Stress and relief of it, is a very individual subject. A lot depends on where your stress stems from, and as much as I would like to think very few of you have it, that simply is not the case with my clients that are experiencing Hair thinning & loss. It’s crazy that as a rule I am suggesting everyone has it. Do you? I am of the belief that everyone has it in one form or another. One person’s stress may be another’s relief, as is the case with children. Some clients will claim their children are the entire cause of their stress and others use ‘hanging with their children’ as a form of relief. So it’s an entirely individual subject and must be dealt with that way.
What I’d like you to do if you have a problem clearly defining where your stress comes from is to get a small notepad carry it in your purse/pocket for 1 week. Every time your blood starts racing, your anger level rises or you begin yelling at someone -jot it down. Becoming aware of your stress triggers can be a huge help if you don’t know what they are. Once you know what they are, begin the process of figuring out how to combat each one. My suggestion would be to log on to AMAZON.com and find a book dealing with your particular stress trigger. Amazon is great, with one of the most user friendly sites available – so much so, sometimes it scares me by suggesting books I might like…and I DO! Typing in “road rage” or “dealing with an overbearing mother” it will give you a list of the top sellers in that category. Buy one book for every stress factor in your life and read it cover to cover. It’s a lot cheaper than therapy and they are most likely written by the top professionals in the field you are looking in.
Now, I feel this is so important that if you can afford therapy, I would highly suggest it, if stress is a definite issue. The thing about your stress is that there is an underlying ‘cause’ of it and most of you I am referring to are ‘too busy’ to stop and figure out what it is (you know how I know this? I was there as well . . . it took my illness to make me stop and figure it out). Something needs to JOLT you into reflecting on your life…’how’ you are living it and ‘why’ and ‘what’ you are truly living it for.
There are 2 parts to this step & that is one.
Stress produces many types of mental and physical illness in our society. Some of the symptoms of prolonged exposure to stress are headache, brain tissue damage, high blood pressure, weakening of the bones, depression, anger, fear, nervousness. The list of stress related ailments is truly staggering .The abuse of drugs or alcohol is used as common coping mechanisms with chronic stress. There are scientists out there that feel stress can even cause cancer and I happen to believe them – if you know anything at all about Eastern Medicine > which was a whole new world for me – they believe whole heartily in the mind-body-spirit connection.
One of the absolute necessities of this step is Yoga. Every client that wishes to have healthy hair is required to practice YOGA at least 3 times every week, I prefer 4, 3 will do. YOGA can have a profound effect on stress and on your hair. YOGA offers many techniques which are designed to release the tension of accumulated stress. The use of hatha YOGA postures, specific yogic stretches, as well as the breathing exercises can thoroughly wash away the symptoms of stress. YOGA also provides the psychological means for releasing your stress with the use of techniques such as Pranayama (breathing) and Meditation. Even more important to the cure of stress is the philosophy of YOGA. When YOGA is truly fathomed it can dramatically alter your view on life and the world thereby restoring your feelings of self -worth and personal meaning…which gives you a feeling of deep power and control.
According to the world expert on female hair loss, Elise Olsen MD, she has written that she is undecided about whether or not stress affects hair loss. I am not. She is a doctor and works in a Hospital & Lab, I admire a lot of her work and if it wasn’t for her there is a lot we would not know about hair loss, especially female hair loss…she just does not see the amount of hair clients that I do and in my opinion there is nothing that beats HANDS-ON EXPERIENCE…nothing. I certainly am not smart enough to acquire an MD certificate so I do admire most everything else about this woman. She has written the only HAIR LOSS TEXTBOOK in existence which I have a read twice and study all the time. To me its not the actual word ‘stress’ but as most of you know that have this, it’s the way that stress affects your entire life – if affects your entire health….and remember what affects your body or health AFFECTS YOUR HAIR. If I could talk to Ms. Olsen I think I could convince her of my theory.
When I give clients the 10,000HEADS Protocol I ask that they follow all 12 steps religiously. I even have them sign a “commitment paper” as a mini-ritual that hopefully gets them hyped up and committed. Being a little more than stupid, I know that everyone does not follow all 12 steps religiously…if they did they would be truly remarkable people, it is an extremely tough task…most follow 6-7 maybe 8 steps. For the 85% success rate I quote, an individual needs to follow all 10 religiously, here in Los Angeles and Malibu it is not hard to get people to sign up to the entire program and I know they will follow it. I can see that outside of LA the steps seem like a daunting task. After some Clinical Trials I ran out of my mini-Lab over the course of 6 months, I came up with the 85% rate…in truth it was higher.
3 weeks ago I had a long time client come in with a completely new head of hair and I was stunned. This is a 52 year old female, w/ a super high stress job, but with an otherwise very comfortable upper middle class life. She started the program because of the terrible hair ‘fall’ issues; she was losing hair in her brush, on her pillow and was freaking out about it, which would do the exact same thing to me, in our society hair is a pivotal part to looking ‘good’ .
“Appearance” is part of her very successful job. She was doing all the steps except Step 3 & 10…Stress & the Secret Weapon supplement and I knew it. Plenty of clients end up with Step 10 as the “one” that makes the most monumental changes; it deals with what the body is missing as far as vitamins & minerals. Step 10 is the one step that changes the most people’s hair. This is the first case I could pin the dramatic change to YOGA. I didn’t know it, but she began YOGA 3 months prior to her coming in, so it turned out STRESS was her trigger point {Trigger point is what has triggered your body into shedding hair}. If she had practiced all 10 steps right from the beginning, she would have had a full year of great hair, but there was no way of knowing that. She is on Cloud Nine now…she has better hair than she has had in over 30 years and I am thrilled for her. She also has said how wonderful YOGA has been for her overall general health, her marriage and her overall happiness and was very grateful for me continually bugging her to go to a class.With YOGA you are empowered by a deeper self understanding and personal value with this new attitude you will find that you are able to cope with stress more effectively
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If you do not have a yoga studio near you then head on over to www.yogajournal.com and look up what their recommendations are for a good DVD or VHS tape. My one suggestion would be the Ana Forrest YOGA – DVD. I found her style pleasant although am not sure if she has a beginning version or not. Everyone needs to get permission from their physician before beginning any type of physical activity. YOGA was my saving grace after radiation…I was super weak…and the best part was there was absolutely no pressure to be any better or to keep up with my neighbor…it is the only activity I have ever done that has not an ounce of competitiveness involved in it. You participate at your own level no matter what it is – for me and for a lot of you that is something we all need. Just to exercise to relax and meditate.
Added bonus: Within the practice of YOGA there are many positions where you are upside down they are called INVERSIONS. Being inverted for a few minutes at a time has the blood in your body rushing to your head, that blood in your head nourishes the hair follicles , which in turn after a month or two will begin to make a difference in your hair. I have a couple of Pro-surfers that see me for their hair loss issues….they both have been studying Yoga for over a year…it has improved their surfing more than any other activity ever has – alongside the hair thickness side effects. This program was totally designed for women, and the reason is, there is a fraction of the money and time put into women’s hair loss and hair thinning than men’s…it was time there was a protocol for women. The delights and treasures that YOGA bring to your life are vast….having yoga work on relieving your stress should be what you set your mind to.
Physiological advantages of YOGA
• Stable autonomic nervous system equilibrium, Pulse rate decreases
• Respiratory rate decreases• Blood pressure decreases
• Galvanic skin response (GSR) increases
• EEG-alpha waves increase (theta, delta, and beta waves also increase during various stages of meditation)
• EMG activity decreases
• Cardiovascular efficiency increases
• Respiratory efficiency increases (vital capacity increases, breath-holding time increases)
• Gastrointestinal function normalizes
• Endocrine function normalizes
• Musculoskeletal flexibility and joint range of motion come back and stop hurting!
• Posture improves
• Strength and resiliency increase
• Endurance increases
• Energy level increases
• Weight normalizes
• Hair health improves
• Sleep improves
• Immunity increases
• Pain decreases
I began Yoga and worked my way up to teaching in about 2 years, I was never in better shape and this was only 6 years ago. I had Thyroid problems for my entire life and was told I would have to take one pill for the rest of my days when I was 20. After 18 months of yoga I had my thyroid checked and was told I stop taking my pill that my thyroid was working completely normally. I kid you NOT! My doctor could NOT explain it (I could). My hips & knee that have always been a problem for me, the pain completely went away. So many of my aches and pains ALONG with all my stress just gradually and gently melted away, it was the most life-changing event I have ever taken part in. It changed my entire personality (for the better I hope!) – I have finally – F I N A L L Y learned how to slow down and listen to people – and pay attention to life. There is nothing more ground breaking for your life than YOGA and what it will do to your life, your hair, and your body – please I ask all of you to take a series of 10 classes at a YOGA studio (not a gym), the experience is totally different and the key is a great teacher as well – do a little bit of homework about teachers, if possible.
The”Stress Factor” is similar to the Nutrition Factor, its very influential & if you keep it up I promise you the RESULTS WILL COME, the problem being it takes a long time to see the actual results.. but once they come, they stay around.
So remember everything that comes to you that’s ‘worthwhile’ . . . comes slowly and lasts a long….long time. If you truly put your mind to this, it could change your life – it did mine and I will be forever grateful to the practice and art of YOGA for teaching me how to live life to the fullest.
