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Meditation is incredibly effective in managing stress overall, and I highly recommend it, but it takes some time, some quiet, & a setting conducive to going within and listening to the silence. What can you do, “in the moment,” to get through stressful situations? Stress 101 is a series of easy tips for dealing with stress when chaos strikes.

You know how stress makes you feel - the rapid heartbeat that seems to make it hard to breathe, perhaps a mild shaking of the hands, or sweaty palms; the feeling that you can’t think straight, and if you’ve carried the stress long enough, you may have lost sleep because of it. Stress begins in the mind, but what you may not realize is that due to the mind/body connection, your entire body experiences it too, within seconds after you become aware that you’re stressed. Stress can eventually compromise your body’s defenses in many ways, and it can kill, as the American Medical Association noted in the 1960’s.

One of the first things many people do when they become stressed, is “chest-breathe,” breathing in a shallow way that brings air into the very top of the chest, but doesn’t inflate the lungs fully. When you do this, you don’t bring in the amount of oxygen your body needs to function optimally, and this especially affects your brain, which uses a large amount of oxygen. If the brain doesn’t get the oxygen it needs for optimal operation, even more stress is created, coping with it becomes even more difficult, and there can be a tendency to react with more emotion than reason.

So the first rule of dealing with stress on the run is BREATHE. Fill your lungs as much as you can, breathing in deeply and slowly, then exhale slowly and completely, picturing tension leaving your body as the breath leaves your lungs. Do this three or four times, or until you start to feel calmer. This helps prepare you for taking the next step, but is itself a powerful way to help your body cope with a situation that it finds uncomfortable.

From now on, when you realize you’re feeling “stressed out,” take a moment to breathe mindfully, with deliberation and the intent to rid your physical body of tension and bring light and air in to every cell. And stay tuned for Part Two of Stress 101: DESIRE.