Simple Ways to a Stress-Free You

Sleep and Rest Often, we just need a good night’ sleep or 6-8 hours of undisturbed relaxation to have a fresh mind. Then it becomes easier to focus on what is happening around us and to function smoothly. Once we get cracking on something that is irritating us it becomes a work in-progress and we do not feel like we are skirting the issue. Stress may lead to sleep-related disorders like sleep apnea and in serious cases, insomnia. When the same issue keeps playing in our mind repeatedly, it becomes difficult to change the focus to the need for sleep as opposed to getting rid of the problem. Relaxation Meditation, yoga, spa treatments, herbal remedies have been designed to reduce tensions and upsetting elements of daily life. Practice deep breathing if you do not have the time to plan out a relaxation schedule. Visualize pleasing situations and concentrate on the present. Special aromatic oils and music are also known to soothe your senses. Deep Breathing Have you ever noticed your breathing pattern when you are tense or under stress? It is usually shallow, jerky and unsteady and from the chest region. Until and unless this shallow, erratic breathing is replaced by deep and even breathing from the abdomen, the body will continue to be in a state of tension. Practicing abdominal breathing makes us feel calm and relaxed, mentally and physically. So concentrate on your breathing several times during the day — anywhere, anytime. Take a deep breath. Inhale through the nose. Feel the energy coming in and revitalizing your body. Breathe out through your mouth making a quiet relaxing whooshing sound like the wind you gently blow out. Continue to take long, slow, deep breaths which raise and lower your abdomen. Continue for 5-10 minutes and you’ll feel instant sense of well being. Muscle relaxation training One of the most tangible experiences of bodily stress is muscle tension or a tight contraction of several muscle groups in the body. By consciously doing the opposite, i.e. learning to keep the muscles loose and relaxed you could induce physical ease and mental calmness. To do this you have to first tense a set of muscles deliberately, as hard as you can do to feel real tension and discomfort in the muscles. Then slowly allow the muscles to relax and become aware internally the difference between tension and relaxation. This is done progressively through every muscle group of the body like hands, arms, face, neck, shoulders, stomach, back, pelvis, legs and feet. Practiced in regular ½ hour sessions, sometimes with the help of machines (Biofeedback) over two weeks consistently can make you a relaxed, calm person. Visualization Through the power of creating positive, desirable images in your mind, you can literally wish away tensions calm yourself and relax both body and mind. Though we all daydream or fantasize all the time, creative visualization harnesses your verbalizations and consciously employs them for bettering yourself and your life. All you have to do is to sit or lie down in a quiet place, close your eyes and allow your mind to form mental sense impressions — using all the five senses of touch, sight, hearing, smell and taste — create visions, scenes of your own favourite place, real or imaginary. As you do so, affirm verbally your ability to relax “(I am letting go of tension from by body” or “I am calm and peaceful, etc.)”. Practice this thrice a day for 5-10 minutes regularly and then increase the time.

Zen Office

Zen Office


* Keep a stack of small origami squares on your desk next to an empty jar. Any time your mind is wandering from your task and you want to keep your fingers busy, fold yourself a paper crane and place on in a jar. Pretty soon, you will have an entire jar of little paper origami cranes. Paper cranes represent good luck and peace. Give them to a stressed friend who needs good luck, or thread them together in a chain to decorate your home.


* If you must waste time online because you can’t focus on your project, waste it on Free Rice, a website that donates ten grains of rice for every trivia question you answer correctly. You gain knowledge that will impress people at your next dinner party, and you help fight global hunger. Double-win.
* Mentally step into your co-workers’ shoes. Exercise the wild imagination your inner novelist. What are your co-workers’ dreams? What ticks them off? How would they react to a worldwide zombie attack? You just might have a successful screenplay fermenting within you right this moment. Just try to keep that weird smile off your face when you’re imagining your cubicle mate skydiving from an exploding building.


BODY
• Exercise your hands with these hand stretch exercises on this page. Especially if you’re in front of a computer all day, those fingers of yours are working hard! Stop being a slave-driver and give your hands a nice stretch or two. For extra credit, keep some hand lotion on your desk, something that is nicely scented and not cheap. Ahhhh.
• Drink lots of water. And not just for the usual reasons. Drinking a lot of water will make you want to go to the bathroom a lot, and that will give you minimal exercise in preventing back muscle strain. This I can personally attest to.


SPIRIT
• Bring homemade baked goods to the office. I mean, seriously. It fosters good office karma so much faster than prayer or affirmations.
• Meditate, sort of. When was the last time you looked at the texture of the material of your desk and really felt the Desk-like presence of the desk? Or analyzed the mysterious bumps on your cubicle walls? Or really felt your fingers touching the surface of the keyboard as they typed out the latest departmental memo? Think of all the secrets of the universe hidden within these mundane things that you may have been missing out on this whole time. Try not to weep.