This stress management technique is called ‘reframing’, thus sees a stressful situation in another frame. A frame can refer to a belief, what limits our view of the world. If we let this limiting belief go, new conceptions and interpretation possibilities can develop.

Imagine yourself using a new pair of glasses to see an old problem or challenge from a fresh perspective.

 How might a wise friend deal with the issue? What would change if you stepped into the shoes of someone who carried a contrary opinion which act as a powerful stressor to you, releasing stress hormones and in a long run significantly affecting your health?

Start with reevaluating stressful events as 'disappointing', 'concerning', or 'uncomfortable' rather than 'awful' or 'unbearable'.

Ask yourself: How could wonder return to your life if you saw your world through the eyes of somebody else? How would a problem get solved with a new stress free perspective - maybe the view of a teenager, a grandmother, or an alien from another planet?

Perspective is a powerful stress management and healing force. When we shift how we look at something, we open the door to new possibilities.

Have you noticed that that even negative events almost always have a positive side to them, listing all the positives you can think of.

"Every Cloud Has A Silver Lining"...while refraiming your stressor try to find that silver lining.

 Finding it difficult to do this on your own? Coaching helps…….

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When we experience psychological, physical or inflammatory stress, our bodies increase production of the body’s stress hormones (adrenalin, cortisol and noradrenalin). High level of stress hormones especially cortisol levels impairs the immune response, raises blood pressure and blood sugar level, negatively influences metabolism, and results in muscle tension, aching muscles and joints. In addition, we become more sensitive to pain.

The Acupressure mat can be a solution to the vicious circle of stress hormone production.

Click here to read >>>

Many women experience insomnia because their  bodies are over-producing stress hormones like adrenaline and cortisol. When these hormones fail to shut off at night, it may be difficult to either fall asleep or stay asleep.

Relaxation techniques and natural remedies are one of the most effective ways to natural sleep aids, that increase sleep time, fall asleep faster, and feel more rested in the morning. They require a minimum of 20 minutes before going to bed.

There are many different techniques:

·  Visualization involves imagining a relaxing scene. You can try it in bed before falling asleep. Involve all your senses. If you're imagining yourself on a tropical island, think of the way the warm breeze feels against your skin. Imagine the sweet scent of the flowers, look at the water and listen the waves--you get the picture. The more vivid the visualization and the more senses you involve, the more effective it will be.

·  Relaxation Response - simple, effective, mind/body approach to relieve stress. Learn how to elicit the relaxation response

·  Mindfulness - A type of meditation that essentially involves focusing on your mind on the present. Learn mindfulness.

·  Yoga combines deep breathing, meditation, and stretching. A Harvard study found that daily yoga for eight weeks improved total sleep time, the time to fall asleep. If you've never tried yoga before, not to worry. There are many gentle yoga styles to choose from.

·  Progressive Muscle Relaxation is a promising natural remedy for sleep. If you've never tried a relaxation technique before, this technique is easy to learn and simple to master.

· Homeopathic remedies reduces sleeplessness associated with insomnia,  increases drowsiness for better sleep, balances the hormones involved in sleep patterns, and relaxes mild tension and increases drowsiness. Learn more.

 Finding it difficult to do this on your own? Coaching helps…….

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Related article:

How to Deal with Stress induced Sleep Deprivation

Every season has its nature and purpose. There is no need to add more stress to our already hectic life by complaining about the hot weather. Instead we need to reflect on our purpose especially when we are so strongly affected by the weather.

Let’s use our mind to restore our body. The weather doesn’t adjust to mankind. We adjust to the weather. Let’s not fight and stress over the heat; simply flow with it.

Here are some tips to coexist with the heat:

• Slow down and do less. Adjust your rhythm to the weather and ease up on yourself. It is important to keep our biorhythms in tune with nature and not to force a rigorous, intense schedule on sluggish bodies.
• Close your eyes and imagine yourself sitting under a tree serving as your umbrella in the rain forest. Cool water cascades around you as you sip a delicious, icy fruit drink.
• Place two cool cucumber slices on your eyes for a few minutes. Relax your tired spirit and revitalize before you head out to do more errands.
• Cool off your hot spots. Take your shoes off and place your feet in cool bowls for three minutes. Cool your face with a cold water misting spray.
• To cool off internally, keep hydrated and drink water. If you don’t like to drink water, try “spa water.” Place a pitcher of water with some cut-up fruit in the refrigerator. Try a few strawberries or cut up a peach and suspend it in the water. Sip it with a straw and enjoy a delicate flavor of your favorite fruit.
• Keep summer flowers on your desk and kitchen table; be grateful for the abundance of summer.
• If you are stuck on a hot train or bus, listen to relaxing music or enjoy a good book to persuade you to feel less hot and bothered.
• Listen to sounds of nature: winds chimes, waterfalls, and water rushing over rocks.
• Meet friends outdoors for summer evening cocktails and conversation. Warm star-lit nights are special.

Stress in itself is normal, a part of everyday life. However, your experience of stress can cause you to suffer headaches, neck pains, poor digestion or anxiety. Finding ways to manage stress for the hurried woman is crucial to relieve fatigue, moodiness, inability to lose weight, low sex drive, and loss of enjoyment of life. What's the major contributor to over stress for women? Over commitment.

Want To Change Your Frazzled Life?

For effective ways to manage stress, list all your commitments in a journal: job responsibilities at work, family roles, aging or ailing parents, home responsibilities, community or religious service work, responsibilities for your pets. Was your name on the list? For your own sanity and stress relief, you had better add it! Does your list of commitments make you feel accomplished, energized and challenged? Or do you feel tired and overwhelmed?

Three Steps to Relieve Stress

1. Outline Your Priorities from the list of commitments, such as family, job, friends, home. For effective stress management, even top priorities can be pared down or some parts delegated. Pick one item you can you drop right now, or in the near future.

2. Ask for Help!

Consider the following: get someone to pick up the kids instead of your always doing it; get the family to help with cleaning up at home. Or hire a cleaning lady. It's really okay to take a break. Taking a break may include doing something you enjoy. Set aside time each day to relax, unwind or go for a walk. Treat yourself as well as you would treat others (or your pets).

3. Turn off Your Over Nurturer (ON) Button.

While over nurturers are a terrific lot, they often suffer from extreme stress symptoms. Many of you may look after ailing parents, teach Sunday school, as well as do the laundry, drive the kids to music lessons and then put dinner on the table. Hand this person a broom! Remember that the more you show you can do, the more others demand of you.

Stress Relief Tip of The Day: practice saying NO! Notice when you are rushing and slow your pace...breathe deeply. Don't give up! It is possible to transform from Surviving to Thriving.

 Finding it difficult to do this on your own? Coaching helps…….

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Valerian



During stress, nutrients such as vitamin C, vitamin B6, vitamin B5, zinc and magnesium are important for supporting adrenal function. Vitamin B5 has long been considered the “anti-stress” vitamin because of its central role in adrenal function and cellular metabolism. Fatigue and moning tiredness are symptoms sometimes experienced due to to lack of these vitamins.

Folic acid, Inositol and vitamin B6, are involved in the manufacture and action of mood enhancing hormones such as serotonin.

Traditionally, magnesium has been used for nervous tension, stress and anxiety. So all these nutrients are necessary to maintain good adrenal function and nourish the nervous system.

There is a lot you can do to help with stress with your diet.

The B Vitamins will help nourish and protect the nervous system. During times of stress the body will use more B vitamins and as they are water soluble it is important that you replenish the stores via diet and supplementation. Good sources are whole grains, oats, pulses, fish and meat, eggs and mushrooms.

Vitamin C helps support the adrenal glands which are responsible for producing our stress hormones. Good sources are red, orange, yellow or dark green fruits and vegetables.

Antioxidants are essential to combat free radicals. More free radicals are produced when we are under stress. Foods high in in antioxidants red, orange, yellow, purple or dark green vegetables so make sure you include these in your diet.

Consuming complex carbohydrates help regulate our blood sugar levels, these can be found in brown rice, wholemeal pasta and bread and oats.

Essential fats, omega 3 and 6 are vital to include in our diet, oily fish, nuts, seeds, spirulina, flax seed oil, hemp seed oil are all rich in the EFA’s.

Choose fresh over canned, whole over processed or refined and organic or natural over foods containing additives whenever you can. The state of the mind is highly dependent on what you eat.

Adopting stress reducing techniques should also reduce your stress-induced cravings for unhealthy or excessive food. I recommend yoga, martial arts, journaling, laughter and progressive muscle relaxation; here’s a fuller selection of relaxation techniques you can use to calm down and turn off your body’s stress response.

Finding it difficult to do this on your own? Coaching helps…….

Related Entry: Foods that increase Stress levels

Don't just keep doing things the way you are doing them and expect different results.

Never stop investing in your stress education.

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There are many yoga benefits. Yoga is not just a practice of poses, but of your breath work. The practice of slow, controlled, rhythmic breathing helps bring down blood pressure, rest the heart, clear the mind, energize the body and relax the muscles. Combine this with some relaxing yoga poses, and peace and serenity are just around the corner.

Here are five poses to help ease stress. Do one or two or all five poses for a deep inhale and exhale of a minute or two.

1. Bridge pose. This is designed to calm the brain, rejuvenate tired legs and relieve spinal tension.

To do it: Lie on your back with your feet hip-width apart and flat on the ground. Press down with your feet; lift your glutes, hips, pelvis and back off the ground. Keeping your arms flat, with your shoulders on the floor, lock your fingers under your glutes. Inhale and exhale.

2. Standing forward bend. This stretches tight hamstrings and relieves tension in the hips and lower back.

To do it: Stand straight, feet hip-distance apart. Exhale and bend, bringing the crown of your head toward the ground. You're far enough when your hamstrings are stretched, but not tight. Put your right hand on your left elbow; release and switch.

3. Seated spinal twist. This helps aid digestion and opens up the spine to release tension.

To do it: Sit comfortably cross-legged. Inhale, bringing arms overhead and pressing palms together. As you exhale, twist to your left. Reach your left hand behind your back to the ground. Put your right hand on the outside of your left knee. Use it to leverage the twist to your left, taking your gaze over your left shoulder. Repeat on the right side.

4. Seated forward bend. This brings energy to the body, improves digestion and helps insomnia.

To do it: Sit on the floor, legs extended. As you inhale, bring your arms overhead. As you exhale, reach up and out, slowly folding over your legs. Hold the position, making sure your shoulders and neck are relaxed. Deeply inhale and exhale a few times. Inhale, slowly rising up to sitting position.

5. Salutation seal. This helps reduce anxiety and stress, calms the brain and clears the mind.

To do it: Sit cross-legged. Relax shoulders back and down. Draw chin slightly toward chest. Bring palms together. Take 10 deep, rhythmic inhales and exhales.

As yoga combines several techniques used for stress reduction, it can be said to provide the combined benefits of breathing exercises, stretching exercises, fitness programs, meditation practice, and guided imagery, in one technique.

However, for those with great physical limitations, simple breathing exercises, meditation or visualization might be a preferable option and provide similar benefits.

Recommended:

Yoga resources on  iTRAIN.com

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To truly liberate yourself from false beliefs and the patterns of the past, you will need to learn to build an empowered relationship with the "self" in your body.

The first step is learning to connect with this self in a loving way that allows you to mentor her into making more true and empowered meaning of her experience.

Then you will be able to respond to the challenges you face in powerful, transformative ways that literally catapult you towards the full flourishing of your life!

Take Action:
1.  Close your eyes and drop your awareness down into your body, breathing all the way down into your hips and connecting with a very deep and wide center within yourself.

2.  From this deeper, wider center, extend a sense of deep presence and care to the self in your body - literally enveloping yourself with a sense of deep safety and love, suspending any and all self-judgments or criticisms.

3.  Ask yourself, "What are you feeling?" and listen for the response, helping the self in your body to accurately name a very specific feeling she is experiencing such as lonely, uneasy, ecstatic, or confused.

4.  Mirror back the response by lovingly saying, "I can see that you are feeling . . . .".

5.  Do this at least three times.

Do this throughout your day to begin building a loving, caring and connected relationship between the different parts of yourself.

Finding it difficult to do this on your own? Coaching helps…….

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