6 Simple Ways to Reduce Stress on The Spot
Don’t feel bad about experiencing stress. Everyone does and it’s natural. However, not everyone is equipped with tools to handle it and tell it goodbye. In my years of working in the metaphysical and wellness world, I’ve collected some techniques to use anytime and anyplace and I use them like I use chapstick, they work!
When I studied meditation through books and classes, I realized that I had been bombarded by my thoughts my entire life and didn’t know that it was possible to notice what I was thinking and then choose something positive to think about.
In addition to some quick fixes listed below, here are some lifestyle shifts I wanted to leave you with today as well because habits are what will really lower your stress over time. Breathe slowly and move slowly throughout your day so you don’t make yourself frenetic.
Leave extra time to get places, don’t hang out with high-strung people, and don’t put too much on your plate. The way we react to situations is our superpower. If you take a moment to think about how you are going to react, you can choose to always make lemons out of lemonade.
Think and speak positively about others and treat your body like a sacred temple with what you put in it.
Here are some quick tips you can use when you need to calm down and chill out.
1. Start Saying A Mantra
This can be a mantra like ‘Unsung Wahe Guru,’ which cuts negativity or ‘Sat Nam,’ which means truth is my identity. These can be said out loud or mentally to affect your mind and body. These mantras are from ancient yogis that have passed them down after finding codes that are like area codes to call a higher vibration of thinking.
You can play a mantra in your office, car, and home to help calm your nerves too. White Sun (which I’ve been calling the new Enya) is my go-to as well as the deep resonant voice of Gurunam Singh.
You can also say an affirmation to shift your vibration to a positive mind frame.
My favorites that I’ve found very effective are:
- Amazing things are happening right now and good things are here.
- Today is the best day of my life.
- I trust that I am supported by the universe.
- I am so incredibly happy right now.
Keep saying it with enthusiasm, try writing it and if someone asks you how you’re doing, say that! Words are powerful tools of creative energy and creating a habit of thinking positively will make you a less stressed-out person.
2. Think of 12 Things You’re Grateful For
I’ve been using this one for years. By the time you come up with twelve things you’re grateful for and then try to remember those twelve things a second time, you’ll find you’ve completely forgotten about what you were stressing about. It doesn’t have to be something major either.
It can be a warm bed, a working car, the freedom to choose which job you want, or your favorite food. The little things that bring us joy can help alter our mood just thinking about them.
You can also focus on your higher self, your spirit guides, and angels as something to be grateful for.
3. Do One Minute Of Very Long Slow Deep Breathing
Your breath regulates your nervous system. Often when we are stressed we are barely breathing or breathing very shallow which makes our brain send an alert to the nervous system that something is wrong. Very simply increasing the oxygen content in our bloodstream will alert the brain that all is well.
Consciously breathing deeply throughout the day could very well help reduce long-term health conditions that could arise from stress. It gives you that hakuna matata vibe. In a more technical sense, there is also chi (life force) that comes into your body when you breathe.
That chi strengthens your nervous system and clears the negative vibrations from your aura. Most spiritual traditions that involve the mind-body connection use breath to alter consciousness.
4. Tell Someone You Love Them & Tell Them Why
Darwin has been widely misunderstood in his discourse ‘The Origin of Species.’ He said love and nurture much more than he said compete. He was actually showing that we are hardwired to nurture others. Today’s science has shown that our brain releases happy chemicals when we do nice things for others.
So an easy way to feel good is to genuinely think of someone you love and shoot them a message about why they are the bees knees. This also solves what I call ‘inverted thinking’ where our thoughts are pointed at ourselves instead of at others.
Doing something kind to make someone else a little happier is a way to show someone you care. Help them fix up their resume, check-in to see how they are doing or make them a home-cooked meal to share good vibes and in the process lower your own stress.
5. Ask For Spiritual Support In Letting Go of Your Negative Feelings
Most of us were not raised with a connection to the spirit world in our modern age where we have many distractions. In other cultures, the connection to our true self and the spirit world is paramount and provides deep conviction in living a peaceful lifestyle in the physical world.
The more we cultivate that connection through meditation and intention, the more we are able to experience the assistance that the other dimensional beings and our own soul provide. Angels don’t interfere in our lives unless it’s a life or death experience and we must give them the ‘ok’ to help us.
I’ll often ask Archangel Michael to cut any chords on all sides of my body that are connecting me negatively to others. I visualize his sword slicing those energetic chords and my energy returning.
6. Do A Forward Fold
In the 22 main branches of yoga that have developed in the United States, they all use forward folds to calm the nervous system. If you stand and lean forward and just breathe for a little while, you’ll feel lighter and calmer. You can also sit down with your legs out in front of you and reach forward.
Just breathe slowly and deeply and give your nervous system a chance to shift. Your parasympathetic nervous system will activate which makes you feel calm and relaxed as your sympathetic nervous system deactivates. The sympathetic nervous system is your fight or flight response and is often over active in our fast paced lifestyles.
When in doubt, literally forward fold. This is also a great way to prepare for sleep and allows your mind to go into a different brainwave state.
Combat Stress Immediately
My favorite techniques are found in the kundalini yoga lifestyle. Breathing techniques like breath of fire and long deep breathing will help clear your energy field very quickly if your energy field has been ‘compromised’ and you’re having trouble thinking positive.
I wear crystals that help combat stress daily to give my energy a boost and I play mantras all the time. My favorite vocalists are Gurunam Singh, White Sun and Nirinjan Kaur. Hey reggae music works too if you’re around people who are too cool for mantras.
If you need a strong fix you can take a salt bath and drink lots of water. You could even print out and keep a copy of this article in your wallet to read when your feeling stressed to create new habits.
People sometimes ask me if I get bored writing and I tell them that I know that someone needs this information and I was lucky enough to find it and be free from unnecessary stress and anxiety. Even though we may not meet, just knowing it will help you is enough to keep me enthusiastically writing.
Let’s keep paying it forward and sharing what works with our loved ones and community so we can experience a more peaceful world. Finally, remember that smiles are contagious so spread them!
Read this next: Breathe Deeply: A Meditation for Stress Relief
