Five Secrets to Managing Stress

If busy lifestyles, hectic work schedules, and family demands leave you feeling anxious and stressed, following these five secrets to managing stress will result in a happier, healthier life.

Visualize yourself in a meadow in your mind's eye.

Learning to breathe deeply from the diaphragm is an important key to managing stress in your life. Most people are not aware of the way they breathe and rarely inhale and exhale completely. First, you must become aware of how you breathe and consciously learn deep breathing. With practice, this natural stress reliever becomes an automatic response to stressful situations.

• Consciously relax the muscles of your diaphragm.
• Inhale as deeply as possible through your nose. Feel your lungs filling from the bottom upward. Allow your chest and shoulders to move upward as your lungs fill completely. As you inhale, mentally count to six or seven slowly as you take in the air.
• Hold the breath to the mental count of two.
• Exhale slowly, letting yourself feel the stress and tension leaving your body. Mentally count to eight or ten making sure to completely release all of the air from your lungs.
• Repeat these steps for approximately five minutes.

Progressive muscle relaxation is a great way to reduce feelings of anxiety and stress. There are many benefits to learning this stress reduction technique including:

• A reduction in the physical effects that stress has on your body
• A chance for your mind to relax
• An overall sense of emotional well being

An effective technique used for relaxation and stress reduction, visual imagery uses the “mind’s eye” to control stressful feelings and situations. When stress builds, you close your eyes and go to a peaceful place using your mind.

Visualize your favorite beautiful relaxing place. It could be somewhere you have visited, a picture of a place you saw in a movie or magazine, or just the perfect place for you to get away. Perhaps it is a tranquil ocean beach, a grassy meadow with patches of beautiful wildflowers, or a snowy mountain peak. For example, if you visualize a meadow imagine you are walking barefoot in the grass. Feel the grass under your feet and the heat of the sun on your skin. Smell the fragrance of the flowers. Hear the melodic songs of the meadow birds. When you are ready to return from your mini mind vacation, you will feel relaxed and be stress free.

Exercise is an excellent way to reduce stress. It increases the body’s endorphins, giving you a feeling of happiness and well-being. It also decreases the amount of stress hormones your body produces. Regular participation in an activity you enjoy, such as engaging in a sport, taking a walk, or doing Pilates, helps lower your overall stress levels.

When you think of meditation, do you picture yourself in a yoga lotus position repeating a mantra? For many people that is a perfect meditation style. However, many others find it is not. Have you decided to give up on the thought of meditation because you think it is not for you? Often people do not realize there are many other types of mediation that are effective stress relievers. Using meditation as a stress management tool offers excellent results. As you meditate, your anxious mind and tense body begin to relax. Your mind calms and becomes centered and your muscles release the tension of the built up stress.

The following steps are a simple meditation technique.

• Sit or lay in a comfortable relaxed position.
• Focus on your breathing. It should be natural but deep enough to fill your lungs with oxygen.
• Empty your mind of your problems and everyday concerns. Simply stop thinking.
• Concentrate completely on one thing. It could be an image, a sound, or a word. It could even be a feeling or a concept. Focus all your attention and concentration on the one thing you have chosen. Do not allow any other thoughts to enter your mind. Stay focused until the feelings of stress have disappeared.

Although each of these stress reduction techniques works very well alone, they are very effective when used in combination with one another. For example, deep breathing and progressive muscle relaxation are a good combination. Another excellent combination is deep breathing and meditation. Once you learn these methods of managing stress, you will find the best and most effective method and combination of methods for you.

Stress is a normal and natural part of life. However, it can be very harmful both physically and emotionally to your body and your mind. Although you cannot keep stress out of your life, by following these five secrets to managing stress you can learn to control your reaction to it.

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