How to Relieve Stress: Wave It Goodbye

Our world is stressful. Anyone disagree with that? So want to know how to relieve stress? It’s easy to find yourself tied up in knots over just about anything if you’re not careful. It takes a conscious decision to shield yourself from the chaos that surrounds us each and every day. I’d like to share a new “shield” I’ve been practicing so that you too can give it a try if it sounds like a good fit for you!

I recently learned about brain waves. Did you know we have 4 main types of brainwaves? Our conscious, waking, doing, state is primarily made up of Beta waves. That feeling of extreme drowsiness, when you can’t seem to keep your eyes open is when most of our Alpha waves are created. Then once we’re asleep and we’re dreaming, we’re creating a lot of Theta waves. And finally, deep sleep is comprised mostly of Delta waves.

When we’re creating mostly Beta we’re up, moving, go, go, go! We hear people tell us all the time, “You just need to relax! Slow down!” That’s easy for them to say. Their “to do” list doesn’t look anything like yours. But what about when you feel like you’re on overload?!

That’s when we tend to snap at loved ones, have a bad headache and in general just want to be left alone! Taking a nap may not be an option. Being alone for half an hour may be completely unrealistic! So what’s your option? Here’s how to relieve stress: make more Alpha waves!!!

You may be wondering, “How do I do that?” The answer is easy – close your eyes! The instant you close your eyes, your brain immediately starts creating more Alpha waves, calming down your entire system. And you don’t have to do this for a long time! Just closing your eyes and focusing on your breathing for 5-10 minutes will have a tremendous effect on the amount of stress you’re carrying around.

Now before you start screaming “5-10 minutes!! Who’s got that kind of time?!” C’mon! Let’s be real! You can get up and give yourself that much time! If you’re at work – go outside, go to your car or go to the bathroom to be by yourself. If you’re at home, find a room, shut the door and gift yourself that time.

Be honest, how many times do you wish you’d taken just a few minutes to calm down before you said or did that really hurtful thing you regret? Now you know WHAT to do.

1. Go somewhere you can be alone and set a timer for 5-10 minutes. Your cellphone’s got a timer on it – and we both know you carry it around everywhere with you, right?
2. Close your eyes.
3. Listen to peaceful music or just focus on deep breathing.
4. Don’t worry about your mind spinning around in crazy directions. Whatever thoughts come in, come in. Just stay focused on eyes closed and breathing.

Now that you know how to relieve stress – when are you going to take that 5-10 minute break? Please share any other stress relieving tricks you’ve found that work for you.