Bankers often say things like: “it’s all about managing risk, not avoiding risk.”
In the grand scheme of things, at Marco’s Grounds, we think life is not about avoiding stress. It’s about managing it.
“Be Careful When a Naked Person Offers You a Shirt.”
―African Saying
7 Instant Stress Relievers
“If you want to conquer the anxiety of life, live in the moment, live in the breathe.”
―Amit Ray
Do a Body Check
Some people might call this a body-scan, but it sounds a bit more formal than it needs to be. It’s a good instant stress reliever because you don’t need equipment and can do it almost anywhere. This consists of systematically “scanning” the body for tension, from head to toes. Those who meditate know this exercise very well. Go from head to neck and shoulders, out through your arms to your fingertips, down your back and chest, and down each leg through the toes. Look for tight spots, simply noticing and acknowledging the tension as you go. It brings an instant lightness.
Read Fiction
If you’re reading personal development or a biography, you might get overly inspired or excited to jot down ideas and take action. That has its place, but if you’re stressed, fiction takes you to another place and puts you in a character’s shoes for a while. It has a different effect. There’s something about reading adventures of people fighting zombies or dragons that puts stressful emails back into perspective.
Throw Around Some Weight
If you’re feeling tense, nothing works better than grabbing some heavy kettlebells or loading up a bar to dish out a set or two of movements that target large muscle groups, like deadlifts or kettlebell swings. These days, especially if you’re working from home, having a kettlebell around or even some resistance bands will go a long way. Interestingly enough, nowadays, we’re less likely to do an entire weight training routine and more likely to do our resistance training in small, micro workout-style spurts.
Breathing Exercises
Breathing is this thing we all do, yet very few realize the profound benefits controlled breathing has on the body. It might be the king of all instant stress relievers. You can find some good breathing exercises on YouTube. One easy one is breathing in for a count of 5 seconds, holding for 5, breathing out for 5, holding again for 5, and repeating the cycle, all through your nose. This is what is commonly referred to as “box-breathing.”Take the Dog Outside
Hugs
Hugging releases oxytocin, which is a natural calming hormone. If you live alone and are distancing, we heard calling someone to tell them that you care about them has a similar effect.
Adaptogens
After the year we’ve had, it’s natural that our stress responses are quicker on the trigger than they used to be. Adaptogens act on your physiological stress hormones and pathways to support a healthy stress response and keep your anxious feelings from going full-throttle.
Maximum Mind contains two high purity, full-strength adaptogens, namely bacopa and ashwagandha. You can also purchase them as stand-alone.
Go Easy on the Coffee
At a minimum, check-in with yourself a few times a day to see if you have that tense feeling in the background. Lowering your baseline levels of stress will do wonders for your quality of life.
