We all get stressed from time to time, and some times are worse than others. In this episode Shannon and Janine discuss some stress-relief techniques, as well as some ideas for keeping stress levels low.
Discussion topics include:
- Janine’s litany of things that are stressing her out right now
- Shannon’s husband’s recent surgery and its resulting stress
- How we know feel stress in our bodies
- Chronic vs acute stress
- The terrific talk on stress relief that Janine heard from Kathy Willis of Lewis and Clark Community College’s Workforce Education, Solutions & Safety Training program
- Kathy’s Stay or Go stress assessment tool
- The power of recognizing those things you can change and those you can’t
- The physiological changes in your body created by stress and relieved by breathing
- Kathy’s breathing-while-counting technique
- The importance of hydration, healthy eating and a good night’s sleep for relieving stress
- Another stress reliever: Moving your body
- Becoming aware of the stressors in your life and changing the way they affect you
- The value of talking or writing about the things that stress you
- Releasing yourself from perfectionism and being kind to yourself in order to lower your general stress levels
- How keeping your stress levels low makes it easier to handle acute stressors
- Recognizing that you do have a choice about things that stress you and letting that recognition relieve some of the stress
Links:
- Yoga with Adriene’s Meditation for Inner Peace
- Yoga with Adriene’s Yoga for Stress Relief; to see Knocking at Heaven’s Door in action, watch minutes 2:30 to 4:15 on this video
