Deep, Cleansing Breaths: Managing Stress Effectively

Anxiety triggers the sympathetic nervous system, which is the “fight-or-flight” system of our body that tells us to be on high alert so we can face a threat in our environment. This system is highly adaptive when you have a time-limited, acute stressor, like encountering a bear in the jungle. Since few of our TFA placements are in regions where bears are prevalent, this fight-or-flight response is rarely adaptive in our modern world, but our bodies haven’t caught up to the reality of the new types of stresses that we face (deadlines, pressure, classroom management woes, worry, etc.). So when our anxiety becomes chronic and this “fight-or-flight” system is constantly in the “on” position, it can wreak havoc on your body, like raising your blood pressure, lowering your immune system response and making you more susceptible to illness. This system was not designed to stay “on” all the time.

To counteract this effect, you want to try to trigger the relaxation response (aka, the parasympathetic nervous system). Using these techniques will lower your heart rate, decrease your blood pressure, and bring your stressed body back to equilibrium. Here are a few ways you can do this:

1. Deep breathing—this technique is best done sitting in a quiet place for a few minutes breathing deeply with your diaphragm, the muscle that sits beneath your lungs. You activate the diaphragm by feeling your belly expand when you inhale, and then contract when you exhale. You can inhale to a slow count of three or four, and then exhale the same number of seconds. Check out thisvideo to learn how to do this technique.

2. Meditation—this is an ancient technique that originated in the East thousands of years ago. Find a quiet spot, either sitting in a chair or cross-legged on the ground. Close your eyes and do a quick body scan, noticing the physical sensations of your body making contact with the chair or floor. Then direct your attention to your breath, noticing where the air passes over your nostrils as you inhale and exhale. Soon enough, a thought will arise and your mind will wander. This is OK, as this is just what the mind does. Just notice that your attention wandered and gently bring your focus back to the breath. Do this again and again, as often as needed. You can start with meditating 5 minutes, and then slowly work your way up to 30 minutes or more. Check out mypost from last year to learn more about mindfulness and meditation.

3. Imagery—this is the equivalent of finding your “happy place.” Just visualize a place or a person or an imaginary world that makes you happy and calm. The trick with this technique is that you want to visualize as much detail as you can, trying to conjure up the experience of all 5 senses.

4. Self-soothing activities—this can be any activity that chills you out and can be highly individualized. For some taking a long, hot bath is soothing. Calm music can trigger a relaxation response. Some people like the repetitive motion of knitting. The list here is endless, so just experiment with whatever is calming for you.

5. Distraction—finding activities to take your mind off of stress for a little while can be very useful. Catching up on your favorite show on Netflix is a favorite for many. Going to the gym to exercise for a bit can help too (exercise provides a ton of benefit for managing stress). Immerse yourself in the latest vampire novel. You don’t want to use distraction so much that you avoid confronting your stress entirely. But on occasion, distraction can take the edge off a stressful experience, providing some temporary relief.

6. Social support—think back to a time you took a load off by venting to a friend about a stressful experience, and how good you felt afterward. Just talking about your stress can counteract the effect of it. So next time you’re feeling your anxiety on the rise, call up a friend and invite them to coffee (decaf, of course).

Use these techniques whenever you feel the toll of stress and anxiety on your body. Use these techniques before bed if you’re having difficulty initiating sleep. Heck, use these techniques on a daily basis, fitting them into your routine, and you may find that your overall stress levels go down, making you more effective while at work.

8 Tips To Relax And Feel Healthy

1. Make “me-time” a priority.

Carve out 30 minutes to an hour daily. Schedule it. Use this down time to take a nice hot bath with dead sea salts, essentials oils and your favorite natural bath products. Light candles and play soothing music. Give yourself a massage with coconut oil. Give yourself a facial. Finish off with a mani-pedi. This isn’t just for the ladies. Guys, you can do this too.

2. Say no to others and say yes to yourself.

Overextending yourself is the fastest way to accrue stress. Saying no doesn’t mean you aren’t helping others. It means you're saying YES to yourself and respecting your own needs. If an invitation comes up that makes you say, “meh,” skip it. If someone requests something from you that feels too heavy, not aligned with your present focus or doesn’t make you feel resourceful, pass on it. As an added bonus, this frees up time to do things you actually enjoy.

3. Allow nature to re-energize you.

Spend some time in the sun’s healing rays. Ground yourself by walking barefoot on grass or sand. Spend some time in ocean water. Get plenty of fresh air and breathe deeply. Spend some time stargazing or watching the clouds. Hug a tree. Plant a flower garden. Grow your own food.

4. Do something fun and adventurous every day.

Even with a busy schedule, you can find 30 minutes to do something fun. Be creative with your time. Create a bucket list while you’re on the toilet or in between calls at work. Begin checking off those items each day as you try new things. When time is more available, do the bigger things you wish to accomplish.

5. Ask for help.

If you need help with any of your daily tasks such as cooking or laundry, ask. If there’s a project at work that’s causing frustration, see who you can enlist to speed up the project. If you're bored or lonely, ask friends or family to spend time with you. If your back hurts, ask for a massage. It’s not that others aren’t willing to support you; you simply haven’t articulated your needs.

6. Let your plate heal you.

Plant-based food has natural healing components. Eat more plants and less meat. Use food as medicine and eat foods that reduce illness. Reduce or eliminate caffeine, sugar, gluten, alcohol, dairy, and soy, which are often the biggest culprits of diet-based stress. Swap out coffee for herbal tea. Try almond or coconut milk. Instead of sugar, try stevia, raw honey or medjool dates to sweeten.

7. Slow down.

Meditate for at least 20 minutes per day. Take several deep breaths. Close your eyes for a few minutes every hour. Resist the urge to tightly pack your schedule. Practice gentle and slow paced forms of exercise such as yoga, qigong and tai chi.

8. Reduce your time with energy vampires.

This includes people and technology. Identify people who drain your energy and distance yourself from them. Have one “unplugged” day every week with no television, phone, video games or internet. Reduce the amount of time you spend texting, emailing, working, updating your Facebook status message, and tweeting.

Happy healing!

My All-Time Favorite Tip For Dealing With Stress

As a Reiki practitioner and teacher, hypnotist, and reflexologist, I sometimes feel like I should have my stress levels under control by now. In fact, I’ve made huge strides in this department over the years, but recently came to some realizations about room for improvement, and wanted share my all-time favorite tip.

Here are three of those realizations:

Your body doesn’t differentiate between big stresses and little ones.

You think it would, right? When we’re stressed, our bodies are ramped up in sympathetic nervous system mode (fight-or-flight) and we respond the same whether it’s the overwhelm of an inbox full of emails that need responses asap, a huge deadline, or a hungry tiger.

The body is not hardwired to differentiate among stressors—all it knows is that it needs to react, fast.

Ideally, our body is supposed to shift out of this sympathetic mode to the parasympathetic nervous system (otherwise known as rest- and-digest mode) once the crisis is over. A body that's highly stressed forgets how to do this on its own. Which leads me to my second realization…

One stress management technique that doesn’t work: Bingeing and purging. (And no, I’m not talking about eating!)

What do I mean by bingeing and purging with stress? In other words: it’s when we stress out all day and then try to recover and make up for it at the end of the day or on the weekends by taking a yoga class, going to the gym, or getting a Reiki session or a massage, etc. OK, hold on, I’m not saying throw out your yoga mats and stop getting bodywork! These things work in conjunction with the solution I propose below.

One stress management technique that does work: Interrupt stress. Constantly.

I’ve built my wellness practice around this core principle because I believe so strongly in it. The best way to reduce stress is to find ways to interrupt it throughout the day so it doesn’t accumulate.

A good metaphor: think of stress filling a bucket throughout the day—maybe with a few drops for smaller stresses (e.g. missing the train, getting cut off in traffic) and more drops for bigger stresses (e.g. a fight with a partner or friend, a chronic illness). If you don’t empty the bucket, it overflows. Interrupting stress throughout the day is a good way to empty that bucket.

How do you interrupt stress? Personalize this for you. What stress-relief techniques do you already know that take less than a minute to do?

I love showing people self-hypnosis techniques that take less than a minute. I’m a huge fan of EFT (Emotional Freedom Technique) and teach this to almost every client I see. (And yes, I have done it walking down the street!) Another favorite is the Heart Breathing Technique.

When you do the Heart Breathing Technique your heart and brain synchronize and get in balance. It only takes a minute, and creates positive changes in your heart rhythms, sending powerful signals to the brain that can improve how you’re feeling. It's a great technique to use when you're feeling stressed.

Try This

Here's a simplified version you can do on your own:

Drop your awareness down to your heart. Imagine the breath passing in and out of the heart. Think of someone or some place you love and imagine breathing this love into your heart. You'll notice a shift as you do this.

http://www.mindbodygreen.com/0-8940/my-all-time-favorite-tip-for-dealing-with-stress.html

" Next time you're stressed, take a step back, inhale and laugh. Remember who you are and why you're here. Be strong, love yourself and love others. "

Deep breathing

http://psychservices.ucsd.edu/Downloads/iRelax/5Words.mp3