Hey there everyone and welcome to the ZEN ZONE, where we take time out each Friday in April to zoom in on stress management information, resources, and strategies.
Last week we looked at sources of stress, and how wellness supports like focusing on slowing down the flow of information helps keep stress from being unhelpful. This week, we’re following up with another question: how can we best respond to stress in the moment?
A key component to responding to stress is to recognize how it affects the body physically — check out the BBC video below that explains more.
One of the stress management strategies from the Canadian Medical Association website is a breathing exercise developed by the Canadian Armed Forces (tactical breathing):
- Breathe in slowly for a count of four, visualizing each number as you count.
- Pause and hold your breath for a count of four.
- Exhale slowly for a count of four.
- Repeat four times.
Consider adding this breathing exercise in to your daily wellbeing practices. You can also have a peek at the wellbeing suggestions for the 30 Day Challenge and add new ideas to your calendar for this week!
