De-Stress Express

Who’s not stressed? All of us—no matter how yogic or meditative or all-round relaxed—get worked up sometimes. (Except maybe my always-smiling, always pretty happy friend Swami Maheshananda Saraswati—but he’s a Swami.) Stress is one of the most pressing and prevalent health concerns in today’s busy world. We’re all working to the max, putting in longer hours than ever before, raising families, staying fit, and trying to stay connected with friends and family. It’s a lot. 

1.       The effects of the fight or flight response, aka stress response, don't always go away once the stressor is gone. Stress hormones can continue to be released when thinking of the stressor; tensed muscles won't release; and digestion can remain inhibited. Plus, your body treats the stress as real, even if you're simply re-living or imagining it—i.e. even if it's just in your head.

2.       The parasympathetic nervous system (PNS) is here to help. The PNS governs actions opposite to the sympathetic nervous system—the "digest and rest" ones. It lowers breathing and heart rates, decreases blood pressure, and increases blood flow to the intestines and reproductive organs. In other words, it calms us down. We can help the PNS do its thing: Breathe deeply, exercise and do asana, eat a mindful, balanced diet, take digestive supplements (if your doc says it's okay), and do anything else that helps you calm down.

3.       Try keeping track of your stress in a journal. Write down what you were doing when you felt stressed; you’ll begin to see patterns, and, once you have, can begin to take preventative or reactive steps, according to your personal needs.

4.       Use your commute. Whether you’re on a bus, in your car, or on your bike, you can transform this time into a meditation by simply focusing on long, deep, breathing.

5.       Eckhart Tolle, Ram Das, and tons of other spiritual leaders, are right. Stay in the now. Don’t multi-task. Do one thing, talk to one person, and take on one job at a time.

6.       Remember that, as master yoga teacher Max Strom says, we can’t feel gratitude and stress at the same time. Try remembering to give thanks: For the good people in your life, for a great pair of shoes, for sunshine—for anything that you feel grateful for.

a source of stress-reduction, too. Soften your stomp to soften your entire body. We can alter our body’s state from the ground up.

7.       Walk mindfully. Your feet can be 

8.       You’ve got the power. Until we accept we are responsible for our own stress, our stress level will stay beyond our control. Take time to figure out how to take responsibility for your stress—and how to take your stress level down.