Customer Reviews

Instant Calm: Over 100 Easy-to-Use Techniques for Relaxing Mind and Body

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I don't agree with the synopsis of this book. The book does not contain mere "quick-fix solutions to relieve the stress and anxiety of daily life". `Instant Calm' although is about crisis control, brings together over hundred of the most powerful stress management techniques known to the humans from ancient times to the discoveries of modern research on stress management. These include meditation, yoga, ancient relaxation techniques such as Tsu-sanli, Feng-Chih, acupressure, self-hypnosis, massage, aromatherapy, exercise, diet and much more. Some of these `other' remedies include `dance', `unfold chair' and `calm hugs' which has been described as "one of the most effective techniques of finding comfort in troubled moments..." For those who don't have the luxury of receiving `calm hugs' can try listening to `calm music' and or `calm your own wrist' with the other hand!

What I liked most about the book was simple, jargon-free ideas and instructions. I liked the page on `calm affirmation'. It reminded me that the list of the words at the end of this section can help me to convert the negatives into positives. For example, `panic' can be replaced with `peace'. The `anger' can be turned into `love' and `failure' can be substituted with `success'.

The book is packed with immediate remedial and effective methods of eliminating stress, negativity and lack of energy from our life.

It is a handbook for those who have to live with stress and worries in this modern `age of anxiety'.

I'm a practicing psychologist with several years experience as a therapist as well as a trainer of psychologists, psychiatrists and students. I have a lot of respect for self-help books. I read one or two a year. Most of them are pretty good. Some aren't. This one is the worst.

To begin with one should read the bio on Paul Wilson. He is the head of an advertising agency, in other words, a guy who is pretty good at hyping things, which is all he does in this book. If he went to college it isn't mentioned in the bio.

There are hundreds, maybe thousands of reasonable studies showing that various relaxation techniques work. Wilson cites none of them. It reads as if he was in a big hurry to meet his publisher's deadline for 100 techniques. There is no depth. It's impossible to tell what's useful, and in some cases, what he's even describing. Meditation, which has been shown to be very effective, gets only a few pages.

Although practically every page has an example of sloppy work I'll cite just two to make my point. On page 213 he attempts to explain "Meditation Goggles." His explanation is skimpy at best and ends with the following: "Try it. It could be the easiest way yet of discovering real calm." Really? How about taking some time to track down the efforts of some researchers who might have looked into this already? Also, in the unlikely event that a reader is motivated to try this out, there is no info provided on where to go for further info or product purchase.

On page 21 there is a silly little chart which tries to show a relationship between stress and performance. In psychology we've known for years about the Inverted U Curve. This looks a little bit like it but with some critical changes to make it useless.

There are many great relaxation books. I won't endorse any of them here. Read some reviews or if you don't have the time, throw the dice; you can definitely do better than this.

I've been using the techniques from this book for a couple or years now and I have to say that it works!
This book uses many different ways to help you, going from yoga to massage... from exercising to dieting.
The book is simple, does not use a hard to follow vocabulary, has clear ideas and instructions, and will help you to learn how to get rid of that horrible thing called stress.
A very good book!

This is a great book!
it has many techniques, something there for anyone!
on first impressions, very impressed on the mention of the various techniques, nice and simple to understand too!
great resource, great to read and flip through
enjoyable, makes you feel good to use

I have had anxiety for most of my life, this book explains to you better than anything i have read about anxiety and the little details that no one speaks about. The tips are great on explaining coping and dealing with stress as well.

This book has been quite a revelation. The tips are easy to follow and very effective. I would recommend this book to anyone anytime anywhere!

Very useful for the professional as well as the non-professional. I would hesitate to use some of the techiques without the supervision/recommendation of a mental health professional as they could potentially result in increased anxiety states especially in cases of trauma. Overall, the physiological relaxation tips were fine.

Cool book lots of relaxation suggestions. After reading the book I am breathing deeply although you don't really learn about the root of your problems but sometimes all you want is to relax a little - today I tried to use the self hypnosis technique, but didn't work but tomorrow is another day.

A guide to finding shortcuts to help you relax and keep your mind and body free of stress and anxiety. This book will show you ways to do this by using several different methods that have been proven to work.

Feel like your sitting on a time bomb? I did and I knew I had to do something to ease it all. Finding this book has started me down that road and more.

In this book are over one hundred anxiety and stress relievers that can work for anyone. By using things such as music, hugs and even different words, you can begin to relieve your stress in a matter of minutes.

Managing a hectic lifestyle can be easy to deal with. This book gives you straight forward ideas on how to make this work. By using self hypnosis, aromatherapy, diet and exercise, just to name a few, you can have a less stressful life.

This book is just so simple. Within just a few minutes time I was trying to put some of this advice to work for me. Itís pretty straight forward and really nothing explained in this book is hard to do. You just have to want to get rid of the stress and anxiety and be willing to use these ideas to do it.

My favorite part of the book is the section on words. Word play can make a big difference. For instance instead of thinking sad, think happy. If you are thinking you are angry try thinking about being calm. Just changing a word around can make a big difference in how you perceive and cope with the world. This book helps to point that out.

If you are looking for quick, effective ways to help reduce the stress in your busy life try reading this book. Put to use the information you find inside and you will begin to feel better about the world you live in.
Anxiety Disorders. Concise Blueprint To Overcome Panic Attacks, Phobia & Anxiety. Plus Information On Medication.

Overall, I would say this was a pretty good book with several valuable exercises to create instant calm. However, many of the exercises weren't really instant (such as a diet with calming foods or changing lifestyles or patterns). The book emphasized the use of proper breathing techniques which can certainly help create calm and is the basis of many of the techniques. There is a wide variety of techniques throughout the book that will allow readers to select several that are most appropriate for them to use.