All of us carry stress in our bodies. That is a fact of life. Stress can emanate from mental, emotional or physical experiences in our lives. The amount, however, can either be viewed to be in a healthy or unhealthy zone, and for many of us, we would identify ourselves to be in the

latter category.

Stress goes up and down like a sliding scale dependant on the day’s events, our current health

state, levels of exercise or rest, fitness, workloads, extra pressures and responsibilities, exams, competitions, public speaking,re-location, relationships, grief, sadness, loneliness, sleep patterns,eating habits, fears, worries and concerns, addictions, injuries, excitement, shock, and more.

Many sources of research will tell you that illness as well as health related absenteeism can be as high as 80% stress induced.

It is worth noting that under the guise of stress, people sometimes choose to ignore early indicators of symptoms such as high blood pressure, hypertension, hyper or hypo glycaemia leading to the number one serious health issue in the western world - diabetes, cardiovascular warnings, and early signs of other chronic disease. Always, the recommendation is to have such indicators medically checked out. And in fact this can have the added benefit of reducing the very stress we carry through the uncertainty and fear we have built up through delaying a check up.

Depression and anxiety, although often stress induced, are two other areas where it is recommended to have a medical assessment.

In all of these mentioned areas, whether the stress is attributable before or after the symptom or health issue, there are ways to lessen the intensity of stress so that it becomes self managed.

The reward is that with better stress management comes better health and medical outcomes.

So too, the stressors encountered in daily life previously outlined, can be greatly reduced and

managed.

The way we clean up our self talk, set realistic goals, get help when feeling overwhelmed from

professional counselors and qualified health professionals, eat balanced meals, reduce our toxins that we ingest in any form, exercise, rest, engage socially, are all factors that will help to manage and reduce our stress levels. However, maybe the quickest and most successful way of all, is through the discipline of relaxation and meditation in our daily routine.

For some people this will be a new consideration. Possibly there will be some skepticism as to the likely success of this approach but from my 20 plus years in helping people, I can say with authenticity, that relaxation and meditation used regularly, can improve our state of mind and our state of health.

When the body, mind and spirit are engaged in a relaxation or meditative process, all of the workings of the body are less labored. Breathing, filtering, pumping all slow and ease. As the mind unpacks its troubles, the body can let go of its storage of toxins and tensions, let go of the knots that restrict the flow of energy to all the cells. When the spirit feels nurtured, the mind and body feel lighter, more calm with a sense of inner decency and peace.

Can you imagine how the chemistry of the body responds when these aspects are allowed to emerge?

Relaxation and Meditation can be streamlined to a short or longer time frame. The important element

is that the mind, body and spirit are acknowledged and nourished.

There are simple breathing exercises to adapt in order to improve, slow and adjust the level of oxygen intake thus reducing panic, anxiety, and feelings of being overwhelmed.

There are techniques that take no more than a few minutes and allow you to focus on simple things to still the mind and stop the chatter.

There are mindful meditation processes that acknowledge the state of concern that the body is in but then allow for simplification, clarity, improved coping strategies and more accurate self awareness.

There is the use of music, imagery, visualization, mental rehearsal, useful ways to implement constructive phraseology that is meaningful to you.

If we are dealing with mental and emotional stress, we give the mind the skills and techniques to relax the tensions held in the body through a progressive muscular relaxation.

This keeps the mind from wandering, as it has a job to do, and so it also releases its tension and stress by having a break from reminders and negative self talk.

If the physical body is weary, we let the body have complete rest and using the power of our minds we connect with the feeling states of the body, without having to move a muscle. This heightens our senses and our somatic state of wellbeing and allows the body to have maximum rest and a restorative balance.

There are so many ways we can bring better outcomes to our stress management regardless of the circumstance or situation even when we feel completely at a loss, powerless and deplete of energy or hope. We can in an actual effect and also with the utmost respect, start right now.