Stress Reduction Techniques
Here are a few of my stress reduction techniques – of note… I don’t include alcohol :)!!!
- 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 – Notice 5 things you can see, 4 things you can feel, 3 things you can hear, 2 things you can smell, 1 thing you can taste. If you need a printable document, click the link.
- Notice 5 things that are red or some other color in your room, or 5 things that are circle or rectangles
- Do square breathing – breathe in for 4, hold for 4, breathe out for 4, hold for 4
- Do 7/11 breathing – breath in for 7 and out for 11
- Notice if you’re sitting, your sit bones on the chair, how your thighs are touching the chair, how your arms are on touching the arm chairs, how your back is touching the seat
- Dig your feet into the ground and feel the ground push back against them
- Create a grounding box and use one or more of the items to help you ground / manage your stress.
- Read a book
- Listen to music
- Spend time with a friend
What is key about all of this – you need to practice – and you need to practice when you are calm. So when do you want to learn to ride a bike? When you are out on a highway like 92 or when you are in cul-de-sac? Of course you want to practice when you are in a safe place. You learn better and more effectively. So practice these skills when you aren’t activated. Maybe when they become more familiar add in a future potentially stressful experience, and then imagine how you’ll use those skills in that situation.
If you practice when you’re brain is “online” (did you know that when you are under stress, your thinking brain can go offline? Think of patting the front of your head, that’s your thinking brain. When it’s under stress, often times it goes “offline”) so practice these skills when you are relaxed. They become a kind of muscle memory. Then when there is a stressful situation, your body and brain know better what you want them to do.
