Stress Relief

We all need help with stress relief.  Stress can be defined in many ways, but here we'll discuss stress as emotional, mental, or physical strain or tension.  When it comes to healthy mind, body, and spirit, stress relief is absolutely essential.

Did you know that emotionally stressful situations cause an acidic chemical reaction in the body that breaks down organ function?  The acidic response of chronic stress actually causes organ malfunction and creates an acidic bioterrain, in which candida and other pathogens, as well as cancer, can grow and flourish.  Of course, this creates physical stress on the body itself.   This loops back into emotional stress, as we then become stressed about our health.  It becomes a never-ending cycle if we don't manage our stress and receive effective stress relief.

What causes stress?

There are likely thousands of circumstances that we find stressful, all falling under one of several broad categories, including health-related stress, financial and job-related stress, and relationship-related stress.  I'd like to share some natural, holistic, and alternative methods and programs with you, that I have had tremendous success with, in stress relief.  I can personally recommend each stress relief method and/or program written about here as those that have and are still working for me, personally, as I only make personal recommendations on what really works for stress relief, based on what I have used and tried myself.

When it comes to health, we can become very stressed over what's going on in our bodies and organs.  We want to feel good, right?  And when we don't, that's stressful.  We worry about getting sick, becoming chronically ill, having to burden others to take care of us as we age, because we simply don't feel well enough to take care of ourselves.  We may find ourselves snapping at our loved ones when we don't physically feel well - which causes relationship stress.  We may find ourselves unable to perform optimally at our place of employment - which causes job-related stress - which, in turn, causes financial stress.  The relationship, job-related, and financial stress, in turn, cause further chronic stress on our bodies and health, and the situation becomes worse if we don't find stress relief, oftentimes resulting in further declining health, panic attacks, anxiety, and depression.

What actually physically occurs in the body when we are stressed?  Many experts now tell us that every health problem we have is caused by chronic stress.  Considering that stress causes an acidic chemical response in the body, this could very well be the truth.  Here's a quick breakdown of what physically happens in the body as a result of chronic stress:

1.  Alarm.  Adrenaline is produced.  Fight-or-flight response is activated.  Cortisol production begins.  Heart rate, breathing, and perspiration increase.  Eyes dilate, and muscles become tense.  With acute stress, these actions serve to save our lives.  Once the perceived threat is over in cases of acute stress, the body goes back to normal, and no harm is done.  On the other hand, with chronic stress, our bodies continue on a declining path.

2.  Resistance or adaptation.  Blood sugar levels increase.  Blood pressure rises.  Further hormones, including cortisol, are secreted by the body to keep up with the constant demands stress places on our bodies, as a survival mechanism.  Blood sugar levels are constantly raised to keep up the energy needed to survive and get through each day.  Resistance occurs - adrenal resistance, insulin resistance, leptin resistance - the constant elevation of hormones causes the receptors on cells and organs to essentially "shut off."  Arteries may become clogged.  Heart attacks may occur.  Strokes may occur from lack of oxygen to the brain.  The adrenals keep pumping out excess cortisol, which eventually leads to adrenal exhaustion.  Diseases begin to take hold.  Symptoms develop if stress relief is not attained, including but not limited to:

 - Heart disease
 - Increased colds & flu
 - Cold hands
 - Insomnia
 - Depression
 - Panic attacks
 - Anxiety
 - Rapid weight gain/inability to lose weight
 - Liver disease
 - Kidney malfunction
 - Cancer
 - Candidiasis
 - Headaches, including migraines
 - Diabetes
 - Strokes
 - Ulcers
 - Asthma
 - Glaucoma
 - Thyroid dysfunction, including Hashimotos Disease and Graves Disease, hypothyroid, hyperthyroid
 - Hair loss/alopecia
 - Obsessive compulsive disorder
 - Gum disease/tooth decay

3.  Exhaustion.  We literally "burn out" if we have not received sufficient stress relief.  Adrenal function decreases.  We lack energy and become depressed.  Immune system response begins to fail.  We develop diseases.  Our bioterrain becomes severely acidic.  Our threshold for stress of any type is lowered, and we are able to handle less and less emotionally, mentally, and physically.  Diseases such as Addison's Disease may occur.

Stress Relief

To deal with stress, I can personally recommend a number of methods and programs for very effective stress relief, as discussed here.

For health-related stress relief, I recommend performing a body detox.  Our bodies are inundated with toxins every single day.  From the air we breathe, to the water we drink, the food we eat, toxins are everywhere.  This causes a tremendous amount of stress on our organs, especially our livers and kidneys.  We take over-the-counter drugs for pain and symptom relief.  These, as well as prescription drugs, are also toxic to our bodies.  The toxin load our livers and kidneys must bear is immense.  This prevents our organs from functioning properly.  Please see the Detox Protocol section of this website for all the steps involved in a body detox.  While the detoxification process is stressful in itself, the worst part of it lasts only a few days, and the relief starts almost immediately, getting better and better each day.  You can counterbalance the stress of the detox with the knowledge of the benefits you are about to receive.  Organ function improves as a result, and healing begins.  You become much more able to deal with stressors of every sort when your organs are functioning properly.  Body detoxification is a huge source of stress relief.

Other methods and programs I use for stress relief include:

Emotional Freedom Technique

Emotional Freedom Technique, or EFT, is a program that allows us to literally tap our way to stress relief and health.  It combines Mind/Body Medicine with Acupuncture (without needles) so that certain meridian points in the body are activated by literally tapping them with two fingertips.  It treats the emotional aspect of physical ailments by releasing negative energy that is trapped in the body's meridians.  Energy must be free-flowing through our meridians, or we experience stress and disease.  EFT is an extremely effective way to stimulate energy flow in the meridians, thus clearing out the trapped and stagnant negative energy from the body.  I encourage you to learn more about EFT.  Click here for an amazing introductory video about how EFT works for stress relief.

Meditation

While looking for help on ways to make meditation easier, I came across the most amazing program, called Holosync.  It's offered by a company called Centerpointe, founded by a man by the name of Bill Harris.  After reading about the Holosync program and using their free demo CD, I immediately realized that this is the fastest and easiest way to get into a deep meditative state.  It really works.  In fact, it works so well, that results are actually guaranteed by Centerpointe.  With a money back guarantee, I decided there was nothing to lose, so I went ahead and began using the program, and have had my own amazing results.  Holosync works by using specific sound carrier frequencies to create new neural pathways in the brain to increase communication between the left and right hemispheres of the brain.  It raises your stress threshold, and shortly after you begin using it, you find yourself able to deal with more than you previously could.  Things that stressed you out before using the program are suddenly not as bothersome as they were.  The longer you use Holosync, the higher you raise your stress threshold.  It's easy to use.  You simply put on a pair of headphones and play the CD.  Your mind may go wherever it wants to.  You do not need to focus on silence or any particular thought - the program works regardless of what is going on in your mind.  You do not need any prior experience or knowledge of how meditation works in order for this program to be effective.  You can begin using Holosync even if you have never meditated before in your life.  I encourage you to go to the Centerpointe website and learn more about the Holosync program as an extremely effective way to manage stress levels and achieve stress relief.

Sedona Method

The Sedona Method is an effective program I found for stress relief.  It's a releasing process.  It teaches you how to dive into the feelings of something that really bothers you, or stresses you, and then let it go.  I have felt better each time I've gone through the exercises encompassed in the Sedona Method.  Once you learn the process, it's easy to do whenever you feel like it.  And once it becomes an automatic process for you, you find that the things that stressed you before simply don't seem so bad anymore.  

Pets

Imagine a hard day at work, for a moment.  Just for a moment, because that's not what you want to focus on.  But just for a moment, imagine you've just come home from a nasty day at work.  Perhaps you had an unbelievable workload, or an annoying co-worker or boss on your case about something.  Perhaps you're tired and irritable, and you go home feeling down and like you just don't want to see anybody.  But when you get home from work, who runs up to greet you, loving you unconditionally, no matter how you're feeling?  Hint:  He's furry and cuddly and walks on four legs.  If he's a cat, he jumps up in your arms, purrs, and tries to eat your hair.  If he's a dog, he wags his tail and spins circles and is so excited to see you he can't put his own tongue back into his mouth.  And at that moment, you look down at your four-legged friend's furry little face, and the stress of the whole day is just washed away.  You run your fingers through your pet's fur, tickle him under his chin, rub his ears, play with him, and you are instantly transported to The Land of Unconditional Love.  This is the miracle that pets provide - instant stress relief.  You feel so much love, not just from them, but for them.  It's really hard to focus on anything that's stressing you while you're feeling all the love you're giving to and receiving from your pet.  If it's at all possible for you to have a pet, and you don't already care for one, I highly encourage you to adopt one.

Start Your Own Home-Based Business

One major cause of stress is job-related.  In America, the majority of workers are dissatisfied with their jobs and/or wages.  We get into routines of doing the same thing every day, oftentimes with less support and, more frequently, wage cuts.  It's so easy to begin feeling trapped, in a rut.  And that's not counting the numbers of workers who are losing their jobs altogether, or having to take part-time jobs, or low-paying jobs that they are overqualified for, as a result of massive corporate cutbacks.

One solution for job-related and financial stress is to start your own home-based business.  Work for yourself.  The money-making potential available when you work for yourself grows to an unlimited ceiling.  You can do anything you are passionate about.  What are your hobbies?  What do you know a lot about?  What do you love to do?  Once you narrow down a field that you love, you can start your own business, to do what you love, and love what you do - and make money doing it.  Whether you want to set up a website to generate income, or start a brick-and-mortar business, or join a network/affiliate marketing program, there are opportunities galore.  Once you open yourself to the possibilities of starting your own business in whatever field you wish, the opportunities begin to present themselves.  You just need to recognize the opportunities when they appear to you, and take action on them.  While it takes time and work, if you love the field, it's actually fun!  When you love what you are doing, the time flies by, and you don't even realize you were working.  Working for yourself is a very effective form of stress relief.

Please visit the Business Opportunities page on this website for my personal recommendations on home-based businesses you can consider.

Nutritional Support

You can actually help manage your stress levels and achieve stress relief by providing your body with nutritional support.  With specific diets and nutritional supplements, you can help your body to deal with the physical problems that come with chronic stress.

I recommend the following diet plans for stress relief:

Metabolic Typing Diet:  This works to alkalinize your bioterrain and combat the acidic chemical response in the body caused by chronic stress.
Leptin Diet:  Eating to regulate your leptin levels allows your body and organs to focus on doing their rightful jobs rather than having to utilize all your energy on constant digestion.

And, as always, I highly encourage you to consume organic foods and pure water, regardless of the diet you choose, for greater stress relief.

Nutrients that assist with stress relief include:
 - Vitamin D3
 - DHA from molecularly distilled fish oil
 - Vitamin C nourishes the adrenal glands
 - Vitamin B complex
 - Vitamin A
 - Vitamin E
 - Selenium
 - Calcium
 - Magnesium

Foods to avoid while managing your stress levels include sugar, all refined and/or processed foods, alcohol, and food and drink that contain large amounts of caffeine.  Also, it's best not to smoke cigarettes if you are to achieve stress relief.

Practitioner Therapies for Stress Relief
 - Acupuncture
 - Chiropractic
 - EFT
 - Thought Field Therapy - TFT
 - Reiki
 - Kinesiology
 - Massage Therapy
 - Polarity Therapy
 - Reflexology

Other Useful Tips for Stress Relief

Exercise
 - Walking - take a stroll outside in the fresh air and sunshine.  Stop to smell the flowers and appreciate the beauty of the planet.  Walking is excellent stress relief!
 - Y-Dan
 - Tai Chi
 - Chi Gong
 - Chi Machine
 - Rebounding
 - Deep breathing exercises

Sleep - Get 8 hours of sleep every night for stress relief, ideally from 10 PM to 6 AM.  See the Sleep page on this website for more information on how important our sleep cycles are.

Hobbies
 - Engage in activities that you love
 - Read books
 - Create something with your hands
 - Sing
 - Dance
 - Play
 - Smile, laugh, and watch funny movies

Things I've Learned

I've dealt with my share of stress in my own life.  I don't know that any of us ever actually master it completely or achieve ultimate stress relief, but when we are finally able to turn stressful circumstances around to find the benefit from them, life does get easier.  We learn.  We grow.  We live more fully and love more completely when we overcome the hurdles and learn to automatically focus on our desired outcomes rather than the ruts we get stuck in.  

Take the bad with the good.  In every case of stress, we are actually focusing, whether consciously or unconsciously, on what we don't want, or on the lack of something that we do want.  Because of something called the Law of Attraction - whether we believe in it or not, it exists - we end up attracting more of what we do not want by our constant focus on it.  Instead of focusing on what we don't want, or focusing on the lack of something that we do want, take the "bad" with the "good."  Step back and observe yourself, as a curious outsider, in every situation that frustrates you, angers you, scares you, makes you sad, and otherwise stresses you, and simply watch your thoughts with no particular interest in the outcome.  Can you then step back in and remember what thoughts you saw yourself having?  Were you judging the "bad" as being something you don't want?  What if, instead, you replay that experience in your mind, and instead of judging the "bad" as something you don't want, find the lesson in it, and accept it with gratitude, as a stepping stone?  A way for you to learn and grow from it?  The more you can do this, the more you'll find that the "bad" may just not be so "bad" after all.  Instead of focusing on the negative, focus on the outcome you desire.  Don't worry about the "how" just yet - simply focus on the outcome you want.  Treat each negative experience as a gift, and with the knowledge that because you have accepted this gift as a natural part of you, that you also have within you the ability and power to overcome it.  It's a way to get you to where it is you ultimately want to go.  Accept the "bad" with the "good," always with gratitude.  The more thankful you are for all things in life - the "bad" right along with the "good", the more you will attract things to be thankful for.

Don't expend all your energy on fighting with yourself to try to overcome negative emotions.  We're human - negative emotions are part of each of us - they happen.  And we can't control our circumstances - we can only control our response to them.  The way to overcome negativity is to embrace it as a necessary part of each of us.  Understand why we have attracted it.  Learn the lesson from it.  Understand how we are meant to grow from it.  And be grateful for the perceived negative circumstance that has then allowed us to grow because of it.

Just as winter brings the new life of spring, so we grow from adversity.  We are earthly beings and follow the same cycles as the earth.  We enjoy and embrace the new life and growth and warmth that come with each spring.  But how could there be spring without winter?  So it goes with our own lives.  How do we know joy if we don't know sadness?  How can we describe light if we don't know dark?  Describe daytime without understanding night time.  Define "like" to someone who doesn't know "dislike."  What is warm if we've never experienced cold?  Describe eye sight, taste, touch, smell, or sounds to someone born with none.  "Bad" exists with "good."  Negative exists with positive.  They are actually simply two sides of the same thing - energy.  Neither can exist without the other.  To try to live with only the positive and completely reject the negative, we actually end up stressing ourselves, because this goes against the laws of nature.  So embrace the negative with the positive, and for each perceived negative situation, simply allow it to be okay, learn the lesson from it, understand why it's been attracted, grow from it, and enjoy all the positive benefits that occur as the result.  Never lose yourself by getting stuck on focusing consciously or unconsciously on what you don't want, but instead understand the opportunity for growth that perceived negative situations bring us, and put your focus on the positive outcome you desire.  Practice this each and every day, and soon we find that "bad" things just aren't so scary anymore.  We become stronger each and every time we do this.  

While I've personally experienced good results from all the methods discussed here, I've done so for my own health, as well as for my obligation to research in providing you the best information available.  Through the links that I've provided, please feel free to review the methods and choose which ones you are most comfortable with and that you feel best fit your own personality and circumstance.  Perhaps you'll connect with one or two or more of the methods covered here, or maybe none at all.  I hope this information serves you well, in any case.  Please feel free to post below if you have additional stress relief methods that work for you, that you would also like to share with other readers of Whole Healthy Life.

What Works For You?

Do you have any additional stress relief methods that have worked for you that you can recommend to other Whole Healthy Life readers? Or do you have any experiences to share about any of the stress relief methods covered on this page? We'd love to hear from you!

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