Do you find yourself "stressed out" or anxious on certain days or at certain times? Of course you do. I can with all honesty admit that I'm a member of the same club ... although several of my friends have asked me what I have in my life to get stressed or anxious about. I'm retired, for gosh sake. I don't have any economic problems. I have a loving husband and a healthy marriage. We don't have any children (with or without issues), or living parents who still need care. So what is there in my life that causes anxiety?
Nothing much. But I'm perfectly capable of creating my own anxiety. It's just the way I am. I create lists of things that I want to accomplish, and then I get anxious if I don't get them done. I have an ache or pain that I've never had before, and I imagine all sorts of terrible things it might be a symptom of. I get to the airport long before I really need to because "you never know what might happen along the way." That's me, in a nutshell.
Three things that help me to relax and reduce my anxieties are exercise, yoga and meditation. Exercise helps because it works off the adrenaline that builds up when we get anxious -- it's that same natural "fight or flight" mechanism that we've all learned about. Our bodies are ready to do SOMETHING! ... so we need to work it off. Take a long walk, work in the garden, clean the house, go to the gym, whatever works.
Yoga and meditation help me to relax because they both help me focus on my breathing. Taking regular, deep breaths is an easy and almost foolproof way to quickly diffuse anxiety and stress. People who teach yoga and meditation will spend a fair amount of time teaching their students how to breathe properly. But I'm going to share a shortcut. In the January 2015 issue of Real Simple magazine, Margaret Townsend, a certified "breathwork practitioner" (who knew there was such a thing?), offers a simple exercise that we can all try when we get stressed. It worked for me.
Nothing much. But I'm perfectly capable of creating my own anxiety. It's just the way I am. I create lists of things that I want to accomplish, and then I get anxious if I don't get them done. I have an ache or pain that I've never had before, and I imagine all sorts of terrible things it might be a symptom of. I get to the airport long before I really need to because "you never know what might happen along the way." That's me, in a nutshell.
Three things that help me to relax and reduce my anxieties are exercise, yoga and meditation. Exercise helps because it works off the adrenaline that builds up when we get anxious -- it's that same natural "fight or flight" mechanism that we've all learned about. Our bodies are ready to do SOMETHING! ... so we need to work it off. Take a long walk, work in the garden, clean the house, go to the gym, whatever works.
Yoga and meditation help me to relax because they both help me focus on my breathing. Taking regular, deep breaths is an easy and almost foolproof way to quickly diffuse anxiety and stress. People who teach yoga and meditation will spend a fair amount of time teaching their students how to breathe properly. But I'm going to share a shortcut. In the January 2015 issue of Real Simple magazine, Margaret Townsend, a certified "breathwork practitioner" (who knew there was such a thing?), offers a simple exercise that we can all try when we get stressed. It worked for me.
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