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Stressed Out? Use These 5 Simple Exercises for Seriously Effective Stress Management

Wouldn’t you love to feel more empowered to release your chronic stress and tension? Don’t you wish stress management were as simple as a breathing exercise or meditation technique?

We all carry stress around as we move through our busy, pressured lives. But stress management actually can be simple! There are some simple breathing exercises and vocalization practices you can try at home that are easy and effective.

Even just a few minutes a day can help reset your energy and nervous system so that you can feel more relaxed and balanced.
 
 

Use These 5 Simple Voice and Breathing Exercises for Effective Stress Management:

Here are five simple techniques you can use to help relieve stress and tension. These include breathing exercises and vocalization practices that have been used for millennia to create health and balance. With healing voice practices, you use your own voice power to bring healing vibrations to your system.

As you try these practices, bring an intention to not only release stress and tension, but also to increase your awareness of what’s going on for you on a physical and emotional level. Awareness is the beginning and the key to all healing.

The more you become aware of the subtle tensions and traumas that are present for you, the more empowered you’ll be to begin healing them.
 
Calm-Mind-300x250
 

1. First, take some deep, conscious breaths…

There are many powerful breathing practices. But, here is one very simple and effective breathing exercise that you can try to start with.

To practice: First, take a few deep, conscious, healing breaths into your belly to bring yourself to the here and now, finding total presence. Notice any sensations or emotions that are present for you, and just let them be there.

Take a conscious breath into your crown at the top of your head. As you exhale, imagine healing energy flowing down your body as if it’s pure golden liquid. Feel it move down through your head, neck, and torso and then into your hips, down your legs, and out your feet.
 

Awareness is the beginning and the key to all healing.

 
Now, take another breath from deep down in the earth and draw it up into your feet, grounding and settling you. Feel your feet on the floor, and feel the floor supporting you as you let go of tension.

Take one more breath into your crown, allowing healing energy and even wisdom to flow down your body and, again, out your feet. As you do this, imagine all of the tension you’ve been carrying around draining out of you.
 

2. Then, hum a little!

Next, try a humming practice. You may occasionally find yourself humming a song you like or that you got stuck in your head. It turns out this can be a therapeutic form of stress management!

When you hum, you keep the sound and the vibration inside you, bringing resonance and healing to you from deep inside. With this practice, we hum long tones.

To practice: Just bring your lips together, push them out slightly, and begin humming on a pitch that feels comfortable. As you do this, notice where you feel the vibration in your body. You may also choose to direct your humming sound to a particular place in your body that feels tense.
 

Stress management actually can be simple!

 
Try varying your pitch higher and lower. You may feel a vibration higher up in your body as you hum higher pitches and vice versa.

Feel free to play and experiment. You can also imagine the sound flowing up and down the center of your spine as the healing sound spreads through your body. Try doing this practice for five to 10 minutes a day for a couple of weeks, and notice how you start to feel more grounded and balanced throughout your day.
 

3. Try a nice, releasing “AH” sound

AH is such a basic sound that we all make at different times, and for good reason. It can express so much – no matter what you’re feeling. It’s powerful for opening your heart area and your voice as well.

To practice: Just take a deep breath into your belly, focus on your heart, and begin sounding “AH.” Imagine a rainbow light emanating from your heart and expanding outward to heal the world around you. You may also set an intention to allow stress and tension to be “sounded” out of you.
 
Calm-Mind-300x250
 

4. Of course, there’s always OM!

OM​ is said to be the primordial sound of the universe – the sound that’s always been present. It’s a very healing and centering sound that balances your system on every level.

To practice: Again, just take a deep breath and begin making the sound “OM.”

OM​ and AH ​are basic healing sounds that you can chant daily. The longer you practice them, the more you’ll notice a difference in your sense of groundedness, peace, and balance.

With any of these sounding practices, don’t worry about whether or not you have a “good voice” or whether it sounds pretty. The idea is to bring healing vibrations to your system. Vocalizing is healing and empowering for all of us!
 

5. And, nothing soothes quite like a solid meditation

After these practices, you may want to move into meditation. If you haven’t meditated before, here is a simple practice you can try.

To practice: Just try mindfully following your breath for several minutes as you sit in stillness. If you find your attention wandering, gently bring it back to your breath.

Still need more stress management? Try Yoga For Stress Relief: De-Stress With This 30-Minute Yoga Sequence
 
 

These Practices Are Just the Beginning for Stress Management!

There are so many powerful stress-releasing and balancing practices in addition to these. Feel free to experiment with these (or others!) to see what works best for you.

The more you work with them, the more comfortable you’ll become, and the more you’ll notice a healing effect.

You may eventually feel as if your body, emotions, and nervous system are healing and re-setting so that you’re more balanced and peaceful in your daily life.

This article has been read 2K+ times. Feelin’ the love!

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Susan Bensen

Susan Israel Bensen has practiced energy and sound healing for over 25 years, with a focus on healing voice. She helps clients with physical and emotional stress and trauma find healing through sound and energy healing modalities, gentle hands-on methods, Eastern spiritual practices and focused transformational work. She has been an on-air host and music programmer for Montana Public Radio since 1995.

susanbensen.com

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