  Using a feedback loop it is possible to reduce the fluctuations in one
quadrature of an in-loop field without increasing the fluctuations in the
other. This effect has been known for a long time, and has recently been called
``squashing'' [B.C. Buchler et al., Optics Letters {\bf 24}, 259 (1999)], as
opposed to the ``squeezing'' of a free field in which the conjugate
fluctuations are increased. In this paper I present a general theory of
squashing, including simultaneous squashing of both quadratures and
simultaneous squeezing and squashing. I show that a two-level atom coupled to
the in-loop light feels the effect of the fluctuations as calculated by the
theory. In the ideal limit of light squeezed in one quadrature and squashed in
the other, the atomic decay can be completely suppressed.
