You might think that stress is a monster inside you that feeds on every little mistake, anxiety, inconvenience, and frustration.
It’s easy to imagine stress as the enemy, coloring every experience with negative judgments and heavy emotions.
We’re told we can eliminate stress by using stress relief tips like more exercise, better diet, mindfulness practices, less screen time, etc. But even when we properly execute those tactics, we may still feel overwhelmed — and our little stress monster is still there.
Body & Brain Yoga and Tai Chi would like to open up the conversation around stress and stress relief tips and tactics. By assuming a new perspective on how and why we experience stress, we can better understand how to utilize stress relief techniques effectively.
Many stress relief tips are overly general and watered down. Perhaps you understand that X, Y, and Z could help relieve stress, but when you try them, nothing seems to change.
Searching for an effective stress relief technique when you’re already stressed out can be frustrating and can leave you feeling more overwhelmed than before.
In this condition, you may want to give up and let that ball of stress take over.
Taming your stress isn’t about finding a technique that instantly makes you feel good. It’s about finding a practice that helps increase your awareness of when you’re getting stressed and gives you the power to manage what you’re focused on.
At Body & Brain Yoga and Tai Chi, we help individuals understand the mind-body connection. The mind-body connection is a two-way relationship where the body influences the mind, and the mind influences the body.
Through learning mindfulness, various stress relief techniques, and how to promote a lifestyle that enhances the mind-body connection, we can help you change your relationship to stress. Learn more here.
Evolutionarily, stress is a good thing. It helps us avoid danger and harmful situations of threats.
Without even thinking about it, when we’re in a dangerous or risky situation, our body has a way of telling us something is wrong.
Physical stress can tell us a lot about what is happening at a subconscious level. So often, however, we focus on what the conscious mind is doing. If we think that everything should be ok, then we may ignore what the body is telling us - that something is not ok.
Whether it’s something we ate or how we feel after talking to certain people, the body (or subconscious mind) may be reaching out to the mind to say, “I don’t like that.”
So, remember to listen to your body, and use its responses to gauge what you may want to avoid to reduce stress.
The little stress monster inside us loves to feed on counter-productive physical, mental, and emotional habits and routines.
Do you tend to procrastinate while getting ready, only to realize at that last moment that you don’t know where your keys are, resulting in the added stress of being late? Or maybe you don’t know how to say no at work or with friends and family, and your potentially peaceful Saturdays are consistently overflowing with errands and favors.
Your stress monster loves it when you live like this.
But you don’t have to provide so much energy to your stress. By being more intentional with your daily habits, you can starve your stress monster.
Create a morning routine that gives you enough time to get where you’re going on time (and designate a specific place so you aren’t always looking for your keys at the last minute). Learn to respect your need for time to recharge and say no sometimes. You deserve a nice Saturday to unwind and relax every once in a while.
Make time to fit in things that bring your peace and implement some regular stress relief techniques to keep your stress under control.
Stress can be caused by many things: what you eat, how you move, who you talk to, what you do or don’t do, etc.
You may be unable to avoid everything that feeds your stress, but you can lessen the effects of the stress triggers you do face by implementing practices that counteract them.
Stress tends to accumulate in our bodies during the day. Instead of sitting down to watch TV at the end of the day, try one stress relief technique, like a mindfulness practice or exercise, before you focus on something else. Taking the time to get in touch with your body, focus on positive messages, or do something specifically to raise your mood, can be much more effective than simply “zoning out” at the end of the day.
Despite what that overachieving friend or social media influencers may tell you, we all have a limit to our willpower each day. Some days the amount of willpower in our storehouse is less than others.
Dragging yourself to the finish line and exceeding your willpower threshold may occasionally be necessary - when you’re trying to meet a deadline or accomplish something new - but doing it too often can also discourage you from creating and sticking with healthier habits.
Making positive changes in your life is hard enough, but it’s even harder if you feel burned out. Be aware of and operate within your willpower threshold so that you don’t overwhelm yourself.
For example, you may have a routine where you practice breathwork once a day after work. Sometimes, when the work day ends, you may find that you don’t have the energy for your practice. But instead of skipping the breathwork entirely, make a compromise.
Maybe you can cut your regular practice time in half, or perhaps you try another mindfulness practice, such as yoga, tai chi, or journaling, in its place.
It’s not the end of the world if you make concessions regarding your mindfulness routines and practices, as long as you continue to try.
It may not be feasible to entirely reorient your life overnight just to manage your stress.
Change happens through baby steps. Making huge leaps to create a new lifestyle may be exciting at first, but ultimately, it can be hard to sustain a dramatically different routine.
By setting some core practice intentions that you will not compromise, you can begin to make small changes towards a healthier, less-stressed version of you.
Try setting a goal to complete one stress relief technique a day. Whether this is journaling, yoga, mindfulness, or tai chi, give yourself a clear deadline (like 10 pm) and a set of criteria to know whether you’ve achieved it or not.
Sticking to this one stress management intention can help you build resilience and discipline to make other life changes.
You can use these stress relief techniques to supplement the above-mentioned Body & Brain Yoga Tai Chi stress reduction tips. If you have any questions about these practices or classes, feel free to contact one of our experts today.
Journaling is a good practice for individuals who feel stress greatly impacts their emotions.
By addressing your stressors and fears in writing, you may be able to better start your day with positive intentions and willingness to meet challenges. Mindfulness journaling may also be helpful when performed in the middle of the day to disrupt negative thought patterns or at the end of the day to examine possible stress triggers.
Studies show that journaling may help reduce mental distress, promote well-being, and relieve symptoms of anxiety.
One physiological response to stress is rapid and shallow breathing, which may also result in a faster heart rate and higher blood pressure.
Breathwork as a stress relief technique may help calm the physical effects of stress while helping us recenter our mind, body, and spirit.
Researchers suggest that breathwork is a promising therapeutic technique that may shape the natural way we respond to stress. Breathwork may also be incorporated into a more extensive mindfulness routine to help strengthen its effects as a stress relief technique.
Are you having trouble finding a breathwork technique that you can easily perform and commit to? Talk to the experts at Body & Brain Yoga and Tai Chi.
We can work with you to find a breathwork practice you can easily perform and commit to when stressed or as a part of your daily routine.
Not only is yoga an excellent form of exercise and stretching, but it is also one of the best stress relief techniques around.
Yoga can be performed in the morning to promote balance and well-being for the rest of the day or at night to reconnect and relax before bed. Research shows that yoga may be an excellent therapeutic practice for stress relief and overall well-being.
Body & Brain Yoga and Tai Chi specializes in a variety of mind-body practices, including a unique form of yoga. Through our online or in-person classes, our yoga instructors can help you develop your strength, flexibility, breathing, and energy.
Tai Chi and Qigong practices are favorite stress relief techniques at Body & Brain Yoga and Tai Chi.
Studies suggest Tai Chi (energy balancing) and Qigong (the study of life energy) may be effective mood regulators that help reduce the mental and physical symptoms of anxiety, stress, and depression.
By utilizing a form of healing martial arts known as DahnMuDo (a blend of Tai Chi and Qigong), you can increase your flow of Qi (vital energy) to flush out negative energy and stress. Our Tai Chi and Qigong instructors can help you utilize energy circulation techniques, breathing and balance to mindfully tame your stress while promoting mental clarity and inner peace.
Meditation is an effective, portable, and accessible stress relief technique that may be performed anywhere at any time.
One of the biggest benefits of meditation as a mindfulness practice is that it may help the body and mind dial down their reactions to stress.
Research confirms that meditation and mindfulness are effective ways to tame your stress and create healthier patterns for stress management. By practicing meditation at least once a day for ten minutes, you may feel better, think clearer, and respond to your stress more resiliently.
Are you having trouble clearing your mind to meditate? Have you tried meditating many times to no avail? Don’t give up!
Mindfulness is a practice, and like most things, it may take time, repetition, and guidance. Our Body & Brain Yoga Tai Chi instructors can help you develop the mindfulness skills to effectively use meditation as a stress relief technique.
Stress relief techniques are more than just tools to give us a few moments of reprieve before the next stress episode comes along. They’re meant to be used with consistency and practice.
You won’t master your stress by lunging into a downward dog position each time you negatively react to something or have a less-than-positive interaction with another person.
Stress relief is a practice you must build into your lifestyle. Our stress response is like a little creature that lives inside all of us, and it’s not going to just go away. We must learn to understand and tame our stress to relieve its impact on our lives.
Body & Brain Yoga and Tai Chi can help you strengthen your mindfulness and stress relief techniques and create a routine that promotes wellness and balance.
We keep our classes small so that we may tailor them to each participant's specific needs. Our guidance extends beyond just classes. We also offer many workshops and retreats, including these two:
Body & Brain Yoga and Tai Chi invites you to begin your journey toward wellness, health, and stress management. Schedule your introductory class today.