The following list of the best stress therapy solutions can go a long way to helping you re-balance your life. Pick one or pick many. I am sure there is something here for everyone.
Not All Stress is Bad!
Let me start by saying that not all stress is bad!
I know… I know… we’ve all been taught for years that stress is a big bad scary monster. We’ve all been told to do our best to get rid of it.
In fact, the media has worked overtime on this point.
The media always seems to portray the human stress response system as some kind of helpless weakling. It seems every study on stress in the past 75 years proves stress is the enemy.
But, here’s the thing…
Trying to avoid stress and hide from it actually makes stress worse. That’s right! When you try to avoid stress, hide from stress, or live in stress denial, you end up being worse off.
This is because negativity about stress causes your body to make MORE of a toxic stress hormone, called Cortisol. Conversely, it makes much LESS of a much-needed neurotransmitter called D.H.E.A., which is a much shortened version of De-hydro-epi-an-drost-er-one.
Of course, having a negative stress mindset is not the only thing that causes the body to make too much Cortisol, but it’s a major factor, and it’s a major problem.
Cortisol Makes Us Sick… Very Sick!
When Cortisol levels go up in the human body and D.H.E.A. levels go down, things can get very bad for us mere mortals indeed, and there is little that any superhero in an superhero universe can do about it.
Truth be told, this one thing… this one messed up biological ratio… is the reason why we’re all so sick these days.
Did you know, in North America, at least 75% of people have one chronic degenerative disease or condition already? If that’s not bad enough, 50% of people have 2 or more chronic degenerative diseases or conditions?
And those are just the big ones. Those stats don’t even touch on a whole host of smaller annoyances that collectively can more than steal quality of life from any and all of us.
The reality is that Cortisol over-production is at the very root of most, if not all, chronic degenerative diseases and conditions.
Now, I don’t know about you… but that’s NOT a reality I want for myself or my family.
So, What Do We Do About Stress?
To begin, we could all benefit from a huge list of the best stress therapy solutions to put us back in the stress management driver’s seat.
Taking it one step further, we all need to “EMBRACE” stress. We need to “FALL IN LOVE” with stress.
You see… stress does so much for us, that we really should be nicer to it.
- Stress keeps us alive.
- And stress boosts our drive.
- Stress makes us want to strive.
- And stress makes sure we survive.
- Stress has the power to help us thrive.
In fact, without healthy (GOOD) stress, most people are depressed, anxious, bored and unhappy. I know it seems strange, but it’s the truth. Many studies have PROVEN that people with the highest levels of stress… good stress, that is… are not that bad off at all. They are not unhappy and they are not really all that sick.
Rather, the studies show the people who are the worst off are the ones who have tons of stress, but also have NO meaning in their lives. The people with a strong sense of purpose, even if they deal daily with plenty of stress, are the happiest, healthiest, most self-motivated and successful people on the planet. Go figure!
After all, it’s STRESS —GOOD STRESS OR GREAT STRESS—that helps them get there. It’s constructive and controlled stress that makes all the difference.
I guess the question is, how do you make stress a good thing in your life? Well, it’s all in how you think about it. It’s also all about how you cope with stress, so you can turn it into something good.
100+ of the Best Stress Therapy Solutions… THE LIST!
This list of stress management therapies will give you plenty of ideas on how you can leverage stress for good instead of being victimized by it.
Ready? Let’s get started with this list of 100+ stress management therapies.
Acupressure/Acupuncture Therapy
Acupressure uses massage and pressure points and acupuncture uses micro-needles; however, both therapies target energy meridians in the body with the aim of clearing blockages in the flow of electrical energy through the body.
Adrenal Fatigue Therapy
Cortisol is a necessary, but often overused stress hormone produced in the adrenal glands. Therefore, using enzyme supplements to support the adrenal glands allows the re-balancing of the stress response system in the body.
Adrenaline Therapy
If you are feeling down, find a roller coaster or a zip lining facility and get a pick me up from the adrenaline rush. However, only do this if you find these activities fun; otherwise, you’ll get too much Cortisol and feel worse instead of better.
Adventure Therapy
Besides adrenaline, you also want to get the other happy brain chemicals, too. Thankfully, you can get all four of them on an adventurous journey with friends and family where you’re all seeking something or working on challenges together.
Affirmation Therapy
Your cell membranes (cell coverings) have 2 kinds of receptors. One picks up physical signals from products in the bloodstream, such as drugs or supplements. In contrast, the other picks up energy signals from the environment. The second uses vibrational technology. So, go ahead and use positive affirmations to talk yourself stress-free.
Anger Therapy
Rather than bottling anger and then releasing it in aggressive or passive-aggressive ways, choose to honor your anger. Get to an anger room and take out all that frustration on the padded walls instead of on your family and friends.
Animal-Assisted Therapy
Oxytocin is a powerful neurotransmitter made in the human brain. Most of us don’t get enough of this love, trust and bonding hormone. One way to get a little more is by interacting with living creatures—cats, dogs, rabbits, farm animals.
Aquarium Therapy
There’s something about watching fish swim in an aquarium that is mesmerizing to human beings. While we sit and contemplate fish, our stress and anxiety levels go down a lot. A little like hypnosis, it allows us to block out information overload.
Aquatic Therapy
Floating in water can be very therapeutic for us over-stressed human beings. The therapeutic impact on the body is dramatic. But don’t think it has to be cold water like you’d find at a pool, a warm bath or hot tub can also help a great deal.
Aromatherapy
Need an emotional pick me up? What better way than to engage your olfactory senses—your sense of smell. Often, we must put up with unpleasant smells all around us, but it’s a far better idea to use aroma to create happy moods.
Art Therapy
By creating art through drawing or painting, you may be able to increase your awareness of self and the challenges you face in life. There are many skilled practitioners who can help you engage in the life-affirming pleasure of making art.
Biofeedback Therapy
Learning to control your physiology is an important part of stress management. Using biofeedback analysis, you can learn to interpret your stress response in different situations. Eventually, you can be in control without the device.
Body Mapping Therapy
There are many body mapping therapies such as hand and foot reflexology, iridology (eyes) and auriculo mapping (ears). Mapping technologies use zones and reflex areas to sort out health challenges from stress.
Brainstorm Therapy
Many emotional stressors are just simple problems needing to be solved. Sometimes coming up with a good solution to a problem can make all the difference. Brainstorming can be an excellent strategy for creative problem-solving.
Breathing Therapy
Many people lack a good breathing technique. At birth, we are all excellent breathers, but as time passes, our breathing becomes shallow and labored. It’s time to relearn how to breathe properly.
Chakra Therapy
Chakra is the Sanskrit (Indian) name for the 7 main points of the human Endocrine system where all hormones and neurochemicals are made. Rebalancing your Endocrine system is a major key to effective stress management.
Chess Therapy
The awareness of tactics and strategies as well as the concentration and focus needed to be good at the game of chess can be very useful in managing emotional stress. It’s hard to learn, but it can be very useful and liberating.
Chiropractic Therapy
Chiropractic involves manipulating the spine to allow the nervous system to function smoothly. Since so much repressed emotion becomes stored in the central nervous system, it is important to have good health in the spinal column.
Raw, dark chocolate is one of nature’s superfoods. For stress management purposes, there isn’t anything that good quality, raw, dark chocolate without fillers can’t do in terms of fighting the effects of all types of stress.
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)
Chronic emotional stress can cause us to behave in crazy ways and unfortunately, many behaviors, once started, cannot be controlled by rational thought. CBT can help alter destructive behaviors by altering unconstructive thought processes.
Collection Therapy
Building and maintaining a collection of things like stamps, coins, spoons or dolls can bring out your inner hunter-gather and cause the production of the brain chemical, Dopamine, which can help keep Cortisol under control.
Coloring Therapy
Lately, there has been a craze in adult coloring books being used as a stress management tool. As a form of art therapy, complicated coloring can be a powerful stress reliever. The need for concentration can be quite meditative.
Contemplative Prayer Therapy
Most personality types benefit greatly from belief in a higher power to take the weight of the world off their shoulders. However, ascribing to an insistent belief in only one way of interpreting that higher power will increase Cortisol levels.
Crafting Therapy
Like art therapy through drawing or painting, participating in the DIY maker culture or doing crafting of any kind can significantly reduce stress levels in life. You can specialize in just one or two crafting skills or you can become a generalist.
Craniosacral Therapy
Similar to chiropractic, craniosacral therapy uses therapeutic touch to manage the flow of cerebrospinal fluid through the body, with the aim of ensuring smooth operation of the central nervous system.
Crying Therapy
Therapeutic crying can cause the body to produce endorphin, the extreme joy or euphoria hormone. Endorphin is one of the four critical neurotransmitters made in the brain that help control Cortisol levels.
Crystal Therapy
Crystal or gem therapy involves placing natural minerals on various points of the Endocrine System allowing the natural properties of the metals and minerals such as magnetism to interact with the natural metals and minerals in the blood.
As one of the expressive therapies, dance and movement therapy allows people to explore deep emotion through movement. Lack of awareness is often a great contributor to repressed emotion blockages. Movement can reduce the effects.
D.E.P.E.S.T. Therapy
D.E.P.E.S.T. or P.E.S.T.L.E. is an acronym most often seen in the business world in the areas of strategic planning or marketing to help a company explore its competitive environment. When used to explore our personal environments and how these contribute to stress levels, it can be a very powerful tool.
Destruction Therapy
Sometimes, an anger room with padded walls is not enough to release all the strong negative emotions that build up from bad stress. Destruction therapy can be a great alternative. Just get dressed up in safety gear and start smashing.
Detoxification Therapy
When the body gets filled up with too many toxins from too many different sources, it’s hard for anything in the body to work correctly. Sometimes the best solution is to go through a healthy detoxification process.
Drama Therapy
Drama therapy can knock back stress because it helps people explore feelings through role-playing. The personal growth and development that occurs, as a result, can help a person respond more productively to stress.
E.F.T. Therapy (Emotional Freedom Techniques)
Based on some of the same energy meridians as acupressure and acupuncture, this tapping technique releases repressed emotions by stating the problem out loud and then tapping away energy blockages in the body.
Electromagnetic Therapy
The positive ions from all the electromagnetic waves that permeate our environments wreak havoc in our bodies. Thankfully, there is some research on reversing this reality by using helpful electro-magnetic waves to enhance health instead.
Eye Movement De-sensitization & Reprocessing Therapy (EMDR)
Eye movement desensitization and reprocessing therapy or EMDR is used to help solve post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) by challenging the manner in which the brain has stored traumatic memories and helping to normalize memories.
Enneagram Therapy
The Enneagram is a personality typing system, which blends 9 personality types with 9 levels of development for each type. Using the levels of development in this typing system, a person is more likely to achieve and maintain more effective stress management skills. It becomes sustainable.
Enviro-Detox Therapy
Chemical and electromagnetic stress fills our environments. When the air gets too thick with pollution and positive ions, it wreaks havoc with our physiology. An environmental detoxification can become very necessary.
Equine-Assisted Therapy
Equine-assisted therapy is another version of animal therapy. Unlike with smaller animals that are easily controlled by human beings, it’s more difficult to control a horse and so trust levels must be higher; thereby producing more Oxytocin.
Exercise Therapy
During exercise, the body produces a huge number of healthy hormones and brain chemicals, all of which are effective at reducing the effects of stress. Some of these are Endorphin, Nitric Oxide, DHEA and BDNF.
Flower Essence Therapy
Bach Flower Remedies were the first of the flower essence technologies. Discovered by Dr. Edward Bach (pronounced ‘batch’, not ‘bawk’), in the 1930s, these 38 remedies help to control emotional challenges brought on by stress using vibrational or quantum physical technology.
Friend Therapy
There is a saying that, “A good friend is better than therapy!” and in stressful times, friends can really help alleviate suffering. When you spend time with trusted friends, your body produces Oxytocin; thereby reducing Cortisol levels.
Goal Setting Therapy
High Cortisol levels often mean low Dopamine levels—not a good mix. Get more Dopamine by setting small goals or larger goals with small steps and achieving them one at a time. Each successful step gives a small blast of Dopamine.
Guided Imagery Therapy
Ever noticed that music can make us feel great? Blend the benefits of music with descriptive storytelling to create positive imagery in your mind. Your body will release powerful brain chemicals that can reduce stress.
Grounding Therapy
Another way to neutralize free radicals (a.k.a. stop bad stress) and help these Tasmanian devils find their match is by harnessing the power of the Earth’s surface, a a process known simply as Grounding or Earthing.
Habits and Routines Therapy
There’s no question that controlling stress with well-designed habits and routines is an excellent stress management solution. It all comes back to the idea of reinventing the wheel. If you have to start from scratch every time you complete a task, life is going to be much more stressful.
Heliotherapy
Most people don’t get enough sun and as a result, not enough Vitamin D. The entire cold and flu season, especially in northern climates, can be blamed on people staying indoors too much. With bad stress comes illness, so get some sun.
Herbal Therapy
Adaptogenic herbs offer powerful tools for managing stress. Asian, American & Siberian Ginseng, Ashwagandha, Suma, Astragalus, Licorice Root, Schisandra, Jiaogulan, and Reishi, Shiitake & Maitake mushrooms are ten of the best.
Hobby Therapy
Do you have a hobby? Like crafting and art therapy, having a hobby gives us an opportunity to take a short break from life pressures. Engaging in hobbies can cause the brain to create needed to neurotransmitters to reduce Cortisol levels.
Hormone Balancing Therapy
Hormone balancing therapy is at the root of wellness. The hormones and neurochemicals made in the body control every aspect of life. When they fall out of balance, it can be a recipe for disaster. It’s best to use safe, natural methods.
Horticulture Therapy
PTSD (Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder) survivors can benefit by engaging with plants. Plants are alive, but they are still inanimate and allow highly stressed people a peaceful hobby. Also, plants release negative ions into the air and reduce electromagnetic stress.
Hug Therapy
Therapist and author, Virginia Satir said, “We need 4 hugs a day for survival, 8 hugs a day for maintenance and 12 hugs a day for growth. A simple 20-second hug causes the brain to release Oxytocin, nature’s antidepressant.
Hypnotherapy
People trying to beat stress can alter their subconscious mind and develop new ways of approaching life on every level. Allowing music and helpful messaging to enter the mind while fully relaxed can significantly reduce stress.
Invention Therapy
Inventors spend their time working on solving problems, which forces the brain to make Dopamine. Succeeding at solving problems is likely to increase your social status, which will give you the respect chemical, Serotonin. Both are important happy brain chemicals.
Journaling Therapy
Take time to write in your journal, but only focus on the positives in your life. Then when you review your written thoughts, you will be able to get blasts of all the happy brain chemicals. Never write negative stuff in a journal that you may review later. Can you say Cortisol City?
Kindness Therapy
If you want lots of happy brain chemicals on demand, then you have to pay it forward. Being kind to others will score you plenty of those very helpful, stress-reducing neurotransmitters, such as Dopamine, Oxytocin, and Serotonin. But don’t cross the resentment line. When you start to feel resentful or any other useless emotions, it’s time to dial back your generosity and kindness, or you will soon be entering that ever dangerous Cortisol territory. No doormats allowed.
Laughter Therapy
Big, deep belly laughing causes the body to make Endorphin, the extreme joy brain chemical, also called the euphoria hormone. Endorphin has an incredible ability to reduce Cortisol levels in the body, which is great for managing stress.
Leisure Time Therapy
When stress gets too far out of control, it can actually take away a person’s functional independence. Recreation or leisure therapy uses non-threatening activities to help bring back social, cognitive and coping skills.
Light Restriction Therapy
Office environments have fluorescent lighting that makes people sick. In modern times, we have added the blue lights of mobile and other computer devices. Light restriction therapy aims to help people rebalance from light pollution.
Lost Opportunity Cost Therapy (LOC)
With information overload in full swing in the information age, stress has caused people to lose perspective on their priorities. By examining everything from the perspective of lost opportunity costs, people are better able to regain clarity.
Martial arts training has it all from a stress management perspective. It offers self-discipline, fitness, self-defense, social status & respect, reward and more. This one therapy gives you all the happy brain chemicals and far less Cortisol.
Massage Therapy
Getting a therapeutic massage not only offers relaxation and in some cases, pain relief, it also helps the body to produce Oxytocin, the trust and bonding hormone that is so important to effective stress management.
Meditation Therapy
Clearing and focusing the mind raises BDNF & DHEA levels. These brain chemicals go a long way to changing your stress ratio from a negative view of stress to a positive view of stress. When we learn stress can be good, it changes everything.
Mega Vitamin Therapy
When the body is too stressed for too long, the adrenal glands and immune system can be so depleted they stop functioning properly. Mega dosing on HIGH-QUALITY supplements for 6-12 months can reverse oxidative stress damage.
Mind Mapping Therapy
Brainstorm therapy is an excellent tool for increasing problem-solving skills, but using mind mapping for brainstorming adds in a creative element that balances the brain and causes the production of additional healthy neurotransmitters.
Mindset Intervention Therapy
For nearly a century, we’ve been taught that stress is bad, but viewing stress as bad changes our stress index ratio from good to bad. A stress mindset intervention can get people back on track and make stress good again.
Narrative Therapy
Some people develop a very negative and destructive belief system about their own life and the story they tell themselves, which keeps them in a vicious cycle. People need to re-write their stories to create more constructive outcomes.
Nature Therapy
Also called eco-therapy, green therapy or earth-centered therapy, this therapy is about grounding and getting rid of electromagnetic stress. It’s particularly important for people in dense urban areas. People need to get back to nature.
Neurotransmitter Therapy
Dozens of neurotransmitters in the brain are responsible for everything we do and every emotion we have. Engaging in a deliberate program of increasing Cortisol-reducing brain chemicals would make you a stress management hero.
Neuro-Associative Conditioning Therapy (NAC)
The human brain is all about survival. We are hard-wired to move toward pleasure and away from pain. Most, if not all, of the neurotransmitters in the brain support and drive this process. NAC is a therapy that clarifies this system.
Neuro-Linguistic Programming Therapy (NLP)
NLP is a narrative therapy that uses language to reprogram destructive behavior and thoughts. The field of Epigenetics has proven that human cells have energy receptors in the cell membrane and can be affected by non-physical signals.
Nutrition Therapy
The ancient Greek doctor, Hippocrates, said, “Let food be thy medicine.” More than 70% of all chronic disease is caused by the food we eat because of all the chemical stress it creates in the body. Time to clean up our diets.
Organic Food Therapy
Sometimes the human body just becomes clogged with too many toxins and chemicals and it’s time for some organic food therapy. I recommend going fully raw vegan organic for 5-7 days to clean out the colon and give the body a break from all the toxic physical stressors. Even 2-3 days can help immensely.
Personal Peace Therapy
When our list of regrets and fears grows too long, it interferes with day to day functioning. We can’t just move past bad experiences; rather, we must release the repressed emotion from all of it. Personal peace therapy gets this done.
Play Therapy
Like recreation or leisure therapy, play therapy is often used with children to counter the effects of destructive and traumatic stressors. Play therapy can go along way to relearning social, cognitive and self-management skills and abilities.
Positive Stress Therapy
Once a person completes a stress mindset intervention, it takes practice to get good at viewing stress in this new way. Adding constructive and controlled stress to your life in small, deliberate doses can be very liberating.
Positivity Therapy
The field of positive psychology is growing quickly. It’s all about teaching people practical skills for managing stress. By strengthening the brain’s prefrontal cortex and by reducing inflammation in the HPA Axis, people can manage life far better.
Primal Therapy
Primal therapy is all about connecting with our primal instincts and forcefully releasing repressed emotion through extended, explosive emotional outbursts, such as screaming, whaling and crying to produce Endorphin.
Progressive Relaxation Therapy
For many, stress becomes stored in the tiniest of muscles in the body. By using progressive relaxation therapy, a person can successfully release destructive emotions that have been trapped in the muscular system for long periods.
Quietness Therapy
There is a new wellness trend out there. It’s all about being quiet or silent. There are spas and wellness retreat centres popping up all over the world that focus on the power of silence as a stress reduction and wellness therapy.
Radionics Therapy
Radionics uses full-spectrum electrical energy waves to interact with energy receptors on the membranes of human cells. To understand how this works, we need to move away from Newtonian physics and over to quantum physics
Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT)
REBT is one form of cognitive behavior therapy. People do not become stressed by situations and events directly, but rather by how they view or interpret these situations and events. REBT aims to help people construct more helpful views.
Rebirthing Therapy
The purpose of re-birthing is to redo our childhoods and give ourselves a fresh start. So many of us have had traumatic childhoods and going through a healthy re-birthing process can change our entire worldview for the good.
Redox Signalling Therapy
Redox signaling molecules (RSMs) are made by the body to help with regeneration and healing; however, as we age, we make fewer RSMs. RSM supplements can reboot the immune and stress response systems in the body.
Reiki Therapy
Reiki is a Japanese stress reduction and relaxation therapy that uses a gentle touch to balance the flow of electrical energy through the human body. Reiki also builds in the use of meditation and contemplative prayer to the healing process.
Reward Therapy
Dopamine is a powerful neurotransmitter produced in the brain. Misuse of this area of the brain causes most addictions. Healthy reward therapy programs designed to enhance Dopamine production can help change this reality for many.
Salt Lamp Therapy
The destructive positive ions in the air that come from electromagnetic radiation interfere with the flow of electrical energy through the body. Light shining through a block of natural salt can neutralize stress-inducing positive ions.
Sandplay Therapy
Sandplay therapy is a hands-on tool that uses trays of wet and dry sand to help a person spontaneously and imaginatively create three-dimensional scenes, designs, figurines and objects to express and mediate personal stress and trauma.
Sculpture Therapy
Sculpture therapy is a tactile form of art therapy allowing physical interaction with natural substances such as wood and clay. This provides a grounding effect and it stimulates the creative areas of the brain.
Self-Confidence Therapy
Building up self-confidence is a central concept in stress management. Often, it’s our fears that cause the most destructive stress responses in our bodies. Using deliberate confidence-building strategies can make a big difference.
Self-Pride Therapy
Make daily lists of 5-10 micro-achievements and give yourself a pat on the back after reading each one. Say, YES! I DID IT! I’M AMAZING! I ROCK!” after each item. The Dopamine blast you’ll get can make you feel good for a few hours at a time.
Sense of Purpose Therapy
Having a rock solid sense of purpose in life—some important cause you believe in—makes stress easier to manage. It gives you a reason to put up with stress and changes your stress index, raising DHEA and lowering Cortisol.
Shopping-Non-Shopping Therapy
Many people think retail therapy is a bad thing, but that’s only true if you run up your credit cards. Time to turn on your inner hunter-gatherer and get a huge Dopamine blast. Make a list of cool things and then go treasure hunting, but don’t buy anything. Just the act of seeking and finding will give you a flood of Dopamine.
Singing Therapy
Singing is a form of primal therapy that gets you in touch with your inner primal instincts. Singing loudly is the key and it doesn’t matter if you are on key or not. They say, “Music soothes the savage beast!” and that is definitely true.
Sleep Therapy
We all need to get enough sleep… period! There is no faster way to traumatize your body than to allow it to be sleep deprived for long periods or on a repetitive basis. Getting enough sleep should be number one on your stress therapies list.
Social Media Therapy
A great way to get a little Oxytocin is to build proxy trust via social media interactions. Having social status, even if it’s only online, can cause the production of Serotonin, the respect chemical.
Social Therapy
Social therapy is a group-based talk therapy process that allows people to share traumas with others and thereby get support from people who understand. The entire “Anonymous” program is likely the best-known example of social therapy.
Sound & Music Therapy
Sound and music therapy is an expressive therapy that allows a person to improve cognitive, social, motor functioning and emotional coping skills through improvisation, singing, listening, discussing, and moving to music.
Spa Therapy
There are so many new developments in spa therapy that it would almost be a crime not to list it. Between mud baths (for detoxing), massage (for Oxytocin) and hot springs (water therapy), the list of stress therapies is too long to list.
Stretching Therapy
Like progressive relaxation, stretching is a key component of releasing repressed emotion from the muscular system of the body. Keeping our muscles limber is as important as regularly detoxifying our digestive tract.
Talk Therapy
Often, society would have us believe that talk therapy is the only way to solve stress and while this is not exclusively true at all, talk therapy should not be overlooked. There are dozens of talk therapies that can help with stress.
Team Therapy
Joining a sports team gives your body the perfect happy brain chemical cocktail to keep Cortisol levels low. You get Oxytocin from bonding, Serotonin from respect, Endorphin from exercise and laughter and Dopamine from winning.
Technology Therapy
For people in remote or rural locations, getting access to adequate support systems can be challenging. Since the advent of mobile technologies and Skype, people can now get all the help they need from anywhere in the world.
Thought Field Therapy
The Buddha said, “We are shaped by our thoughts; we become what we think. When the mind is pure, joy follows like a shadow that never leaves.” Thought Field Therapy focuses on releasing the negative thoughts that accumulate and lead to stress and illness.
Tidiness Therapy
According to Japanese tidying expert, Marie Kondo, there is life-changing magic (extreme stress reduction) in the simple act of tidying up and then keeping things tidy. Taking minimalism and decluttering to the next level, Ms. Kondo teaches, “Unless you truly, deeply love an item, it has no business in your home.”
Time Out Therapy
Many of us seem to live at the speed of thought. Sometimes the only way to kick start a stress reduction program is to just “STOP” and do nothing for a time. Then we’ll be able to generate a stress management plan and put it into play.
Travel Therapy
When we become to mired down in problems, it can be helpful to get a new view of life. Travel is a great way to get the job done. By visiting an under-developed region, you may be able to reorganize your priorities and your perspective.
Upheaval Therapy
There is a saying that, “Making a change is as good as a having a rest.” If this is true, then it follows that a bit of constructive and controlled upheaval in one’s life could be very stress-reducing. However, that would only be the case if the upheaval was accompanied by a very intentional positive stress mindset. That way you are getting plenty of DHEA (healthy and helpful neurotransmitter) and not more Cortisol (toxic, over-used stress hormone).
Volunteer Therapy
A great way to get happy brain chemicals is to do something nice for people. However, the volunteer work you choose MUST be enjoyable and relaxing because strife in your volunteer work equals Cortisol, not happy brain chemicals.
Wake Therapy
Choosing to stay awake for a 24-hour cycle or longer can activate underutilized parts of the brain and help with stress management. Blended with bright light therapy, the body believes it is under attack and literally forgets to be stressed.
Water Therapy
Being near rushing water like waterfalls, a water fountain, a hot tub or hot springs can fill the body with negative ions; thereby, neutralizing all the destructive positive ions that come from all the electromagnetic radiation in the air.
Wilderness Therapy
Taking on nature in a wilderness expedition is the ultimate stress reducer. Nature has a way of keeping things simple. You either do what needs to be done to survive or you don’t. Because there is no confusion, it is remarkably calming.
Writing Therapy
Writing is an excellent stress reliever. Journaling, songwriting, poetry, and storytelling are all very therapeutic and help a person to release repressed emotion. If your writings are angry, be sure to use a burning ritual afterward to get rid of the evidence. Writing therapy turned out to be one of the best stress management tips of all time for me. When I accepted my inner bard poet, my life changed so much for the better.
Yoga Therapy
For many, yoga is just a form of exercise and that alone is excellent for stress relief; however, if you embrace the philosophical foundations of the yogic practice, you can say goodbye to stress forever. Yoga has it all.
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