Quick Tips To Help You Chill Out This Summer

Yoga classes, a deep tissue massage and even a paddle board lesson are all great way to relax, rejuvenate and generally slow down and enjoy your summer.  But if you’re finding yourself stressed out and unable to “find your center”, I offer a few tips that I have stumbled upon in my readings and observations.

One of the more effective ways to stave off stress and generally put in perspective the current emotional storm you are experiencing is to simply try to objectively observe your emotions.  Take stock of where the stress is settling on your body, take notice of where the pain or discomfort is, observe it and move on.  You don’t need to dwell on it, just observe and move on to “breath”.

Breathing, as many of you are aware, is a critical component of not just yoga and massage, but everything we do.  Once you can regain control of your breathing, chances are you will immediately feel a growing sense of calm.

Move!  Remove yourself from the stressor and, ideally, get outside.  The goal here is to change your perspective and be able to put the stressor back INTO perspective.  Is the world really ending?  Is it really THAT bad?  Take that little 10 minute break to shift your focus to the greater (larger) things in life and try to put the focus of your struggle into the perspective it deserves (which isn’t much).

I often combine the above tactic with music.  We all know music can have a profound impact on our emotions and feelings.  Putting on music that will make you think, shake, dance, scream or even sing will do wonders for  your state (and peace) of mind.

Lastly, and we have talked about this before, is to show some gratitude.  I try to write these down every morning, but for a quick-fix, just get out a journal and start listing the things that you are grateful for in your life.  You can take this a step further and actually show gratitude to someone “in real life”.  There’s a good chance this act will not only put a smile back on your face, but will have a larger impact on your attitude than simply writing in a book.  Get out there and make someone’s day!