Many clients talk to me about the everyday stress build-up from just living their daily lives.....with traffic, noise, ever-growing amounts of stimulus and just living in the digital age of ever-connectedness. So how can we lower our cortisol (that lovely little bugger of a stress hormone) and find the time and space to disconnect? As we embark upon summer, many people are voicing their excitement to "get away from it all".  But is that really enough? Will that bring us down to a more relaxed place in our minds and bodies for the year ahead? Maybe for a bit...but in the long-run, most likely not. So what can we do in the day to day to slow down and step back and get into harmony with ourselves and the world around us? 

One simple thing we can do is to try some deep breathing before our daily commutes. I recommend breathing in through our noses, holding for a couple of seconds at the top, and then exhaling through our mouths with our lips pursed as if we are whistling or drinking from a straw. This will help lengthen our exhale, which we want longer than our inhale. Thats all we need to remember....exhale longer than you inhale and put your hands on your stomach to make sure it's moving up and down along with our breath. If our stomach isn't moving up and down with breathing, or if we notice our chest moving and not our stomach, it's a sign we need to shift our breathing down to our diaphragm and get out of stress mode. Another thing we can do is to get outside and into nature. Perhaps all we can manage is to step outside our own front door, and thats fine too! Is there a park nearby? Walking for just 15-20 minutes outside or even sitting on a park bench can reap wonders for our mental health. 

Can YOU put one or both of these strategies into regular practice and do them throughout the week, or better yet every day, to lower your overall stress and inflammation? It's a wacky wacky world out there and it can get the best of us if we let it go unchecked. There's no time like the present to start growing into a better and less-stressed you. So let's go!!

Signing off and sending love, Audrey Atkins, MA, LPC-S