Become a Stress Slayer

By Jeane Cole

Story  Selected for Sponsorship

Stress is known to cause more than 95% of all chronic health conditions. It increases cortisol, which creates a lot of havoc in the body. Some people think you have to be all hyped up or wired to feel stress, but in reality, stress is anything that throws you out of balance.

Balance in the body is called homeostasis and your body will work until its dying breath to create this balance. More than 1,400 chemicals and hormones work to signal every cell in your body to try to create the balance. Stress can be caused by anything we ingest such as food, drink, medications, recreational drugs, alcohol, and tobacco. Things we inhale, including environmental toxins, pollens, and aromas and things we apply to our skin also cause stress, but the biggest trigger of stress is our emotions. Worry, anxiety, fear, resentment, anger, hate, rage, intolerance, feeling like a victim, hopelessness, depression, and even boredom are huge contributors to the release of stress hormones in the body.

Trillions of little happy faces

Recall a person, place, or event in your life that brings a smile to your face and sends little happy faces to every cell in your body, all one-million trillion of them. Recall something that makes you feel happiness, peace, love, or joy. You will use this recalled event in the process, so you already know what you are looking for.

Close your eyes, place your hand over your heart, and take a breath in through your nose, see it filling your lungs and your heart. When you breathe out, see it come straight out from your heart. Stay focused on this heart breathing. Now recall the happy event. Bring in the entire feeling of the experience. For example if you are at the beach, hear the sounds of the waves, smell the salt air, feel the warm breeze on your skin. Embody the event as if you are right there in it. Now hold on to it, reliving the feeling of happiness. If your mind starts to wander, bring your attention back to the heart breathing. Sit with this for five minutes and do it several times in a day. Feel calmer immediately.

Once you train your mind to do heart-focused breathing, you can be in a stressful event and all you need to do is put your hand over your heart and take a heart-focused breath. Immediately you feel calmer and reduce the cortisol, restoring your state of balance. Feeling happy helps you see and respond to the situation differently, killing the effects of stress in less than a minute. Each time you slay the stress, you create resilience and find better ways to maintain balance.