3 Relaxation Techniques that Zap Stress: Reducing Stress is Key to a healthy happy productive life. This is your chance as a new year approaches to make a promise to yourself.

Have ever you asked someone how they are doing and gotten the response that they are “busy” or even more perplexing, they are “crazy busy”? It can sound like overwhelm and stress and yet the more “Busy” we are the more “Busy” almost becomes a badge of honor we wear to seem important regardless how the underlying tone is that the person saying they are “crazy” busy” is overwhelmed and feeling anxious because of all that they still have luring over them and their to do list.
Sound familiar?

Over one-third of Americans, experience extreme stress

You are at the extreme stress level when you are riding consistently at the 8-10 range, on a scale of 1-10, more regularly than you may care to admit.

You can take reduce stress and control of your “Busy” and your stress levels by understanding that:

Stress Is a Choice

Yes, there are those moments where you need and want to react with an adrenaline surge, however, the everyday stress that occurs is nothing more than a mental mind game. You have the ability to choose how you react to your “Busy” level and the stress that occurs in day-to-day life. The ball is in your court.

The very familiar quote that “10% of Life is What Happens to You and 90% is how you react.”

You can control your reactions. I know it is hard, but so is the 80% of illness that is derived from stress.

The key is to use stress management tools that will help you relax and keep the effects of stress at bay. In my training programs, I teach relaxation techniques that calm the mind and body.

The best relaxation technique for you may vary and particularly if you have gotten so used to your body being tense that you are no longer aware of the feeling until you throw out your back or have a crick in your neck that significantly limits mobility. When you feel pain, the stress is acute.

When was the last time you thought about

what was going on in your body?

If it’s been a while.. or longer than a while, reconnecting with your physical self will bring awareness of the level of tension you are experiencing. To gain the awareness, practicing Progressive Relaxation Technique will help you recognize when you relaxed or tensing.

Progressive Relaxation Technique

Progressive Relaxation Technique is a simple exercise of conscious tightening and relaxing of different muscle groups. It’s best done lying down, however you can practice it anywhere by becoming aware of the tension in your body. Scan your body to determine where there is tightness or pain. Tighten different parts of your body and hold for a few seconds and then release. Take a few moments to be aware of the relaxed state that group of muscles are in. Move to a different area of your body and repeat.

Deep Breathing:

Deep breathing is one of the single most effective relaxation techniques for stress. There are plenty of different methods of deep breathing. The key is to make sure that you are breathing fully into the bottom of your lungs so that your belly, not your chest is rising. In general, most us breath shallowly and we are not oxygenating our brains enough. Breathing deeply into our lungs will re-oxygenate our brains, calm nerves and reduce muscle tension in as little as 2 minutes. You will know that your brain has been re-oxygenated if you feel dizzy.

Visualization

One of my most favorite relaxation techniques is visualization. It is natural for people to spend more time thinking about what we don’t have, haven’t succeeded at, or what isn’t going right. That focus attracts more lack and more stress!

Sitting quietly for few minutes and focus on all that you do have and that which you want to bring into your life. Allow yourself to feel joy at what you desire. Anything can be possible when you are visualizing what you want. There are no limits.

As one of many stress relaxation techniques, visualization helps quiet the mind and physically relax the body. If focusing on any one thing for several minutes feels like a challenge, there are plenty of guided visualization available. You can choose something that is for relaxation only (think lying on a beach or being in the mountains) or if you want to visualize more success or abundance, visualization techniques are available for those as well.

Having a toolbox filled with relaxation techniques to assist you in taking control of your stress level and your “Crazy Busy” level makes being conscious of how you react far easier. These are relaxation techniques for anxiety as well as any other form of stress.

Use what works for you most effectively. The outcome may be what used to stress you out no longer affects you because you have made a different choice.