Week 8 - Hanna's reflexes & stretching

In this, the final week before the end of term, we're going to have another look at Hanna's neuromuscular reflexes, and consider the use of stretching and meditation in a stress management programme.

Tasks for the week

• Continue to use a stress log to record any stressful experiences and your reaction to them.
  
• I will send you an article on Monday which describes in some detail the three primary neuromuscular reflexes which have been described by Thomas Hanna. My email will relate his ideas to stress theory
• Read the resource on the use of stretching as a stress management modality.
• Design a stretching programme for one of your clients based on your assessment of them either this week or a past client.
• Have a look around on the web. Can you find any good high quality sources of video resources for stretching? Let the class know about them through the email group.
• If you haven't already done so, have a look at the meditation resource.

Stress management modalities

You should by now be a competent practitioner of breath retraining, and progressive muscle relaxation. If you haven't yet had a practice run of instructing someone else in these techniques, then get onto it as soon as possible.

It's recommended that you download and run through the meditation recording several times at least this week.

Lifestyle modification

This week we're going to have a look at Lifestyle modification in some depth.

Review of Case Study 1
Thanks to those who contributed to the case study exercise. A good level of understanding was shown by the parties involved. Have a look at my feedback on your work at the bottom of the document.

Tasks for the week

• Read through the page outlining Lifestyle modification
• Over the next week, keep a stress log (described on the Lifestyle modification page) to identify stressors in your life and your reaction to them.
  
• The assessment aspect of the stress management process has been updated to include assessment of the breathing pattern and rhythm. Make sure you review this process, taking note of the expansion.

Stress management exercises
You should be continuing to practice progressive muscle relaxation. If you've practiced it about 10 times by now, then you'll be ready to move on to instruction of clients.

The next stress management exercise which I want to introduce is meditation. I haven't quite recorded the meditation yet, but hope to get onto this sometime this week.

Assessment

• Case Study: You could start working with your clients anytime from now on really.

Developing a healthcare programme

We're now into looking at the treatment phase of developing a healthcare programme.

Have a look at the treatment phase of the stress management process. Later in the week we will apply it to a case study.

Also have a look at this partially completed resource - Stress management modalities. This will become a useful resource, so tag it for future reference.