3 Effective Holistic Approaches to Relieving Stress
Stress is prevalent in our society and our lives. There is no avoiding it, so we need to find healthy ways to cope with the stressful events in our lives and reduce the negative effects stress has on the body. A holistic approach takes into consideration the three components of a person – mind body and spirit. There are numerous natural approaches to stress management and just 3 of the holistic approaches to relieving stress are outlined below.
According to Holistic MindBody Healing, “taking a holistic stress management approach increases your self awareness and gives you and gives you a way in to developing inner peace and better physical health.” Once you understand the underlying problems causing you stress, the natural treatments to the stress become apparent.
One way to fight mental and emotional stress involves simply taking advantage of those simple, stress-reducing things already existing around us. Hugging releases oxytocin, a natural stress-reducer, and it makes us feel loved and cared for. If you’re at home, you can take a relaxing bath or shower. Tensing and relaxing your different muscle groups consciously helps your work out unwanted stress. Focusing on your deep breathing, engaging in light stretching, yoga, and focusing on the things around you that you are grateful for are other ways to stop stress in its tracks and re-center yourself naturally wherever you are.
Another holistic approach to relieving stress is what is known as Emotional Freedom Technique or EFT tapping. This approach works with the body’s energy systems along meridian points. It is known that negative emotions cause upset in the energy system of our body. We can locate these energy disruptions and address them by gently tapping on certain select meridian points around the body in a particular order while engaging in positive self-talk. With roots connected to Chinese acupuncture, EFT is backed by extensive neuroscience and is proven to rebalance energy systems and alleviate internal causes of stress. There are numerous online guides to walk you through this technique.
The third of the holistic approaches to relieving stress is the use of essential oils. Pure, organic essential oils are natural and effective remedies proven to have incredible medicinal properties for anxiety and other mental health issues. One of the most popular pure, organic essentials oils to combat stress and anxiety is lavender. It is widely known for its calming and mild sedative effect. Other popular choices to reduce stress are Bergamot, Frankincense, Marjoram and Cary Sage. A few drops of the oils in a spray bottle, applied to your skin or simply inhaled from the bottle have tremendous healing effects.
