Stress Less. Achieve More.

Simple Ways to Turn Pressure into a Positive

Force in Your Life
Aimee Bernstein
Copyright 2015 AMACOM, a division of American Management Association
256 pages
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Rating Take-Aways

7
8 Applicability Many people feel accelerated pressure in the workplace and at home, yet stress and
pressure dont have to be bad. They can be helpful if you know how to handle them.
7 Innovation
7 Style Your body has a powerful energy force the Japanese call ki flow.
This energy flow helps shape your emotions, perceptions and behaviors.
For a harmonious life, your ki should connect with the worlds universal energy field.
Focus The result is a full mind/body/energy state, a feeling athletes call being in the zone.
Operating in this state can imprint new neural pathways in your neurological system.
Leadership & Management
Strategy You can sense when your ki aligns with the greater universal energy and when it
Sales & Marketing
doesnt. This simple observation can generate greater positive energy.
Finance Meditation, diet and exercise help, but dont do enough to relieve pressure in real time.
Human Resources
IT, Production & Logistics Benefit from pressure by celebrating it as the energy of life and the energy of change.
Career & Self-Development
Achieving a state of stresslessness requires strong ki flow, grounding and centering.
Small Business
Economics & Politics When you operate fully in the present, you experience hereness, the ideal state.
Industries
Where you focus your attention defines your reality.
Global Business
Concepts & Trends

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Relevance
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What You Will Learn
In this summary, you will learn:r1) How to use your bodys ki flow, 2) How to achieve a full mind/body/energy
state to relieve stress and transform pressure from a negative to a positive, and 3) How to use the Enneagram and
the Inner Map to Stresslessness to benefit you at work and at home.
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Review
Psychotherapist and aikido practitioner Aimee Bernstein teaches how to make pressure your friend. Stress can feel
like an oppressive burden, but you can transform it into a vital fuel that powers your life and expands your sense of
self at work and at home. Bernstein provides a step-by-step guide with helpful individual and team-based exercises
that turn pressure into a positive and eliminate stress. She embraces both ancient and current notions of the body and
its energetic potential. Respected business authority Peter Drucker wrote, Your first and foremost job as a leader is
to take charge of your own energy and then help to orchestrate the energy of those around you. Bernstein approaches
stress on a more Eastern path, a tack familiar to anyone who practices yoga or Pilates or receives acupuncture
treatments. She combines her rigor as a psychotherapist with her understanding of the principles of ki to create
a meaningful, practical program of stress reduction. getAbstract recommends her methods to anyone who needs to
better manage stress. Today, that includes almost everyone.
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Summary
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Your Essential Energy
You have a powerful bodily energy, a force the Japanese call ki. Wonderful things can
happen when your ki flow connects positively with the pervasive energy field around
getabstract you. You want to unite your personal ki to this universal energy field, a coming together that
Awareness of your will sustain you and make you whole. Everyone can experience this connection and a full
bodys sensations,
feelings, moods mind/body/energy state. At that point, you will become confident, peaceful, empowered
and movements and free of stress. Albert Einstein explained the concept this way: Everything is energy,
provides experiential
information about how
and thats all there is to it. Quantum physics says that humans are energy beings living
you are in the moment. in a sea of energy, which is an electromagnetic vibration that composes and connects all
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life by transmitting information.

To achieve a harmonious life, you need a strong energy/ki state. The power you project
must be stronger than the energy the world throws at you. Without a strong energy/
ki connection, you will feel depleted, anxious, afraid or stressed. Orators and actors
harness their ki to transform the pressure of performing into a vital fuel that powers their
getabstract performance. Successful athletes call this energy connection being in the zone. NBA
Life teaches us how legend Bill Russell says, During those spells, I could almost sense how the next play would
to use pressure by
pointing the way develop and where the next shot would be taken.
to an ideal state in
which our mind/body/
energy system is open Stress Can Be Good
and aligned with the Pressure is the exertion of force (strength, energy, power) upon a surface by an object,
larger energy field that
nurtures and sustains
fluid, etc. in contact with it. Most people regard pressure as a negative, like unwelcome
us. stress. But, pressure can be an asset if handled correctly. It can work for, not against you.
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Practitioners of aikido, a Japanese martial-art form, develop their ki by using the

Unbendable Arm exercise. Extend an arm fully to your front. Stretch out your fingers.

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 Feel energy coursing through them. Relax and sense your palm and your arms underside;
imagine a ledge supporting your arm. Focus your attention just past your outstretched
fingertips. Now, move your ki to your other arm. Extend both arms, like headlight beams.
Watch as your energy field expands and your ki extends. Ask someone to press your arm
getabstract down at a point above the elbow. With your ki extended past your fingertips and no tensing
The emotional
patterns that underlie or resistance on your part, no one can bend your arm.
stress can be
repatterned by focusing
on positive emotions. The Flow of Life
getabstract You cant force yourself into a full mind/body/energy or ki flow state. You must enhance
your sensibilities and awareness to achieve this state by imprinting new neural pathways
and allowing your thinking mind to give way to your bodys intuitive intelligence. To
live fully and become the most expansive version of yourself, shift your energy patterns
and enter the flow of life, the point where your energy outflow merges with the larger
electromagnetic field.

The pressures of modern life can make this transformation difficult. Stress minefields
getabstract are everywhere. Joyless work, addictive technology, worry, fear, sleeplessness, troubled
You can sit very still
and be in action. You personal and work relationships, and other stressors make people depressed and ill. These
can be running around pressures determine how you experience the presence of concentrated energy encountering
engaging in one activity
after another, and there [your] mind/body system. Your response can mean the difference between a happy life or
may be no action at an unhappy life. Grounded, centered people in touch with their ki flow make pressure work
all.
getabstract for them. They recognize it as the energy of life and the energy of change.

Bringing Ki into Balance

Exercise, meditation and healthy diets are important for your health, but insufficient for
dealing with todays high-pressure world. You cant really shut your eyes and meditate
during your weekly team meeting. Increased awareness of your patterns, be they mental,
emotional, behavioral or energetic, is far more effective. Where you focus your attention
or your teams attention defines your reality moment to moment. Heightened awareness
getabstract occurs when the mind and body work in harmony. Develop your kinesthetic sense by
Only 25% of us love
our work, but even learning to shift [your] attention from [your] thoughts into not onto your body and
if we are among the your personal energy field.
fortunate who do, the
constant pressures wear
us down. To move your attention from externalities to the inner you: 1) Call your attention back
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inside you, as you would call your dog; 2) Make a frequent habit of asking yourself what
you think, feel and need; and 3) Use your body as a feedback tool by noticing how
much stronger you feel, for example, when not leaning forward.

The ideal reality state is hereness: when your body, mind, spirit and heart are present
and operating harmoniously. To achieve this beneficial state, stop thinking from the mind
only and shift to full mind/body awareness. Pay attention to your bodys sensations,
feelings, moods and movements. You are gathering the vital experiential information
getabstract you need to operate fully in the present. Musicians, dancers and athletes all master this
Being connected to
self and simultaneously heightened awareness.
open to othersserves
as a doorway to a
deeper and easier way The Enneagram
of living. An ancient Sufi tool for self-knowledge, the Enneagram details nine universal processes
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that 20th-century scholar Oscar Ichazo later reinterpreted as psychological types. Because
personality affects how people cope with both positive and negative energy, understanding
your personality and process type provides self-insight. The nine personalities and their
coping mechanisms are:

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 1. The perfectionist Criticized as a child, this judgmental person tries to avoid making
any errors. Coping strategy: To be loved, I must be good. To be good, I must be right.
getabstract 2. The giver Sensitive, compassionate givers need approval. They heed others but not
True control comes their own feelings. Coping strategy: To get, I must give. To be loved, I must be needed.
from remaining
centered, connected 3. The performer Believing that only self-promotion, status and success can win love,
and open to learning the performer dreads failure, shuns self-analysis and lacks emotional intelligence.
while, at the same time,
accepting reality. It 4. The romantic Introspective and emotional, this risk taker works to be an office
is recognizing that star. Coping strategy: I search forperfect circumstances to make me feel loved
perhaps you are not
seeing the whole and whole.
picture. 5. The observer A great synthesist, this detached, withdrawn person dislikes pressure
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and copes by simplifying life and staying private and self-sufficient.
6. The trooper As a kid, the trooper learned not to trust adults. As an adult, this person
seeks security in a risky world. Troopers are either phobic and seek protectors; obey
authority and avoid threats; or are counterphobic rebels who confront threats and risk.
7. The epicure This big-picture, self-protective type shuns commitment and detail,
getabstract gets defensive if criticized, and copes by dreaming of great future options.
When you are
centered, youdraw 8. The boss To deal with an unjust world, the boss organizes everything to achieve
oninformation control. Coping strategy: I protect myself and others by imposing my own truth.
derived from your
cognitive mind, heart 9. The mediator This easygoing team player avoids conflict and plays the peacemaker.
and body which allows Coping strategy: I substitute inessentials and small comforts for real priorities.
you to deal with
enormous pressure and
invites breakthroughs Ki Energy in the Workplace
and mastery.
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How you interact with your co-workers, bosses and employees is a function of how
your individual personalities combine, collide, interact and work through differences.
Workplace teams are particularly vulnerable to the positive and negative effects of differing
personalities and individual energy spheres. Depending on your predominant personality
type which may change in varying circumstances you can experience various energetic
reactions to business situations. These may include but arent limited to feeling your
getabstract muscles tighten when called to the bosss office, getting frustrated when your team
When you are
centered, you are able members pursue a relentless blame game or letting a room full of stressed-out people
to draw on a wealth undermine your otherwise cheerful mood. Elements of the sales process for example, cold
of information derived
from your cognitive
calling might spur you to greater achievement or make you want to seek a job change.
mind, heart and body, Pressureis your personal experience ofconcentrated energy encountering your mind/
which allows you to body/system. It can work for you or against you.
deal with enormous
pressure.
getabstract Centering and Grounding
In addition to a strong energy outflow and proper focus of your attention, being centered and
grounded eliminates stress. Just as a plant requires sun, soil, water and nutrients, you need
attention, center, ground and ki flow. Centering and grounding call for ignoring external
influences and focusing your attention internally to get in touch with your bodys clues.

Your body has three perceptual centers: your head, heart and hara (located in the lower
getabstract belly). Most peoples attention stays in their heads, in the cognitive mind. If you heed
When we connect
to ourselves and only whats inside your head, youll miss your emotions, bodily sensations and intuition.
open to others, our Focusing on the heart your emotions enables you to connect with those around you.
inner strength and
capabilities are But emotions can carry you away, so you miss the big picture. The hara is your center of
enhanced. gravity and the center of your energy.
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To achieve centering and grounding, place your attention on your hara, integrating your
three perceptual centers. Centering is not mystical. People naturally center themselves when
they walk, exercise or enjoy music.. Follow these 10 steps to center or ground yourself:

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 1. Notice where you are Focus on your body.
2. Breathe deeply and slowly Visualize a light shining above your head, down your
torso and into the ground. This is the center, where you want to be.
3. Lean physically forward Sense your feelings as you hold this uncentered position.
4. Let your body come back to center How do your emotions change?
5. Physically lean your body back How does this differ from leaning forward?
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Energetic habits
6. Let your body return to center What happens to your body and energy field?
underline and inform 7. Energetically not physically lean forward Imagine that your spirit is
all of our perceptual, reaching out.
emotional and
behavioral patterns. 8. Come back to center Do you feel more or less connected to the ground?
getabstract 9. Pause Use an alarm to pause and check your feelings every 60 or 90 minutes and
to evaluate your inner state. Pause momentarily throughout the day to center.
10.Four ways to recenter Take three deep breaths into your lower belly. Go for a
walk. Lie on your back five minutes and then five minutes on your stomach. Feel your
mind, body and spirit relax.

Centering starts with deep breathing. Shallow chest breathing is insufficient. To breathe
from your stomach, lie down, put your knees up, place one hand four inches below your
getabstract navel and put your other hand on your lower back. Breathe deeply through your nose. Feel
By letting go of
our rigid, often your rib cage expand, as well as your belly, hips and lower back. Feel the breath move
judgmental stance, slowly up through your body, wash down your back and exhale through your mouth as
we gain the flexibility
and compassion you make an AH sound. Practice this breathing technique when you wake up and go
to understand that to bed.
the other peoples
behavior grows out of a
philosophy that makes Is It Will, or Is It Fate?
perfect sense to them.
getabstract Some people believe they cannot change their fate. Others believe they control whatever
happens to them. The true process of life melds these opposing philosophies. Your master
plan and your free will can and should live in harmony. Peoples energetic, emotional,
physical and behavioral reactions lead to alternative versions of their futures. To achieve
your most desirable future, dont force your will. Mellow out. In time, you will learn your
purpose, your dreams will manifest and your destiny will appear. Then tap into your new
power. Whether in your personal life or your business environment, follow this four-step
plan while you wait:
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If you lose your cool, 1. Keep the faith For good things to happen, believe in the future you want. This
your smile and your
happy day, youve given means believing in yourself.
your energy and power 2. Feel where you are Get in touch with your inner self. Where you focus your
away.
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3. Think about your choices Most choices are so automatic that they arent choices at
all. Give yourself the time and room to think about what you should and shouldnt do.
Stroll in the rain or sit and gaze at a sunset. Pause and take charge.
4. Follow the clues These signals lead back to yourself. Use your cognitive
intelligence and emotional and intuitive intelligence to understand the clues that can
help you create a happy, fulfilled and satisfied life, at home and at work.
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About the Author
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Aimee Bernstein is president of Open Mind Adventures, a leadership and personal development consultancy. She
is a psychotherapist, executive coach and organizational consultant.

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