May is Mental Health Month, an article I wrote for One Red Shoe Foundation

EXERCISES TO IMPROVE BODY AND MIND

May is Mental Health Month, so I wanted to share my stress busters to use throughout the day.

Stress can build up in all areas of our life.  The number one place that people are under stress is generally the workplace.  But whenever you are feeling stressed these are wonderful exercises to help your body release it.  I recommend that you do one of these every hour for 2 minutes.  These will improve your mood; they will send blood to your brain and make you more alert, and these exercises will improve your productivity.

  • Weil’s 4-7-8 breathing exercise 4 rounds at least 2x daily. This resets your parasympathetic nervous system.  (Follow the link to a video where he does it) *
  • Take your fingers and push into your belly button and just jiggle for 1 minute. The theory is that your belly button is the beginning of our life, and through our belly button we can impact the entire body.  If you are in a private space, use the Belly Button Wand **.  But if you are in a public space your fingers work just fine.  This affects your reptilian brain at the back of your neck (the early brain in development) and significantly reduces your stress as proven by Dr. Emerel Mayer, executive director of the Oppenheimer Center for Stress and Resilience (uclacns.org) and the Co-director of the Digestive Diseases Research Center at the University of California at Los Angeles.
  • Stand and bounce in place every hour to break up the day will bring energy to the brain. Stand up by your desk, let your arms hang, and bounce.  Do this for 1-2 minutes
  • Tapping the body starting at the ankles and working up to the top of the head. Don’t hurry.  Do front and back of your feet, your ankles, your calves, your thighs, your tummy, your heart zone, go over and start with one hand and tap all the way up, then do the other, now tap your shoulders, your face and then the top of your head.  This should take 2 minutes.
  • Every hour on the ½ hour, stretch at your desk. Be sure to stretch up and stretch out.  You can do it seated, or you can stand.
  • I just learned a new stress releaser that you do from a sitting position. Put your hands on the side of your thighs (at the same time, one hand on the outside of each thigh) push out. Hold for 10 seconds and release.  You will feel relaxation go through your entire body.
  • When fatigued, toe tap from a sitting position. Just put your legs out straight and tap your toes.
  • Rest Your Eyes and Turn Off the Lights

*https://www.drweil.com/videos-features/videos/breathing-exercises-4-7-8-breath/

**https://www.bellybuttonhealing.com

 

 

 

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