A Helpful Technique to Reduce Stress and Anxiety

The Bouncy Ball Technique (or to be technical – Bi-lateral Stimulation!)

I call it the bouncy ball technique, just easier to say and remember! I share this technique with my stress management clients. It’s very simple but effective and all you need is a smallish bouncy ball or any kind of small object you can easily pass from hand to hand e.g. a pen, lipstick, keychain etc. This helps to activate both sides of your brain, diffusing the area holding together the stress/tension, spreading blood flow and electrical impulses throughout.

When you feel stressed or anxious, evaluate the feeling on a scale of 1 to 10, then do the following to reduce that feeling:

• Hold you arms out in front of you, resting your elbows on your rib cage (one arm will always remain in the center of your body as you do this).
• Start to pass the bouncy ball from hand to hand, moving each arm in and out as you do so.
• Close your eyes and take deep breaths as you do this.
• Do this for one minute, then stop and evaluate how you feel.
• Repeat if you need to to reduce your stress/anxiety even further.

Give it a try and let me know how this works for you!