To Your Mental Health: Managing Your Stress
by Richard P. Johnson, PhD, Licensed Clinical Psychologist

Stress is a fact of life. We all have some of it and it would be impossible to live without it. How is it that some people seem to manage stress better than others? This column will provide you some suggestions for stress management that have been found to be helpful to other people. Your comments and suggestions are encouraged so that it might be more meaningful to you.

Let's begin with breathing. This is such a basic and simple place to begin, yet few people realize how important it can be in a stress management program. Observe your own breathing. Notice your rate and depth of breathing. Also, notice whether you breath in your chest or stomach.

Most people have learned to breath in their chest (we call this thoracic breathing). However, relaxed breathing uses the diaphragm muscles, those located near the stomach. Breathing in the chest produces a more rapid and shallow type of breathing that requires the use of more muscles than diaphragm breathing.

Diaphragm breathing is fairly simple to learn. Imagine your stomach is like a balloon. As you inhale, watch the balloon grow big and push the muscles of your stomach (diaphragm) outward. Then, as you exhale, pull the stomach muscles back in and watch the balloon flatten out. You may notice your breathing become slower and deeper at the same time.

Now, add these other components to the breathing to form a brief relaxation exercise:

1. Become aware of whatever is annoying or stimulating you. That is your trigger or cue.
   
2. Give yourself the suggestion "Alert mind, calm body." Say it silently and slowly to yourself three times.
   
3. Smile inwardly with your eyes and mouth to reverse tense expression. Practice and get this feeling.
   
4. Inhale to a count of three (3), imagine the air comes through the soles of your feet. Exhale your breath and feel the tension leave your body.

This exercise takes only 10 or 15 seconds and is portable -- you can take it with you and do it anywhere! Practice it often and enjoy the inner peace and warmth.

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