5 Quick Tips to Help Calm Stress and Anxiety

​So, there you are, realizing that all of a sudden you are feeling overwhelmed, stressed, or even anxious. You want to do something about it, but feel trapped within your own skin.
When you feel as if there is no way out, what can you do?
 
Here are 5 quick tips that you can work on, to help you recover from these times of stress, tension, and anxiety, so you can get on with your life.
Since we are all different, the idea is to find which method works best for you. Allow yourself to take these methods on, at home, and into your daily life, to help change the way your mind looks at how you deal with stress and anxiety.
​
1.     BREATHE
​I know we all hear this stated a lot, “just breathe”, but using the correct method can enhance your calm, and in a shorter period of time. This is my favorite method to use when I am feeling the need to calm my body down quickly.
   
​ -    Stand with your feet about hip width apart with your eyes closed, to internalize and block out potential distractions. (Unless you have a need to keep your eyes open.)

---

​-    Take a nice, long deep breath as you inhale your arms up over your head, reaching for the ceiling.
You want to expand your lungs as much as you can here.
​The more oxygen into your body, the more you can release.

-    Place your palms together and SLOWLY exhale your arms down to heart center. The slower the better, for whenever you exhale longer than the inhale, you kick in the parasympathetic nervous system that is responsible for relaxing the body.
-    Repeat this move about five times, very slowly, and notice with every exhale that your body becomes more and more relaxed. Relax your shoulders, and feel the body as it starts to let go.
​
There are many different ways you can “breathe”, and this is just one of them. I find this method to be most helpful for me, as for many of my students. The best time to practice this move is when you are NOT in a stressed out state. Why? So your body can get used to how you are SUPPOSED to feel, and really tap into how you can relax yourself. This way, when you ARE tense and anxious, the body will recognize the feeling you are trying to accomplish. The more you practice this in a relaxed state, the easier the brain will understand the feeling you are looking for. 
 
2.  SHAKE OUT YOUR HANDS / BREATHE
There are times that I may feel additional energy within my body, so, to add to the above, and if you are one of those people who need to “get the energy out”, you may want to try this.
​-    Stand, as above, with the feet about hip width apart and with your eyes opened or closed. (Closed allows you to internalize more.)
-    Take a nice long inhale, but instead of just inhaling the arms over your head, allow your body to shake your hands out as you lift them up over your head, towards the ceiling.
-    Then place the palms together, and slowly exhale, longer then the inhale, till hands are at heart center.
-    Repeat this a few times, and then maybe morph into just raising your arms over your head, without the shaking, as your body feels the relaxation wave through you.
 
 3.   FOCUS
If you are one of those people who, once stress and anxiety start to build, experience an influx of thoughts, you may want to use focusing as a tool. Here are a couple of examples to try. It has been proven that when you focus in on one thing and one thing alone, your mind can’t allow any further thoughts in!

• Counting.. it really doesn’t matter what you count up to, but just be sure to say the numbers out loud and very slowly. By talking out loud, you can alleviate more thoughts coming in. It may be helpful to close your eyes and picture each number in your head, to further support this. Be sure to breathe nice and slowly, to be sure you are getting ample oxygen into the body.
• Listen to soothing music… There is nothing more soothing to the mind than some soft instrumental music to focus on. Keeping the music readily available on your phone, is a great way to quickly find the tunes you are looking for, when you start to feel stressed. Find a nice, quiet place and just focus in on the music, and how it makes you feel as you slowly breathe in. As you exhale, lengthen out that exhale longer than the inhale, to tap into the relaxation receptors in your nervous system.
• Singing / play an instrument… When we sing and /or play an instrument, we are not only focusing in on what we need to do, but we are breathing, which is very important. If you have access to your instrument, or you are in a place you can belt out a good POSITIVE, FEEL GOOD song, (nothing depressing), this may be helpful for you.
• Balancing... I use balancing poses in my classes as a wonderful way to explain how focus can work for you. When we are balancing on one leg, the brain NEEDS to focus on the task at hand, otherwise the body may fall over. You will notice that when you are balancing, no additional thoughts can come in, basically because the brain can't "create thoughts" while concentrating so intently at the same time. I use low tree pose with my students against a wall or holding onto a chair for support. 

Focusing brings us directly into the present moment and directs our attention on something...right now. It keeps our mind busy with something to do, so we don’t have time to think about anything else. As I stated earlier, when the mind is completely focused on one thing, and one thing alone, additional thoughts won’t have the opportunity to come through.

​ 4.   LAUGHTER
Now, laughter may seem like a ridiculous idea when you are feeling stress and anxiety, and the LAST thing you want to do. BUT, the benefits outweigh the idea. Smiling and laughing allows for endorphins to be released, which counter anxiety and stress. The more you laugh, the less stressed you can be. The body also can’t process being negative and positive at the same time, so if you have a tool to switch the body into a positive state, this may be helpful.

• Sitcoms or funny movies- It has helped me to put on funny sitcoms or movies that always make me laugh, no matter how often I see them. I have them at the ready, on my TV, so when I start to allow my thoughts or stress to take over, I can simply put a show on, and lose myself into a funny moment. Sometimes, you need to break the silence in the room, since it’s sometimes in the silence that additional thoughts may come in.
• Laughter Yoga- Simply put, start to laugh…about nothing! Fake it till you make it! Yes, you heard me. You see, the body doesn’t know the difference between a fake laugh and a real laugh, and will STILL reap the benefits. So as you start to feel stressed or anxious, you can either go to the mirror and start to laugh at yourself, or find someone in the house to laugh WITH! It sounds ridiculous, at first, I know, BUT when the laugh starts to turn real, you will see what I mean. You never really need an outside stimulus to laugh. At the very least, smile. Then combine this with the breathing method at the top of the page, and notice how you may feel.

 
 5.  MOVEMENT..
​Sometimes we have trapped energy inside the body that just may need to move about to get released. In these cases, it may be helpful to:

• Go for a walk or run. Walking / running can be a great way to alleviate some of the pent up energy you may be holding onto. Playing music while you walk/run, is a great way to focus your attention on something, which keeps additional thoughts at bay.

 

• Movement with breath. Breathing as you move your body, is a GREAT way to tap into that mind/body connection to help you relax your body. This is why yoga can be so wonderful for helping to relieve stress. 

​Cat/cow pose, in particular, is a great example of moving the body with the breath: 

---

​- Get on your hands and knees, and as you inhale drop your belly down towards to floor while you raise the head up.

​-As you exhale, push away the floor while bringing the belly in towards the spine, rounding out the back. Continue this movement as long as you need, being sure to follow your own breath, and taking your time.

As you inhale nice and slow, you move your body nice and slow. As you exhale, extend the time of the exhale longer than the inhale while you move very slowly. You should start to feel the joy of the movement of your body, as you start to relax. 
Remember that with all these methods above, it is REALLY important to practice them. You can’t expect your body to just leap into relaxation, when it’s not trained to do so. Try each of these, on their own, and notice which methods work best for you. Only YOU know your own body, so honor it, and listen to it.
 
Since these methods take only seconds to minutes, you can practice them many times throughout the day. Be sure to never rush through them. Find a quiet space and give your body that time to really FEEL the relaxation come over your body. Relax the shoulders and FEEL them drop down your back as you exhale. Remember, the more you practice this, the more your body will tap into the understanding of “how” to relax. You will then have ability to help calm your mind and body as you need to. These are great tools to start you on the process of learning how to relax the body and mind.

With peace, love, and calm... XO