“STROMBOLI WAS A GREAT EPIPHANY FOR ME –
I’M SO MUCH MORE RELAXED ABOUT MY LIFE
AND I SEE A HUGE IMPROVEMENT IN MY PHYSICAL
AND PSYCHOLOGICAL HEALTH.”
R.M., LONDON

BEING SERIOUSLY RELAXED RETREAT PROGRAMME

John here. 

By the time you’ve finished reading my words here,
you should be in no doubt that, if you’re stressed or worried or anxious, it’s time to take relaxation very seriously.
And even if you’re not currently feeling stressed or worried or anxious (and you thus realise that this is currently not the programme for you), then you’ll understand more about the necessity to take relaxation very seriously if you ever do feel those things.

I’VE RUN A LOT OF RELAXATION RETREATS. HERE’S WHAT I NOTICED.

The idea for this Being Seriously Relaxed Programme came from looking back at many years of retreats, and noticing who got the most from them.
And by ‘who got the most’, I mean those who had dramatic transformations in their lives: those who healed from illness, those who turned their lives around, those who went from stress-pots, worriers or anxious angst to more relaxation, joy and, yes it’s possible, peace. 

There were two key things I noticed about these ‘got the most’ people:

1. They took the teaching, the practices, the movement towards relaxation VERY seriously.
   They turned up, made notes, asked questions, did the work, pondered deeply about their lives, and their stress.  They saw the possibility of huge change if they could relax more.  And they left the retreat with the intention of continuing to practise, to learn more, to stay on the path to relaxation.
2. They carried on their path to relaxation AFTER the retreat.
   Most people love the retreats, and get a lot from them.  But they sometimes then stop the moment they get home.  Their life takes over, the stresses return, and, without implementing the practices and ideas, they drift back to where they were.  Whereas the ‘get the most’ people carry on the practice, learn more, do more and set up habits to keep them moving along their path to greater relaxation.  I know this because they stay in touch, they ask me questions, do more workshops, read more books… sometimes they come back years later and say things like “you know I’ve been doing the qigong every day since the retreat, I can’t start the day without it”.

So, this is the –
3-month Being Seriously Relaxed Programme (Including a Retreat on Stromboli)

1. Only for those who are willing to take relaxation VERY seriously.
2. Supports these people over a full 3 months (yes, around their work) so that they get the very best chance to get Seriously Relaxed and stay that way forever.
   

This if for you if –
1. You are experiencing stress, worry or anxiety

You don’t need me to tell you what these feel like.
Sure, you may well have become so used to some of the symptoms, that you almost assume that ‘that’s life’.
And the effects of these three areas, stress, worry and anxiety, vary, and they vary between people.

But it’s likely that it affects your thinking.  It’s common for the mind to be racing and analysing all the time.  It’s usual that when one worry subsides, another one pops up to replace it.  Like Whack-a-Worry.  You might feel overwhelmed often, not knowing what to do.

And the racing mind then affects other areas of your life.  You can never really settle. You can’t find any peace.  And other people might notice this too, and thus it affects your relationships.  And the overthinking mind can affect your sleep too. This is very common with stress, worry and anxiety.  Difficulty getting to sleep or waking up in the middle of the night, or simply waking up very early and not being able to get back to sleep.

Many of you will be aware of physical symptoms of stress, worry and anxiety too.  It can go to different places for different people. But can often result in gut issues, headaches, tight muscles around the shoulders and neck, and high blood pressure.

This if for you if –
2. You’re willing to take relaxation seriously

If you suffer from stress, worry and anxiety, you know about it.

Even if you have assumed that there’s nothing much you can do about it.

Or you’ve tried various things, like meditation or yoga, or apps like ‘Calm’ and ‘Headspace’.  Which either don’t work for you (as is the case for meditation for many people) or they help, but not for long.  It’s back to the Whack-a-Worry…  you calm down around something for a bit, but then it pops up again later.

You’re also likely to know about the effect of stress on the body over time (ie. ‘chronic stress’).  The stress hormones of adrenaline and cortisol can be useful in an emergency, but released over time, they have huge effects on the body and mind.  Medics call stress ‘The Silent Killer’.  Chronic stress will affect our blood pressure, our heart rate, our immune system, our sleep, our ability to concentrate.

And maybe it’s because you think that there’s not a lot you can do about it (not with your busy, full-on life, and with all your responsibilities) that you haven’t previously taken this seriously enough.

So, if you knew there are ways to crack stress, would you start taking relaxation seriously?
Most people say YES.
And that YES and that seriousness are going to be critical to you cracking stress.
I know that from 20 years of observing people who try to crack their stress.

This if for you if –
3. You’re VERY KEEN to sort this out

If you think you’re currently too busy to work on cracking stress, then this is not for you.

If you know you need to calm down and change things in your life, but you’d prefer to wait till next year, this is not for you.

If you’re still thinking (after reading up to here) that stress is a part of life, that most people feel it, so what’s the big problem, then this is not for you.

If you’d like a quick magic-pill-like solution to your stress, worry or anxiety, some quick exercise you could do that would solve everything, this is not for you.

If you don’t fancy looking at the reasons you’ve got to where you are, then, I’m sorry, this is not for you.  Because in order to see how we can get out of this, it’s important to know how we got into this.

Yes, it is sortable (and here’s my story)

I hear this a lot from people who are suffering, and have been suffering for years, from stress, worry and anxiety…
That they no longer think it’s sortable.

Quite a few people I talk to add “well, my mum suffered all her life”.
And that’s often a key to anxiety, as it’s our mums who tend to create (or not) the sense of safety we have (or don’t have).

But even when we think it’s so embedded, or even ‘genetic’, IT IS SORTABLE.

I’ve seen that in my life, and I’ve seen that in so many clients’ lives.

You could say I have the worrier gene.  My mum has always been worried and scared.  Her mum the same.  My dad’s mother was mentally ill throughout her life, so his sense of safety was also compromised.

So I grew up feeling nervous and scared about things.  Worry was what I did (apart from when I was playing football).  And I was sick too, from a young age.  I was frequently in hospital as a child.  I was allergic to everything and would suffer from the symptoms of these omni-allergies.

As I grew up, though, late teens probably, I began to realise that my symptoms got worse when I was stressed.  I’d get more sick around exams for example.

Ha, I remember now that I went to see a GP at uni, who said “do you feel better at the weekends?” I said I did, and she said it’s likely that the alcohol I was drinking was relaxing me and thus easing the symptoms.  That’s EXACTLY what you want to hear at uni… that alcohol is healing you 😊

It was after I left university, and faced with the stress of having to get out there and get a job, that I became more ill again.  And I then started to look seriously at the stress thing.  I got some relaxation tapes, and I was fortunate to be invited to a Tai Chi class.

Very soon, I saw the undeniable link between my symptoms and my stress or relaxation.  Pretty much the only time I felt okay was either in one of those Tai Chi classes or lying on my bed doing the relaxation exercises.

And thus started my journey into relaxation.  I’ve learnt every technique, I’ve meditated, done yoga, qigong, I’m trained as a hypnotherapist…  I’ve sought out and trained with what I call the ‘Super Relaxers’, the 1% of people who are seriously super relaxed.

And over the years I started to notice habits that the Super Relaxers had that they weren’t talking about.  I’m not even sure they knew about these elements.
And seeing these habits created my own epiphanies.

And with each epiphany I’d have a significant physical healing or mental breakthrough (where I would become happier and more relaxed).
To the point where I’ve been largely healed for the last 20 years.  And largely happy and relaxed.

One of these epiphanies was ‘F**k It’ and all that it stands for.  But there are more.

So I’ll boil down my learning about Serious Relaxation into 2 points –

1. The practices and techniques can help, but they’re only a part of the story. Alone they’re unlikely to get you to crack stress.
2. It IS sortable. I’ve experienced it. I’ve had many clients experience it

And you’ll learn this –

The astonishing art of ‘Qigong’, as well as deep relaxation, as well as how to live a freer, happier life in every moment.