Spirituality and stress relief

Spirituality is a vital component of life for many of the students we meet with at Stress Management and Biofeedback Services. Spirituality may help us gain a sense of purpose and lessen unimportant distractions. It can help us feel more connected to others which can increase our sense of inner peace. Spirituality can come in many forms, including prayer, meditation, worship services, and making connections with other people. Some people may find it helpful to talk to their spiritual leader or keep a journal. Spirituality is also nurtured when you develop and build relationships with others. Increasing your spirituality in this way can help you to help decrease your perceived stress and increase your positive physical and psychological responses to stress. Ask yourself today "What can I do to increase my spirituality?"

Laughter

Laughter can be a natural stress reliever. Laughter can increase your positive endorphins, stimulate circulation, improve your immune system, and relieve pain (information taken from the Mayo Clinic website). To get you started laughing, check out this YouTube video. If you like that, there is more here. Laughter is a quick and easy way to relax when you only have a few minutes.

Practicing Relaxation

Relaxation is like learning a sport or a musical instrument. At first, relaxation will be difficult. It may feel unnatural or uncomfortable as you learn how to relax, just like it may feel unnatural as you learn how to hold a bat or play a song. However, practicing is the only way we can improve our skills, whether we're playing baseball or learning to relax. As we practice, we become better at relaxation and it comes more naturally to us. There will be times when we still struggle to relax, but if we see those times as cues to practice relaxation, we can improve our skills in relaxation. The Stress Management and Biofeedback Services allows you to be coached by someone familiar with relaxation, but practicing on your own is essential to becoming a professional. Practice leads to better, more fulfilling relaxation.

Breathing, part 2

There are many helpful resources to assist you in finding a comfortable breathing rate for you. There are apps you can download for the iPhone or the Droid. You can use a clock to time your breathing, or you can pay attention to your heartbeat as you breathe, and count the number of heartbeats it takes you to breathe in and out comfortably. Another resource is called the EZ-Air breath pacer. The EZ-Air is a breath pacer that can help you time your breathing for deeper relaxation. It is free for 30 days, and if you like it, you can purchase it. If you do not want to purchase it, you can just delete it from your computer. (Click here to find the EZ-Air breath pacer.) Practicing daily with a breath pacer can help your body find autonomic balance between your sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems, and can help you feel more relaxed.

Breathing

Stress can cause us to breathe more shallowly and can lead to anxiety attacks, muscular tension, headache, and fatigue. Most people are not aware they are breathing shallowly or that they are breathing from their chest instead of deeply from their diaphragms. Deep, diaphragmatic breathing is the easiest way to produce the relaxation response.

Try lying on the floor, placing one hand on your chest and the other hand on your stomach. When you breathe in, notice whether your abdomen expands. If your belly doesn't move, or moves less than your chest, you are breathing from your chest. To learn how to change from chest to stomach breathing, exhale fully one or two times. This will create a vacuum that will pull in a deep, diaphragmatic breath. Also, you can push your stomach out as you are breathing in. Breathing deeply is a skill that you can use to help you relax wherever you are.

One last thing you can do is use a clock with a second hand to help you time your breaths. On the odd numbers, breathe out, and on the even numbers, breathe in. This will have you breathing 6 breaths per minute, which is a comfortable pace for many (but not all) people. Experiment with this to find your most comfortable breaths per minute.

Meditation

Yesterday is gone. Tomorrow has not yet come. We have only today. Let us begin. - Mother Teresa

When we are under stress, our focus is usually not in the present. We think about mistakes we have made in the past or what is going to happen in the future. Time spent in the past or future robs us of experiences we can have in the moment. Mindfulness or meditation is a skill that we can use to focus our attention on the present moment. Meditation can also help us notice what is happening both inside our minds and our bodies without judging or fixating on it. Meditation can slow down our breathing or heart rates and can be helpful for anxiety, depression, high blood pressure, or migraine headaches. For more information, check out the biofeedback lab website or schedule an appointment to come into the lab to practice meditation.

Stress & Thoughts

The greatest weapon against stress is our ability to choose one thought over another. -William James

When we have worry, we focus our energy and attention on one thought or a series of thoughts. With that laser-like focus, we exclude all other thoughts or solutions to what we are worried about. It is impossible for us to think of more than one thing at a time. Try it. Think about the Statue of Liberty. Picture her in your mind for a minute. Now, while thinking of the Statue of Liberty, think about what is stressful to you. Could you do it? It is not possible for us to think about two things at the same time.

How does this apply to stress? When we think about stressful things, we do not have room to think about or practice relaxation. When we think about and practice relaxation, we cannot think about our stress at the same time. Listening to the recordings on our website or coming in to do a relaxation recording can help you focus your thoughts elsewhere and can help you relax.