3 Easy Ways to Reduce Stress

Stress, America's #1 health problem, is a leading cause of major illness. In fact, heart disease, high blood pressure, and depression are just some of the harmful effects of stress. Research has shown that releasing stress and learning how to relax promotes a healthier, happier, and more fulfilling life.

Here are 3 easy ways to reduce your stress fast.

1. Breathe Deeply

Take 3 slow deep breaths. Taking the breath from your diaphragm, through your nose, holding for about 2 seconds and then slowly exhaling through your mouth. Why slow deep breaths? Because when we are under stress, we tense up, constricting the oxygen to our body. Taking slow deep breaths brings oxygen throughout our body resulting in feeling centered and releasing stress. Giving your body much needed oxygen will release tension and stress fast.

2. Meditate

The purpose of meditation is to relax and to release stress. Meditation allows the body to relax and permits a means to release the "chatter" in your mind. It is important for you to know that there is no right or wrong way to meditate. Meditation is simply a form of concentration and focus; it is a process that quiets the mind. Since much of our negative stress is caused by our own thoughts, this is an especially useful method.

Here are steps for a popular, quick, and easy guided mediation:

1. Get into a comfortable position and close your eyes.

2. Take 3 deep breaths.

3. Visualize all the stress in your mind and body as a cloud of gray smoke. Allow this cloud to be released through the crown of your head. Imagine the gray cloud floating into the sky and disappearing. Feel the weight of the stress being releasing out of your body and into the cloud. Allow your shoulders to drop and continue until you have no more gray smoke or for about 10 minutes.

4. Imagine a healing white light that has surrounded your body. Feel the warmth of this light and allow it to infiltrate your body. Slowly open your eyes.

3. Try Hypnosis

This technique involves sitting comfortably with your eyes closed while listening to suggestions. Hypnosis is relaxation, focus, and suggestion. Using these three elements your mind and body will enter into a deeply relaxed state that gives you an overall sense of well being and tranquility. Hypnosis is one of the oldest and most natural modes of healing dating back to 1000 B.C. . In 1958 the American Medical Association approved the therapeutic use of hypnosis. This brought mainstream recognition that hypnotherapy was a valid and legitimate form of healing. During this time hypnotherapy was respected and accepted.

Meditation & Guided Imagery are techniques that use the natural power of the mind in creating what you want in life. Einstein estimated that we only use 10% of our brains. In practicing Meditation and Guided Imagery, we have access to the other 90%. Since thoughts are one of the most powerful possessions we can have, it is important to keep the thoughts and images positive. Meditation and Guided Imagery works because the Physical Universe is energy, this energy is vibrating at different speeds. Energy is magnetic causing similar thoughts to attract other similar thoughts. What we dwell on, we will attract. Thoughts and ideas are high vibrating forms of energy and are very powerful. Form then follows ideas. This is the reason that thoughts and ideas in Meditation and Guided Imagery particularly must be in a positive form.

Here are some steps to make Meditation and Hypnosis more effective.

1. Desire- You must have the desire to make a positive change in your life.

2. Belief- You must believe in the power of the mind.

3. Acceptance- You must accept the process of Meditation and Hypnotherapy including the results.

4. Set you goal- Decide on what you want and be committed to it.

5. Create a Clear Idea or Picture- Create the vision in your imagination and make it clear.

6. Focus on it often- Keep the images of your goal in your mind as often as possible.

7. Give it Positive Energy- Keep your frame of mind and thoughts positive.

8. Look For the Positive Changes- Look for the subtle ways Meditation and Hypnosis are changing your life, and believe in the magic of life!

Marla Sloane, Ph.D. is a successful author and speaker. Her Positive Affirmation subscribers have reached world-wide proportions and her book: "The Masks We Wear and How to Live Without Them" is at the heart of her teleclasses; From Ordinary to Extraordinary... Unmask Your Potential; teaching individuals to remove limiting masks and labels. Marla has also produced Trilogy of Meditations for your Mind, Body and Spirit, which is distributing nationwide and in Europe. Dr. Marla Says... is a very popular Internet advice column giving answers to her reader's questions.

Marla has an extensive background in psychology and clinical hypnotherapy. She has written numerous articles about releasing stress, how to find your authentic self, and the importance of living in your truth.

You can contact Marla at: Marla@marlasloane.com You can visit her web site at: http://www.marlasloane.com

Related Themes:

Related Websites

Sensor Technology - Pressure Transducer Basics
A pressure transducer is an electro mechanical device which is used to measure the pressure in an environment or process, and output an electrical signal as an analogue of the measured value.

Employers: Address Job-Related Stress in Your Workplace for Healthier Employees and Bigger Profits
I remember having one particular conversation with my grandparents about ten years ago. They were complaining that I had rarely traveled home to see them during the previous year. I told them about my new job at a large firm in New York and how it generally required seven days a week of work every week. The position initially demanded a few years of grueling work, then it would get better, I explained. Executives in the industry had followed this formula for generations. It was the period of Internet madness, however, and many of my peers were jumping ship to join start-up technology companies with the hopes of quick riches and office perks that included on-site massages and ping-pong tables (if still the long hours).

Learn The Different Types Of Stress
Stress occurs on a regular basis and there are many different types of stress out there as well. Even though you may not really understand stress, there is no doubt that you have actually experienced it at some point or another. Stress doesn't always have to be bad, but it can be negative in some cases, causing a variety of psychological and physiological symptoms. In order to find out what you can do to remove stress, you need to learn the various types of stress that are out there. This way you can see the different stress types that are affecting your life.

Blood Pressure Disease ý The Silent Killer
Blood Pressure Disease, often called the silent killer; it is very common for a person to suffer from high blood-pressure without even knowing it Blood pressure is actually the pressure of the blood against the walls of the arteries; and, is monitored by checking the pressure of the heart as it pumps blood to the rest of your body; and, the pressure between beats as the heart relaxes

Managing Stress And Fatigue - Articles That Help
Managing stress and fatigue seems to be an elusive dream for many. They know they have unmanaged stress, and they realize it is leading to ongoing fatigue, but they are at a loss as to what to do. They may not want to visit a professional for help, and are instead seeking Internet articles.

Could You Be A Workaholic?
If you need to put on boots and grab a lap-top computer to relieve yourself at night, you might be a redneck workaholic.It never crossed my mind that there could be such a thing as a redneck workaholic, until I read a column on "Are you a workaholic?""Did you read this?" I asked my wife.

Some Symptoms of Stress
Every symptom we have is related to stress. It is only when our mind and body does not overcome the amount of stress that we have several symptoms of stress.