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3 Wellness Techniques To Release The Daily Stress of Running a Business

These breathing techniques can help you turn down your response to stress through the day. Breath focus helps with nearly all of them.

Stephanie Beuther, founder and CEO of Beyond Fitness | Credit: The Adrianne Photo

First, I want to congratulate you on taking the next step to increase your human functionality and performance.

“Whether you’re a long-time business owner or an aspiring entrepreneur, there’s no doubt you’ve got a million things on your plate including sales meetings, admin tasks, travel – you name it. That being said, it can become all too easy to neglect your health and wellness.”

Now, many of you are already set in your fitness routines. However, I want to enhance your results even further, by providing you with a simple breathing guide, that will help generate a clear mind and vision throughout the day.

Leave the excuses at the door. Take time to invest in your health.

 

Muscle tension release

Keep this simple. Exactly how it sounds, is exactly how it’s performed. As you inhale, you want to bring your muscles into contraction (tight and engaged), then as you exhale; your breath should be hard and long.

  • Step 1: Pick a body part you want to relax.
  • Step 2: Grip that body part with one hand.
  • Step 3: Inhale and begin to make a fist with your other hand, to increase tension in muscle. (You will feel your body start to shake, be careful not to overexert your energy).
  • Step 4: Exhale as much as you can, counting to 5. Allow your limbs to feel loose and free.
  • Step 5: Continue until your muscle has released all of it’s pressure.
  • Step 6: Examine the difference between muscle tension and release.

It is important to focus on one muscle group at a time to allow full relaxation. Once you have released full breathe, relax for 10-20 seconds, then pick another muscle group to work through this technique.

 

Guided visualization

I hope you are ready for this!

Photo: Brooke Cagle, Unsplash
Photo: Brooke Cagle, YFS Magazine

We all know how to take a mental glimpse of ourselves performing the activities we love. Now, it is time to transition that vision into reality. Guided visualization is a simple technique that will allow your mind to drift into endless possibilities. “Visualization and imagery (sometimes referred to as guided imagery) techniques offer yet another avenue for stress reduction.”

  • Step 1: Get comfortable and position yourself to where you feel that you are able to sink low into your skin.
  • Step 2: Begin to envision yourself in the most relaxing environment you can imagine.
  • Step 3: Inhale and describe to yourself every detail and image that you see, feel, or hear around you.
  • Step 4: Allow your mind to wander off for as long as it wants and visualize a mini vacation for yourself.
  • Step 5: Exhale and come back to reality while counting back from 30.
  • Step 6: Remain in the same mindset and focus on your tasks for the day.

Guided visualization will help you start your day off in a positive direction. The more encouraging thoughts you create, the more action you will generate.

 

Diaphragmatic breathing

Taking deep breaths can help you voluntarily regulate your [autonomic nervous system] ANS, which can have many benefits — especially by lowering your heart rate, regulating blood pressure, and helping you relax, all of which help decrease how much of the stress hormone cortisol is released into your body.”

Your diaphragm is beneath your rib cage, and when you begin to inhale and exhale, your lungs start to contract. During inhalation, your diaphragm contracts so your lungs can expand into the extra space and let in as much air as is necessary. This type of breathing can be performed anywhere at any time.

Before you begin this process, keep in mind this type of breathing is not done through your chest – only abdominal.

  • Step 1: Find a place that is comfortable for you.
  • Step 2: Focus on the sounds and rhythm of your breathing or the environment around you.
  • Step 3: Lie on your back, with knees flexed and feet flat on the ground.
  • Step 4: Breathe in through your nose, the air going into your nose should move downward so that you feel your stomach rise with your other hand.
  • Step 5: Let your belly relax. You should feel the hand that’s over it fall inward (toward your spine). Don’t force your stomach inward by squeezing or clenching your muscles; use your breath.
  • Step 6: Continue to do so, until you feel a sudden stretch in your abdominal area.
  • Step 7: Perform 4x times to heighten relation.

 

Turn down your response to stress

These techniques can help you turn down your response to stress. Breath focus helps with nearly all of them. According to Harvard Health Publishing, “The first step is learning to breathe deeply.”

Breathing can shift your focus into any direction you envision. I have found, the more life-changing opportunities I create for myself, the more driven I feel towards my goals. We have the natural ability to change any path we start.

 

Stephanie Beuther is the founder and CEO of Beyond Fitness, an online and private coaching startup, that inspires others to live a healthy and happy lifestyle.

 

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