Riding the Waves of Stress: A Clinical Hypnotherapist’s Guide to Stop Fighting and Start Flowing

“You can’t control the waves, but you can learn to surf.” – Jon Kabat-Zinn

Stress is an inevitable part of life. From work deadlines to family responsibilities, unexpected challenges to daily to-do lists, modern life can feel like an ocean of demands. But what if I told you that trying to control everything is actually making your stress worse?

As a Clinical Hypnotherapist specialising in Hypnotherapy in Melbourne, I’ve worked with countless women struggling with stress, anxiety, and burnout. Many feel overwhelmed, exhausted, and trapped in a cycle of trying to manage every aspect of their lives. The truth is, control is an illusion, and the more we resist life’s natural flow, the more stress takes a toll on our nervous system, health, and overall well-being.

How Stress Affects Your Nervous System

Your nervous system is the command centre of your body. It regulates everything from your heart rate and digestion to your ability to focus and sleep. When you experience stress, your Sympathetic Nervous System reacts instantly by activating the fight-or-flight response.

• Short-term stress can be helpful—it gives you the energy to meet deadlines or respond to danger.
• Chronic stress, however, keeps your body in high alert for too long, causing long-term harm & likely illness.

Signs Your Nervous System is Overloaded:

• Constant fatigue, even after rest
• Difficulty sleeping or staying asleep
• Racing thoughts and difficulty focusing
• Increased anxiety or irritability
• Digestive Issues like Bloating, Discomfort, Diarrhoea or Constipation
• Tension headaches and muscle pain
• Feeling emotionally drained or detached

Over time, a dysregulated nervous system leads to hormonal imbalances, digestive problems, immune dysfunction, and even chronic pain. The harder you try to power through stress by controlling everything, the worse these symptoms can get.

The Ripple Effect: How Stress Overflows Into Everyday Life

When stress takes hold of your nervous system, its effects spill over into every aspect of your life.

1. Your Health Suffers

Stress disrupts your immune system, making you more prone to illness. It also increases inflammation, contributing to heart disease, autoimmune disorders, and gut health issues. Battling with these types of health issues is enormously challenging, adds to stress levels, reduces your ability to function and of course has negative impacts on your quality of life.

2. Your Gut and Digestion Are Impacted

There’s a reason why stress often causes bloating, IBS, or stomach discomfort. Your gut and brain are deeply connected through the Gut-Brain Axis. Gut-directed Clinical Hypnotherapy has been scientifically proven to help regulate this connection, easing symptoms of gut distress.

3. Your Relationships Struggle

Chronic stress shortens patience, heightens tempers, and deepens emotional exhaustion. You may find yourself snapping at loved ones, feeling disconnected, or struggling to be present in meaningful moments. Over time, this can erode intimacy and trust, making relationships feel more like a source of stress than support.

4. You Feel Mentally Stuck

Stress shrinks your ability to think clearly and problem-solve. When your brain is in the fight or flight survival mode, reflection, learning, long-term planning and rational thinking take a back seat. This can lead to procrastination, self-doubt, and a sense of being trapped in a cycle of stress without a clear way forward.

5. Burnout Takes Over

Unchecked stress eventually leads to burnout, where even the smallest tasks feel impossible. Burnout doesn’t just affect productivity—it drains joy from your life. Think of it like trying to fill a bathtub with water when the plug is out, impossible. It can leave you feeling numb, unmotivated, and disconnected from the things that once brought you happiness.

Why Trying to Control Everything Makes Stress Worse

Many women feel that if they could just get everything under control, they would finally feel calm. They try to:

• Plan every detail
• Fix every problem immediately
• Predict and prevent future stressors
• Do absolutely everything themselves so they know it’s done correctly
• Keep everyone around them happy

Is this all sounding very familiar? The unfortunately reality is, life is unpredictable, and control is an illusion. The more you fight to control every outcome, the more your nervous system stays in a state of hyper-vigilance and exhaustion, and the more out of control life will feel.

Learning to Surf the Waves: Practical Strategies to Reduce Stress

Instead of controlling everything, the key to managing stress is to regulate your nervous system. Here are some ways to do that:

1. Breathe to Signal Safety

Your breath is one of the fastest ways to calm your nervous system. Try:

• Slow, deep belly breathing – Inhale for 7 seconds, exhale for 11 seconds. The out-breath needs to be longer than your in-breath. When you exhale slowly, this signals to your nervous system that you are safe and triggers the Rest & Digest response via your Parasympathetic Nervous System.
• Sighing it out – Take a deep inhale, then exhale with an audible sigh. When you sigh, you use your voice box which is controlled by the Vagus Nerve. Stimulating the vagus nerve in this way, signals to your brain and body that it is safe to relax. This down regulates the nervous system, reducing heart rate, lowering blood pressure, and easing muscle tension.

2. Use Hypnotherapy to Rewire Stress Responses

Hypnotherapy guides your mind & body into a deep state of relaxation which signals to your nervous system that you are safe. Once you’re in this relaxed state, also known as trance, your brain is able to reflect, learn and is more open to the power of suggestion in line with your goals. In Hypnosis, you can learn the knowledge, strategies & skills to respond differently to stress. Instead of feeling overwhelmed, you can train your brain to stay calm, focused, and be flexible. Learning when to stand strong and when to be flexible is a key component of getting on top of stress long term.

3. Prioritise Rest & Recovery

Your nervous system needs downtime to regulate. Create daily rituals like:

• Asking for Help & Support from friends, family or a trained professional
• Unplugging from screens before bed
• Taking short breaks throughout the day to have some alone time
• Avoid over-filling your schedule
• Prioritise Sleep

4. Let Go of What You Can’t Control

Instead of holding on tightly to everything, ask yourself:

• What is truly within my control?
• Who else can I delegate this task to?
• Does this need to be done right now?
• How can I trust that things will unfold as they need to?

Letting go is a powerful strategy in more ways than one. This includes letting go of any emotions that might be bubbling away. If you need to cry, cry. If you need to laugh, laugh. These are all really effective ways of releasing tension & stress and processing these emotions out of your body.

5. Move Your Body to Release Stress

Physical movement helps process and discharge stress from the body. Try:

• Gentle stretching or yoga
• Dancing to your favourite music
• Walking in nature to reset your mind

6. Connect with Trust Loved Ones

Supportive social interactions release oxytocin, a hormone that promotes feelings of safety, trust, and connection. This reduces cortisol (the stress hormone), calms an overactive nervous system, and helps you feel more grounded. Whether through conversation, physical touch, or simply feeling understood, strong social bonds provide emotional reassurance, making it easier to manage stress.

Quick Activity: Try a 20 second hug with a trusted friend or family member and feel the stress start to melt away

How Hypnotherapy Can Help You Manage Stress

Many people turn to Hypnotherapy Melbourne because they feel stuck in patterns of overthinking, stress, and anxiety. Hypnotherapy works by guiding you into a deeply relaxed & calm state, your brain & mind is therefore in an optimal place to develop healthier coping mechanisms.

Clinical Hypnotherapy is a form of Somatic Therapy. Somatic therapy is a body-focused approach to healing that recognises the deep connection between the mind and body. Through guided relaxation, visualisation, and suggestion, hypnotherapy enables you to release stored tension, recalibrate stress responses, and create a sense of safety within the body in a secure & supportive environment. This mind-body integration makes hypnotherapy a powerful tool for reducing stress, and fostering long-term emotional and physical well-being.

With Hypnotherapy Melbourne, you can:

• Retrain your nervous system to stay calm under pressure
• Break free from cycles of stress and worry
• Reconnect with a sense of inner peace and calm
• Improve your sleep, digestion, and overall health

Final Thoughts: Finding Your Flow

Stress is a part of life, but it doesn’t have to control you. By learning to work with your nervous system rather than against it, you can reclaim your sense of calm, clarity, and well-being.

Learning about Stress, being aware of how it impacts you and learning new skills through Hypnotherapy, you can break free from the cycle of stress and step into a life that feels lighter, freer, and more in flow so you can reach your full potential.

If you’re ready to rewire your stress response and start feeling like yourself again, That Health Hub provides Clinical Hypnotherapy in a Safe & Supportive environment. Reach out Today to explore how we can work together to calm your nervous system and create lasting positive change.