Whether you find yourself in a sudden stressful situation or suffer from chronic stress syndromes (fatigue, irritability, racing thoughts) you may help yourself with a few quick techniques that you can do anywhere in a short span of time.
Choose one or two for a quick fix, and explore the others where you have more time. It will build up more resilience towards stress and uncontrolled flow of emotions.
Breathing
There are several breathing techniques that can help you alleviate the symptoms of stress, irritation, anxiety or panic attack. The general rule is to make the exhales longer than inhales.
One efficient 'quick fix' has been presented on You Tube channel of Andrew Huberman, a neuroscientist, associate professor in the Department of Neurobiology at the Stanford University School of Medicine. It is called Wim Hof Breathing Technique.
Take one deep breath through your nose, and then top it up - taking another breath in to expand your lungs even more. Slowly exhale.
This releases carbon dioxide from the lungs that is stored and enters the circulation, making the heart beats irregular. By taking a few extremely deep breaths and slowly exhaling we improve the heart beat and brain so it also allows us to focus better.
Sigh
Another technique is to simply make a sigh while exhaling. It releases a lot of pressure and tension, makes you feel instantly lighter and brightens your mind.
Valsalva Maneuver
The name is strange but you don't need to remember it :) The technique is funny, though.
Take a breathe in. Close your nostrils with your fingers and keep your mouth closed. Now, try or imagine you are trying to exhale quickly or sneeze.
What happens is it activates the muscles and organs in your abdomen, pelvis, and rectum. The air is pressing down your belly. It feels like you are trying to poo ;)
This is an internal massage of the vagus nerve. It switches your body to the parasympathetic nervous system - your whole body feels more safe and relaxed.
Sensory Soothing
Our brains and nervous system react to external or internal stimuli and affect how we feel. We can do the opposite in the moments of stress or nervous tension. We can send sensory signals to the brain to switch our attention from a perceived form of danger, any discomfort, fear, unease, and constraint to feeling calm, safe, sure and relaxed.
Use your senses to help your brain to calm down.
Body and Touch
If you are up to do some more energetic moves, do unusual body movement to get your attention off the irritable topic or state of mind. Stretch your arms wide open. Jump a few times. Dance in a most funny way. Shake your arms and whole body - in a way like animals or birds do when they want to shake off irritation, embarrassment, confusion.
Touch something and smooth it out. It can be a table top. It can even be a wall. Put your palms on the surface and stretch them slowly out and away. Repeat a few times.
It is even better to show your brain that you care about yourself. Do some self-caressing movements, fondle yourself. Stroke your thighs, head or belly gently up and down a few times. Make some cradle-like movement with your upper body. Swing and sway in a slow, gentle motion, having your attention on the movement.
Eyes and Sight
When we are agitated our eyes tend to focus in one straight line. It is called tunnel vision. While it is good to perform any task, here we want to relax. To do this, use peripheral vision.
Look sideways - right for 10 seconds and left for 10 seconds.
If you have more time, and can lie down, or sit very comfortably, prolong to 30 seconds, up to a minute, while having your hands behind your head. It opens you up to a more relaxing state.
It is a good signal when your body wants to naturally take a deep breath or yawn. It means that it switched to the parasympathetic nervous system - where the rest/relax/digest function is on, instead of fight/flight/fright. Your brain and body feels safe. It helps to calm down the mind.
Turn your eyes in circles to the far border of your vision ability. Starting with the top, turn them slowly clockwise. Close the eyelids, and relax. Then turn your eyes anticlockwise. Repeat three times if possible.
You may feel a slight pressure occurring in your head and brain while doing this. This eye movement connects the right and left brain - it stimulates not only your eyes but the whole brain, to work better and more coherent.
You may see silver shiny sparkles or flashes of light dancing before your eyes. It is caused by the retina in your eyes sending light signals to the brain.
Use the horizontal vision whenever possible. Stand at the window or whenever you are outdoors and consciously direct your eyesight on far away objects. Move from one to another, slowly.
Broaden your vision - look at the far left side, then at the far right side. Move your eyes towards the sky (avoid direct sunlight) and towards the ground. Do not move your head, just the eyes. Relax your shoulders.
We are using the tunnel vision in small distances too much nowadays - looking at a computer or smartphone or TV set screen. It makes us more prone to stress, and it causes wear and tear of the eyes.
Exercise the peripheral and horizontal vision regularly, especially if you work at a computer. Do breaks at least every half an hour, to look sideways, to look at the far horizon, to do the circle eye movement. It will improve your eyesight and your brain activity.
Of course it is a good idea to look at something beautiful, especially landscapes and nature in general. Watch some funny cat or dogs or other animal videos on You Tube.
Ears and Hearing
Move your attention towards the sounds that you are hearing right now. Immerse in the sound around. Close your eyes. Of course do not do it if it is too annoying. But exercising conscious hearing and listening will help you smooth out sound irritation.
Put your favourite uplifting music straight after you feel arising tension, if this is possible at the moment. Do consider others, if they are in the hearing range - that may not want to listen to it.
Sound healing is a whole another topic, fascinating and complex. You do not need to buy a singing bowl or tuning forks, just use your voice. Do a little bit of humming. There is a reason why the mantra OM is so popular. But you can do just a little quiet humming. The low pitch calms us down, the higher the tone, the more uplifting it is. Experiment with your voice while you are on your own. Your brain loves that.
Nose and Smell
Aromatherapy is on the rise for many good reasons. Natural, pure essential oils have active substances that when inhaled, go deep into the area of the brain that is connected to the limbic system. This system is responsible for our instinctive, emotional and behavioural reactions. This is an 'old part' of the brain that does not understand words, but it excelles in recognizing smells. When something smells nice, we feel all right.
So have an essential oil bottle at hand, and sniff the fragrance in. Even better if you can connect it with deep breathing exercises.
Do not use perfumes. They do not have those wonderful substances that plants produce naturally and are so helpful for our wellbeing.
The most soothing and relaxing essential oils: lavender, chamomile, cajeput, eukalyptus, cypress, fir, juniper, pine, spruce, geranium, palmarosa, petitgrain,
The most uplifting and energizing essential oils: lemon, orange, bergamot, peppermint, black pepper, clove, basil, rosemary, sage, thyme, tea tree, ylang ylang
The most grounding and centering essential oil: allspice, cedarwood, dill, fennel, frankincense, palo santo, patchouli, vetiver.
You can read more about aromatherapy here.
Acupressure
Acupressure gains more and more recognition by the Western medical practitioners but is still not commonly advised. For acupressure you can use your finger tip or a knuckle if you have long nails. I like using a crystal stone or any round object.
Press the spots with strong to moderate force, for at least 10 seconds:
- between your eyebrows (Yin Tang)
- at the centre of your palm
- at the soft area between you thumb and index finger
- on both sides of your writs, just where the palm ends
More acupressure points for relieving stress and anxiety, here.
Massage
Self-massage is really a great way to literally get in touch with our bodies. Stress can be overwhelming when we are disconnected from our bodies. Practising this connection helps us to cope with any stress in a more resilient and mature way.
Massage your auricles
With your thumb and index finger press and gently twist the soft part of your ears - up and down, a few times.
Massage your head
Rake your head through your hairs with your fingers - from your forehead towards the base of your head behind, 2-3 times. This also enhances alertness.
Massage your belly
With your four fingers tips together made straight like a spade - dig deep in between the lower abdomen muscles, the area below your naval, especially where the Hara point is (right between naval and pubic bone), and on the sides.
Shake or vibrate them slightly or with more pressure. You should feel a nice, slight tickling inside. If it feels uncomfortable, move your fingertips a bit. Find spots that are comfortable to touch. Don't force yourself. Don't do it after a meal.
It relaxes our intestines, an important organ where not only nutrients are absorbed and released into the bloodstream or outside of the system - but also there are some nerve cells. So - have your guts working for you.
Massage your toes
In the evening, while relaxing on your sofa and watching TV or listening to music, get your feet on your knees and run your fingers around your toes. Press especially hard on and around the nail area, and especially on the big toe. Squeeze, bent it, pull it away as far as you can. Massage the bone that connects your toe, until you feel a slight pain. This is really good for those who may be prone to bunions.
Coolness
Cold water or any other object sort of forces your body to concentrate on other sensations than those of stress symptoms and fight/flight/fright mode.
The inner focus goes from stress - to working on adapting the body temperature to the coldness. So your body has to bother less about your emotional overwhelm. Instead, it gets a clear signal to chill out.
It also regulates the blood circulation, as during stress we feel our head gets more blood than usual. So we concentrate on cooling our heads, and especially - face.
Drink slowly a glass of really cold water.
Wash your face with cold water.
Put any cold object onto your face. Crystal stones are great as they are always cold. Even any regular fieldstone will do. Pick a round one with a smooth surface that fits nicely into your hand. Start placing it all over your face, starting with your forehead, cheeks, ears and whenever it feels right. In a few moments you should feel cool-headed.
Herbs
There is hardly any better herb to bring an instant sense of calm than chamomile. It is widely available in stores. For best results take it off the bag - not only it tastes better, but it releases more good stuff to your infusion. Pour the boiling water, cover it for 5-10 minutes, strain if you need, and take a few slow sips, feeling the pleasant warmth washing down your body.
Other great herbs for stress relief: lemon balm, valerian, lavender.
More on herbal remedies here.
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The best way is to experience with those methods, and choose combinations of them that will suit your temperament, abilities and circumstances.
Happy Relaxing!
