How to Reduce Your Stress In One Minute

This is a short article I recently wrote --

The next time you're sitting in your car waiting for a red light, here's a quick stress relief technique that you can do for yourself in just that amount of time.

Before beginning, set the parking brake. (While this isn't really a relaxation technique per se, it does help reduce the stress of worrying that your car may roll away!) You can also choose to turn off your radio or cell phone so as not to be interrupted in this time you're giving yourself.

First, take your hands off of the steering wheel and rub them together vigorously for five to 10 seconds; this helps re-energize circulation and starts to soften tension. Then, let your hands rest in your lap, and notice your arms, shoulders, and upper back start to relax.

Let your eyes softly focus, perhaps on the signal light or on the hood of your car. Notice how nice it feels to give your eyes, forehead, and jaw a break -- this is when it's great to have your phone turned off.

Now, take three to five easy breaths. These needn't be big breaths; it's just helpful to bring your attention to your breath. Notice how nice it feels to take air into your body.

Now, assuming you've set the parking brake, wiggle the toes on both feet and rotate both of your ankles. Really focus on feeling each individual toe move inside your shoe; this again helps bring warmth and circulation to your feet and lower legs.

Finally, rock your hips from side to side. This helps relax your spine and lower back, and also brings circulation into those areas. You can play with direction and tempo -- if it helps, imagine you're doing a hoola-hoop or salsa dance right there in the driver's seat!

Now feeling refreshed all over your body, you can disengage the parking brake and prepare for the green light to "go" on feeling less stress in yourbody ... and it only took one minute!

-- let me know if you find this useful!

Welcome to Youniversoul Thoughts

Hello, and welcome to the first posting of "Youniversoul Thoughts", a blog published by Adele Cox, the owner and founder of "Youniversoul Body-Oriented Health & Wellness". I've created a unique Somatic Health & Wellness practice that blends my training and experience in Bodywork and Counseling to help you experience yourself as an integrated being. My website has information about my background, credentials, and the work I do, but I also wanted to communicate directly with you about my thoughts, ideas, questions, and interesting information related to living a holistically healthly life.

I don't think of "holistic health" as simply a term that means "an alternative to traditional medicine"; I believe it's really about an approach to life. I also don't think of "somatic" as simply "the body"; I believe it's about all of who you are. So in terms of my work, I'm interested in the many different dimensions of your life: your "personal" Self (body, mind, energy, emotions, spirit); your "relational" Self (how you interact with your business, casual, and intimate relationships), and your Self through time (past, present, future). Believe it or not, all of these aspects (and probably many others I haven't listed) can intensely impact who you are at this moment! You're not simply a body, or just your past, or an isolated entity in your relationships -- you're a complex being having experiences through all the aspects of your Self, and I believe your growth and healing experience is most effectively served by including these aspects.

I look forward to hearing your comments!