Please be aware that the information presented here is for educational and informational purposes only and is not meant to take the place of your physician or therapist.

Stress Busters are a set of exercises that will help you release stress hormones, be focused and think more clearly, balance your energy and feel more coordinated and integrated. The more you do them the more often you will stay switched on and grounded.

[Before beginning the Stress Buster exercises bring awareness to how you feel right now. Rate your level of stress from 0 to 10, where 0 is complete calm and 10 is highly stressed. In your self-evaluation you may want to make note of any physical, mental, or emotional discomfort. For instance, are you having difficulty with focus and concentration? Is there any muscle tightness or cramping in the neck, back or legs? Do you notice any feelings of restlessness or anxiety? After performing the Stress Buster exercises see if there is any change in how you feel and if your initial number has changed?]

Stress Buster #1: Water

DRINK WATER! This may be one of the most important tips on this page, but we often neglect this most basic and crucial necessity. How much to drink? An easy way to make sure you're at least getting the minimum requirement is to drink an 8oz cup of water every hour. Depending on the level of activity being performed and your body type you may need even more.

Water facilitates chemical and electrical communication throughout and between the body and brain. Dehydration makes dealing with stress so much more difficult.

Stress Buster #2: Modified Wayne Cook Posture (Clarity, Calm, Focus)

This balancer will:

stimulate the movement of blocked energy
focus you if you are having trouble concentrating
make you less affected by the energies of people or things
strengthens the body's energy field
balances energy along key energy pathways

Cross your legs at the ankles. Stick out both arms in front of you thumbs pointing down. Cross one hand over the other at your wrists and interlock your fingers. Next, bend your elbows bringing your interlocked hands up to your chest. Touch the roof of your mouth with your tongue and just sit and breathe. The tongue goes against the roof of your mouth on the inhales and relaxes on the exhales.

Hold this pose for at least 5 to 10 deep breathes. If you prefer you can close your eyes during the exercise for even more relaxation. If something specific is bothering you bring this to mind and focus on it. When you feel the stress has dissipated uncross everything and bring your fingertips together still keeping your tongue against the roof of your mouth on inhales and relaxing on exhales for another 5 breathes.

This posture helps to balance front/back, right/left and up/down brain connections, in addition to fortifying your body's energy. You might want to try this before and after a fight or if you are dealing with some tough emotional issue you can't seem to dissengage from.

Stress Buster #3: Waking Up The Brain

This balancer will:

wake up your brain if your feeling lethargic
improve focus and concentration
help unscramble your energies
make you less susceptible to negative energy around you

Part 1:
Left/Right Integration (1-2 minutes)
First locate your K27 points. The K-27 points are the 27th pair of acupuncture points on the kidney meridian. There are 2 of them and they can be found by tracing both sides of your collarbone with your fingers moving toward the center of your chest. Stop when you come to the two bumps at the end. From here, slide straight down about a half an inch- some may find that there is an indentation. Rub these points very firmly with your thumb on one point and your index finger and middle finger on the other while holding your other hand over your navel with the fingers spread apart. Do this for a minute then switch hands and repeat for another minute.

Part2:
Up/Down integration (1-2 minutes)
Hold one hand over your navel spreading out your fingers. Using your other hand place your thumb below your bottom lip and your pointer finger above your top lip and rub vigorously to stimulate your front and back energy meridians. Rub for 30 seconds then switch hand positions and go for another 30 seconds.

You may need to do this twice if you are really fatigued to notice the effects.

Stress Buster #4: Coordination & Integration
(when your left brain isn't talking to your right brain)

This balancer will:

help you memorize information
integrate your left (detail) and right (big picture) brain hemispheres
allow you to feel more balanced
improve your coordination so you can think and do at the same time

All you need do is lift your left knee and touch it with your right hand. Now lift your right knee and touch it with your left hand. Repeat this movement about 25 times. Now touch your left knee with your left hand and then your right knee with your right hand for a count of 15. After you are done, end with 20 counts of opposite hand and knee combinations (right hand touches left knee, left hand touches right knee).

The right side of our brain controls the left side of our body, while the left side of the brain controls the right side of our body. Our body's energy also crosses over from left to right and right to left. This movement activates both brain hemispheres at the same time establishing better neural connections.

When our energies are not crossing over, they can slow down and start to run up and down our bodies like parallel lines forming what is know as a homolateral pattern. Doing the cross patterning exercise tends to be difficult when we are in a homolateral pattern.

Stress Buster #5: Emotional Stress Relief Points (ESR Points)

When you find yourself hurt, shocked, or otherwise rattled, instead of going into your body's typical stress response hold your Emotional Stress Relief Points.

Looking straight ahead, place the pads of your fingers directly above your eyebrows (about an inch to an inch and a half) onto your forehead. Take your thumbs and rest them on your temples. Hold this position for 3-5 minutes. The energy and warmth of your hands will direct blood flow to the front part of your brain allowing you think more clearly. Some people have bumps at these points also know as frontal eminences. So, the next time you get stressed, overwhelmed or highly emotional, holding your ESR (Emotional Stress Relief) points will allow you to calm down and get your bearings.

I hope by now you have experienced The Stress Buster exercises. In addition to managing stress, they can enhance your ability to learn faster, feel better, and handle change. It takes so little time to do, but can make such a big difference in your day and the effects are cumulative. The more you do them, the more your brain/body will respond. If you have any questions feel free to e-mail me.

To learn how to use energy based techniques first hand register for The Stress Free Seminar.If you are interested in clearing mental and emotional blocks, don't leave this site before taking a look at our Emotional Freedom Technique page or you can buy Dr. Fred Gallo's book, Energy Tapping. To gain a more comprehensive understanding of energy medicine and the mind body connection, I highly recommend Donna Eden's book and video, "Energy Medicine." If you are interested in a more straight forward just-give-me-the-exercises needed to perform a particular skill, then you must check out Paul & Gail Dennison's, "Brain Gym For Business." For an introduction into the effects of stress on the body and how this relates to energy take a look at our Stress page.