Everybody experiences stress. You might feel stressed and anxious when finding out that your company is laying off people, when your daughter has a meltdown in a clothing store over a hot pink tutu or when your mother-in-law tells you how to raise your children and take care of your husband. The good news is that several things can be done to reduce and even prevent stress, which wards off anxiety disorders and depression.
Guided Imagery
Most people have a place that they feel the most relaxed and peaceful. Your place might be the beach, the bike trail behind your house or a reading corner at home. To practice visualization or guided imagery, close your eyes and imagine being in a happy place. Try to engage all your senses. If you feel relaxed when baking in the kitchen but you're at work in between meetings, take five minutes to imagine that you're in the kitchen whipping up your favorite chocolate chip cookies. Watch as the mixer combines the eggs and flour, taste the delicious dough, smell the cookies baking and feel warm cookies in your hand.
Mantra Meditation
According to the Mayo Clinic, this type of meditation involves repeating a calming word or phrase over and over. Think of a word that you relate to, close your eyes, take deep breaths and repeat the word over and over. Some ideas for a word include happiness, breathe, peace and harmony. If distracted, return your attention back to the mantra.
Deep Breathing
If you're sitting in traffic or in the middle of a meeting at work, you can't close your eyes and practice guided imagery or mantra meditation. However, you can focus on breathing to relax. To take deep breaths, breathe in through your nose until your chest and belly have fully expanded, hold the breath for five seconds and then let the breath out through the mouth. Repeat this process 10 times to cope with stress when a longer break isn't possible.
Yoga
Many people use yoga as a way to prevent and cope with stress. Yoga focuses on breathing and flexibility, and you'll be encouraged to let go of worrisome thoughts and focus on each pose. Helpguide.org reports that, as with many other forms of exercise, injury is possible if you don't know the proper way to practice yoga. Consider joining a group class or hiring a private instructor to learn the poses before practicing them at home.
