivor guilt
- Shame
- Regret
- Remorse
- Disassociation
- Denial
- Numbing of feelings
- Difficulty concentrating
- Detachment
- Isolation
- Abandonment
- Shutting down
- Hopelessness
- Addictions
- Addiction to adrenalin
- Relationship difficulties
- Lack of trust
- Lowered self esteem
- Loss of innocence
- Fatigue
LTK: What are some examples of Precision Somatic Awareness Techniques?
TS: The two most common of the Pure Awareness Techniques that we sometimes refer to as Somatic Awareness Techniques are the CORE and SEE Techniques. CORE resolves the energy of traumas held in the body. SEE is for resolving the energies of "reactive" emotions such as anxiety, depression, anger, disappointment, etc. You can see the techniques for resolving various emotions and anxiety and stress symptoms on the Great Life Technologies website.
Medication and Therapy with Somatic Awareness Techniques
LTK: Is it necessary to already be on anti-anxiety medication before starting your techniques, or can someone who is in the midst of severe anxiety use the techniques without any other help?
TS: People can start whether they are on medication or not. Sometimes, if the person has a strong block from feeling the anxiety by the medication we may have to use a technology called, WaveMaker. This temporarily weakens the masking effects of the drug so the person can feel the anxiety. It is necessary to be able to feel it in order to resolve it. Our techniques are effective for resolving the "energy" of the anxiety that gives it life. Our approach is not symptom suppressive. When someone uses the techniques properly, the anxiety goes away and doesn't come back.
LTK: How does someone know if the techniques are working or not working and should seek professional help?
TS: Typically, the relief from the anxiety is immediate. Most people are somewhat surprised the anxious feelings are gone and that it happened so quickly and easily. The techniques work for most people with anxiety although they may need some help from a qualified Vaporize Your Anxiety coach. This professional can teach people the techniques well enough so they can use them on their own.
One of the nice things about these techniques is that once learned, you become independent of a coach or therapist and you can resolve any additional anxiety that might come up on your own. For those instances, where people don't feel they can do the techniques by themselves, which is rare, the client can work with a Vaporize Your Anxiety coach or they may choose to use a traditional therapist. It is at the discretion of the client.
Learning the Techniques
LTK: How do you teach your anxiety reducing techniques and how does it compare to the techniques taught in therapy?
TS: The techniques can be learned from my book Vaporize Your Anxiety without Drugs or Therapy. Through my research, I have found that individuals have a deep conditioning to avoid fully feeling emotional energy. This causes us to be ineffective at resolving stress and anxiety when we experience them. I explain this phenomenon and then provide simple techniques to relearn how to deal with emotions. Instead of running away from anxious feelings, you learn how to experience them in new ways that allow anxiety to dissipate thoroughly so they don't tend to come back.
There are scripts in the book you can have someone read to you and guide you through the process of learning and doing the techniques. We also have an iPhone app by the same name that you can download to an iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch. This app provides interactive audio instructions for guiding you through the techniques. You tap a big button on the screen (big enough that you can tap it even while doing the techniques with your eyes closed) and it let's you hear the next audio instruction. This app will also soon be available on the Internet.
In addition, we have webinars, seminars and training programs both for people who just want to learn how to do these techniques as well as for professionals who want to learn to guide other people in their use. Visit the Vaporize Your Anxiety website for a list of seminars and training programs.
Many Thanks to Tom Stone
LoveToKnow thanks Tom Stone for taking the time to participate in this reduce anxiety without medication or therapy interview.
