The I'm sure most of us already know that stress is not good for us.

It can affect our health and happiness in many ways.

But sometimes it feels like it's unavoidable. Like life just keeps handing us

things to worry about and so we must continue the cycle, right? The thing is, stress can become an

addiction. We can get used to the chemical reaction in our bodies when living under high levels of

chronic stress and it starts to feel weird or

unfamiliar when we don't react that way to the things that trigger us. But the truth is, we do have

the ability to disconnect from stress and anxiety. The first step in doing so is awareness. We have to

become aware of that familiar feeling of stress in our bodies. Maybe it's

heart palpitations or a tightness in your stomach, shallower breathing or muscle tension,

and consciously let it go. I've been working with this lately to try to increase feelings of

stability and grounding.

When I notice the stress creeping up, I try to stop.

Take a deep breath and feel the stress response draining out through my feet and into the earth.

Let's try it together right now.

Taking a deep breath in,

scan your body for any active or residual feelings of stress, anxiety, or tension.

Once you identify the feeling and where it is in your body, breathe into that area.

Feel the breath flowing into it on the inhale.

And on the exhale, imagine the breath is flowing from that space of stress or holding

all the way down and out through your feet. Let's repeat this three more

times. Inhale into the area of stress. Exhale it out through your feet, feeling it drain away.

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