Relaxation tips for the stressed

So very many of my friends and LJ friends are stressed out! Here are some quick tips to help with self-care.

Tight muscles? Try using a tennis ball and rolling around on that for a bit. (Hi, everyone with tight upper back...)

There's also this -- when you get stressed out, your right and left brains actually scramble and move farther apart. Cook's posture forces you to unscramble right/left brains:

Sitting in a chair...

1. Stretch out your legs
2. Raise arms out in front of you
3. Cross arms, thumbs pointed down
4. Lock fingers together
5. Twist forearm so that you have your clasped hands with knuckles pointing upwards, by your chest
6. Breathe in and out until you notice relaxation.


Deep abdominal breathing:
Sit straight. Let your belly fill as you inhale. Count to 4. Exhale for a count of five...

Most importantly, check in with yourself to notice when the stress starts to pile up, and exercise, breathe, and do something about it before it turns into a mountain. A recent New Yorker article noted that Americans actually have 5 more leisure hours today on average than they did a decade ago, but feel that they're more overworked. That has to do with the quality of their leisure time -- people don't actually relax, stop working (stop checking email, stop answering cell phones), and diversify their mental field or take a break.

Okay, enough lecturing. (are these posts even helpful? should I post more relaxation type tips?)