She Can Heal Podcast

Ep. 41 - Stress Relief in Minutes: Simple Techniques for Busy Women

• Keila Aldea, LCSW • Season 2 • Episode 41

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Feeling overwhelmed by the constant juggling act of modern life? You're not alone. In this deeply practical episode, I dive into the critical difference between normal stress (which helps us survive) and chronic stress (which slowly destroys our health) while sharing four powerful yet incredibly simple stress-relief techniques you can use anywhere.

Your body's stress response was designed to protect you from immediate danger—not the constant barrage of deadlines, responsibilities, and pressures we face daily. When stress becomes chronic, it creates inflammation, disrupts sleep, weakens immunity, and leads to serious health issues. The good news? You already possess everything you need to interrupt this cycle.

From harnessing the underutilized power of your breath to quick movement breaks that release physical tension, I guide you through science-backed techniques that take just minutes. You'll learn how the 5-4-3-2-1 grounding method can instantly interrupt racing thoughts and how visualization can transport your mind to a peaceful sanctuary when everything feels overwhelming.

What sets these techniques apart is their accessibility. No special equipment, no memberships, no extended time commitments—just simple, effective tools you can implement during your workday, while sitting in traffic, or whenever stress begins to mount. I also share how our bodies signal stress long before our minds recognize it, and how learning to read these personal stress cues can transform your relationship with pressure.

 

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Speaker 1:

Hello and welcome to the she Can Heal podcast, a podcast aimed at helping women heal and thrive emotionally, physically and spiritually. I am your host, kayla Eldia. I'm a licensed therapist and a self-care advocate that is passionate about helping women take back their power and help them realize they're important, worthy and deserve the care and attention they give to those they love most in their lives. This show is meant to help inspire you on your healing journey, no matter if you're in the discovery phase and are just realizing that you have unhealed wounds, habits and mindsets that are keeping you stuck in your life, or you've been on this journey for a while and are looking for inspiration, encouragement and or new tools to help you continue on your healing journey. My goal is to help you realize that you can heal from all that life has thrown at you and are capable of evolving into your healthiest and happiest version. On this show, I will provide you with resources, tools and insights to help you heal and thrive emotionally, physically and spiritually, because you deserve all of that. So if you're ready to ditch the guilt and make yourself a priority, then you're in the right place, because the truth is that you can't pour from an empty cup, even though most of us do this on a regular, and we really need to stop that nonsense. So get ready to be inspired, motivated and equipped to truly thrive. Hello and welcome to another episode on the she Can Heal podcast. I am really happy that you're joining me for today's episode, and I hope this episode finds you feeling well and relaxed, because today we're going to talk about stress relief and I want to share with you some simple stress relief exercises that you can do that don't take a lot of time.

Speaker 1:

And the truth is that life is really stressful, and especially for women. Right, we're juggling so many different roles, you know. We're working, we have our kids, we have our spouses. We're just doing so much. We're taking care of our homes, and nowadays we're doing so much more things like running businesses and just doing so much, and it is stressful. It can be really stressful, you know, when you're trying to do so much and you're trying to get it all done in a day, and so constantly trying to balance it all can really weigh on you, and so it's really important for us to acknowledge that. Number one is that stress is something that is normal, right, stress is there to help us. It's to help us when we are in danger. Right, it is a mechanism that was created so that we can stay safe, so we can be hypervigilant, so that we can run, so that we can fight, so that we can get through any type of dangerous situation. But the truth is that the stress that we experience nowadays really does not have to do with danger. It has to do with just the stresses of daily life, and so stress is supposed to be something that kind of comes, it gets you through whatever it is that you need to get through.

Speaker 1:

Sometimes, stress could be a good thing, where it really pushes you to work harder, or, you know, I'm thinking when, you know, when you're studying for a test, or you are, you know, preparing for something big, you know that healthy stress kind of gets you going so that you can, you know, do the studying and really be alert and all of that. The problem is that we are experiencing we're not really experiencing that type of stress as much, right which is you go through a stressor and then the cortisol levels, you know, rise, the adrenaline rises, and then we're stabilized and then we're good to go. The stress that most of us are experiencing is more like chronic stress, which is the stress that stays here for a while. So we are seeing that people are experiencing long periods of stress, which actually is not. Really it's not good for us because our bodies are not equipped to handle that type of long stress right. Because if you think about it in the body, what stress really does is it diverts, you know, blood to your arms and to your legs, prepare you for running or prepare you for you know fighting, because, again, your brain doesn't know the difference between a real stress and a perceived, you know, threat or anything like that, and it really does create inflammation in your body to help you in case you know you are fighting something or like if you're in a car accident or anything like that, and so it's there to protect you and to keep you safe and to keep you alive.

Speaker 1:

The problem is when we are experiencing prolonged stress. That's when the inflammation stays there, like the body goes through some, really you know significant stressors which can really affect your body, and that's why people get all sorts of types of, you know illnesses and diseases from stress, and so our job is to know that stress is okay in the short term, but knowing that prolonged stress can really hurt us, and it's really important for us to learn how to equip ourselves with practical tools to navigate these stressful times, because they're here and they're going to come. So, even if you feel like I'm really good right now, where I'm not really experiencing a lot of stress, that's great. And you might be someone who says, oh my God, like my stress levels are through the roof, like I'm constantly stressed out, I feel sick all the time because I just have so much. I feel overwhelmed.

Speaker 1:

So, even if no matter where you are right now, it's important that you learn how to manage the stressors when they come, and so I want to talk with you and help you to identify some simple yet powerful stress relief exercises that you can incorporate into your day, no matter how packed your schedule feels. This is important because it is in the moments that we can acknowledge that we're going through a difficult time and then react in a way that's going to help us is really important. So it's not waiting until you're completely so stressed that you can't, you know, go to work, or that you are completely like pushing people away, you're isolating yourself or you're engaging in a lot of really unhealthy coping skills like drinking, overeating. You know those types of things. We want to be proactive with this because, again, my job here, the reason why I started this podcast, is because I want to help you to live a healthy life. Why? Because I personally know what it's like to not feel good, right, and you know, not know what can I do to feel better with my mental health, with my physical health right, with my relationships.

Speaker 1:

And the truth is that it's up to you to really take control of your life and how you feel, right, there's a lot of things that we can't control, and so there's things that may come up for you that you know you just can't control. Right, you can't control how busy you are at work. You can't control. You know all the different responsibilities. You can't control bad things that happen, but what you can control is how do you respond to it? Right, how you take care of yourself during those moments. That is the key, right? The key is that the only thing we can control is ourselves, right, it's our habits, it's how we respond to situations, it's who do we choose to be around. Right, how busy we are. Those are the things that we can control. And so when we talk about stress relief, right, it's really not about all these long, intensive things that we need to do, right, like hours of meditation or completely, you know, uprooting your whole routine. Right, because that's not reasonable, that's not real, not reasonable, that's not real. Often it's in those effective. You know many habits that we can incorporate into our lives. Those are the ones that are going to be accessible, that you could just do in a quick couple minutes that can really help you to get through those moments.

Speaker 1:

Right, because the way I look at it is, you know, in a given day you might experience several moments, minutes. You know situations in your day that are going to cause some type of stress, right. Maybe it's. You know you wake up in the morning and you, for whatever reason, are having a bad morning. Maybe you woke up late, maybe you're not feeling good, right, and then you're like rushing to get things done so you can get out of the house on time right, that's going to be a stressor. Maybe it's on your way to work and you're hitting the highway and you notice that there's traffic, right, and so now you're stressed out because you're like, oh my God, I thought I was going to get there in 20 minutes and now here there's traffic, so now it's going to be 10 more minutes. You know, maybe you realize when you're on your way to work that you forgot your coffee on your you know, on your counter, and so that stresses you out because you were, like, really looking forward to that cup of coffee.

Speaker 1:

Maybe you get to work and you realize your boss, just you know, gave you some extra tasks for the day, and so, you know, it's just like those kinds of things, right? Maybe you get a phone call from your kid's school that says you know what? Your son is sick and he needs to be picked up, you know. So it's like there's just things that happen through our day and these are all like little stressors, but I'm sure that there's also those big stressors that you're experiencing right, financial difficulties, right, health and wellness, relationship issues. You know other big things that can happen.

Speaker 1:

And the thing is that what I'm trying to say is you know what Life is going to life? Right, things are going to happen. You're going to have moments of stress throughout your day, and sometimes it could be a good day where you have these little mini stressors that don't really bother you, or it can be something like that where you feel like every day, something happens that just like causes me to feel extremely like, stressed out, extremely overwhelmed. And our job is to notice that. Our job is to notice this situation is causing me to my heart's just beating really fast. I feel like my chest is tight, I feel like like I can't breathe really well. And our job is to say, all right, I need to come to myself, I need to take care of myself because that's, I do have control over that, I do have control. Um, and if you listen to say, all right, I need to come to myself, I need to take care of myself because I do have control over that, I do have control.

Speaker 1:

And if you listen to last week's episode, right, last week's episode was all about rest and why we should be incorporating all different types of rest in our day. And this is kind of goes along with that, which is, if we don't take the steps to take care of ourselves, then we are going to struggle and we're going to get sick and things are just not going to feel good, right. You're just not going to be good emotionally I mean physically, right, because it's all connected. Your mind and your body is connected, and so if you're having stressful thoughts or something's affecting you outside of you that's causing you to feel stressed, your body's going to also be stressed, and so our job is to not really say, like, why do all these bad things happen? Or why can I have a relaxing day? It's saying I'm noticing that I'm feeling stressed in this moment because my boss just gave me all these tasks and now I have way more work to do and I might not be able to leave on time. It's saying I need to do something to manage this stress right now so that I can get back on track.

Speaker 1:

Okay, so I want to talk with you about a couple different techniques that you can use, and again, these are not techniques that take a lot of time, because, of course, like, we don't have the luxury to just take the afternoon off sometimes or to like do these extravagant things. But, honestly, the small things actually do matter, and I'm telling you this as a therapist. This is what I prescribe and I recommend to my clients, and also this is what I use because, yeah, life can be stressful. I'm there with you, depending on at work, working with clients or my own life. Right, I also hear it from my friends, my families. Like I understand that we all go through these stressful times, and it's in the moments that it really counts. So let's go through some of the techniques that I'm going to recommend to you that you can do to help you incorporate into your day, especially when you're having a stressful day, stressful moment.

Speaker 1:

Okay, so the first one is using the power of the breath. This is one that I usually always start with with clients. Um, because the truth is that your breath is your most underutilized tool that we have, and most of us, like we take it for granted, right, we don't have to think about breathing, we just breathe. But the truth is that the breath is such a great tool that we can use to help us to reduce our stress levels. Reduce our stress levels, and conscious breathing exercises can be really, really good on the body. They can be very grounding and they can really shift your nervous system from a fight or flight, right which is when you are going through this stressful time to a more of a calm, which is called the parasympathetic, and so these are very simple exercises that you can do at any time. So I'm going to guide you through a quick breathing exercise that you can do right now very quickly. And again, this is an example so that you can see how simple this is and how this can really be incorporated anywhere you are, and this is why I usually recommend the breath, because you can be anywhere. It's not like you have to have anything with you.

Speaker 1:

If you are feeling stressed at work, if you're feeling stressed while you're driving, if you're feeling stressed outside somewhere, you will always have your breath and you can always access these types of exercises. So let's try one together. So I want you, if you're able to find a comfortable position, whether you're sitting or you're lying down. If you're sitting, I would recommend sitting upright so that your breath can go in and out easily. Gently close your eyes, if you're able to and if it feels good for you, and take a slow, deep breath in through your nose, feeling your belly rise as you inhale. Hold it for a count of three. Now slowly exhale through your mouth. Feeling the tension. Leave your body. Let's do this for a few more times. Inhale, hold and exhale slowly. Notice how your body feels with each breath. Even just a minute or two of this can make a difference. This is a simple exercise that you can do as long or as short. And again you're noticing that your body's feeling stressed and you're giving yourself just one to two minutes of this mindful breathing exercise. Stressed, and you're giving yourself just one to two minutes of this mindful breathing exercise to really help release some of that tension and to shift into that parasympathetic, that calm nervous system response. And this is just one example.

Speaker 1:

But there's different types of breathing exercises that you can do. There's one called the box breathing, which is I usually refer to this one as a 4-4-4, but you can also call it the box breathing which is you inhale for four, you hold for four, you exhale for four, you hold for four, and this again is another really good breathing exercise. There's also the 4-7-8 exercise, which could be really helpful as well, and that one is you breathe in for four, you hold for seven, you breathe out for eight, and then you hold, and then you do it again, and with this one you're holding it in and breathing out for a longer, slower time, which is said to really help the nervous system to really shift into that parasympathetic. So you're breathing in for four, you're holding it and then you're breathing out for a longer period of time, nice and slow and so, again, easy, right, one to two minutes. You can do this in the car.

Speaker 1:

I know I've done this whenever I have felt stressed. You know, maybe on my way to an appointment, or you know, maybe stress just kind of comes up, or even anxiety, right, sometimes you feel anxious when you're about to do something, and this could be really simple. You can just do it in your car and it can be really a great tool that you could use whenever you're feeling really stressed out. Okay, so I hope that this one was one. I mean, I think it's really easy. And again, we underestimate the power of the breath and we underestimate the power of just simple exercises, simple strategies. We always think that has to be these complicated things, but it really doesn't have to be. It could be really that simple.

Speaker 1:

Okay, let's move on to number two, which is taking mini movement breaks. So when stress hits us, right, our bodies do tense up, and I know this for a fact, because whenever I feel stressed, my lower body gets so tight and tense. I usually feel it in my calves or in my thighs, and I've learned that this is the stress response that I'm having. And so if I all of a sudden maybe I'm overwhelmed, because sometimes you don't even notice it. Well, sometimes, if I'm overwhelmed at work or with something and I start feeling the tension in my legs, that's my body signal, like you're kind of stressed out, and so doing gentle movements can really help release this, that physical tension, and it could boost your mood.

Speaker 1:

And one of the things that I usually recommend is doing a couple of body stretches, which it really helps me a lot. So think about, like a gentle neck roll If you've been hunched over the computer, maybe doing some like shoulder rolls, releasing tension in your upper back, or even like a short walk around your space, could be really good. A quick stretch, like reaching your arms overhead and then gently bending to each side, can also be very helpful, and if you combine this with breathing, this can be really helpful in releasing tension. So if you're like sitting in a desk, sometimes you can do it right in your chair. Right, you can stretch your neck, you can stretch your shoulders, you can, you know, stretch out your arms, you can go side to side, you can get up and you can just move your legs, stretch them up. In other words, what you're trying to do is you're really trying to help the muscles to feel some relief.

Speaker 1:

Because if you are the type of person that holds your stress in your body some of us hold it in our upper body, some of us, like me, hold it in our lower body. For some, you hold it in your head and you get these headaches Something like this can be really helpful. And the beauty of these mini movements is that they don't require gym membership right or a lot of time Again. You can do these right at your desk while you're waiting for your coffee to brew, or whenever you need a little quick break from everything that you're doing, or especially if you're noticing I'm starting to feel a bit stressed out, my body's feeling tight, I feel a tension in my head. This is the time to say let me take a quick break, let me take care of myself, so that I can help manage and release this tension that I'm feeling in my body.

Speaker 1:

All right, let's move on to number three, and another really great thing to do when you're feeling stressed is to do grounding exercises. So sometimes, when we're feeling overwhelmed, our thoughts are racing, which is making us really feel disconnected from the present moment. Right, you're just like unfocused. You can't really just like unfocused. You can't really. You know you're making mistakes. I know that happens to me, and this is a like a, a warning from your body, from your brain, that I'm feeling disconnected, I'm feeling overwhelmed. So grounding techniques can really be helpful and bring us back to our senses, and so one great exercise that I usually recommend is one called the 5-4-3-2-1, which is a guided exercise that you can do to help yourself. To come back to the present moment. So let's try a simple grounding exercise together so you can understand how this kind of works.

Speaker 1:

So take a moment to notice five things you can see around you and really look at them. The point of this is to be focused on what on your senses. So like, look at the color, look at the shape, look at the texture. Really take your time to really look at the different things. Next, acknowledge four things you can feel the fabric of your clothes, the chair beneath you, the air on your face. Sometimes what I'll do is I'll take my hand and I'll rub it on my legs and just feel the fabric that I have on. Sometimes it's just wiggling your feet in your shoe. It's a feel kind of your foot there. So anything like that. Sometimes I'll pick up a pen and I'll just feel it, feel the temperature, feel what it feels like in my fingers.

Speaker 1:

Next, identify three things you can hear. Maybe it's the hum of the refrigerator, the birds outside. Sometimes I can hear people outside of the office. Really, just listen Sometimes. The funny thing about this one is that you don't realize how loud a clock ticks until you do this exercise, because when I've done this exercise the clock is so loud and I'm like, and you don't really realize that right, because you're just doing so many other things and you're not focusing, but it's really interesting how that happens.

Speaker 1:

All right, next, notice two things you can smell. Perhaps it's a cup of coffee, a nearby flower, maybe it's the perfume you have on, maybe you have a air diffuser going on, so anything like that. And then finally acknowledge one thing you can taste. Maybe you are have a lingering taste of your last sip of water, simply the taste in your mouth. Sometimes I'll literally have a sip of water, or, if I have, sometimes they say it's good to have like little hard candies always at your desk, because this could be a good one where you can just pick up a nice small gum or piece of candy just so that you can taste it. Or again, if you have a drink, have a nice drink with you and that is it. And this exercise works really good because it engages your senses, it anchors you in the present moment and it helps to interrupt the cycle of those anxious thoughts that you're having, right, the stress that is ruminating in your mind, and so doing a guided, like a grounding exercise like this can be extremely helpful.

Speaker 1:

So let's move on to the next exercise, and this is doing a quick visualization. So our minds are so powerful and visualization can be a wonderful tool for stress relief, and visualization can be a wonderful tool for stress relief. So I have another exercise that I want to walk you through, and this is a calming, imaginative tone. Okay, so I want you to close your eyes and, if you're comfortable, imagine a place where you feel completely safe and peaceful. It could be a real place that you visited, visited, or it could be a completely imaginary one. I know, when I do this exercise, I can picture a waterfall and I just I'm sitting in front of the waterfall and it's just so calming and relaxing. Now, what does it look like? What are the colors? What sounds do you hear? What does it feel like on your skin? Spend a few moments exploring this peaceful sanctuary in your mind. Allow yourself to feel the calm and tranquility of this space. When you're ready, gently bring your awareness back to the present moment and notice how you're feeling. This is a really great exercise because, again, as you saw, one to two minutes or as long as you need, and you can use it at any time, because you don't need anything special, right? All you need is yourself and you can visit this place anytime to escape from the stress. So this is a really great one.

Speaker 1:

For some people. They've talked about being at a beach and when you're at the beach, you're just picturing what the sun feels like on your skin. The breeze, the ocean breeze. Sometimes they can feel the sand under their toes, the ocean breeze Sometimes they can feel the sand under their toes. Maybe they're having a really cold lemonade. You know and this is another one that you want to also use your five senses so that it can trick the brain, right, because the brain doesn't know the difference between you actually being at the beach and you imagining being at the beach, and the key difference is tapping into your five senses. So this one could be another really good one that can really help you to get that little mini escape from whatever it is that's really causing to feel overwhelmed or stressed.

Speaker 1:

Okay, so here you have four quick and easy techniques that you can use as tools to manage any stressful times that you may be having. And again, they're short, they're easy, they're accessible and you can use them at any time. And just to remind you, number one was using the power of breath and using breathing exercises. Number two is using mini movement breaks throughout your day. Number three is doing a different, like grounding techniques, like the 5-4-3-2-1 method. And number four is doing a quick visualization. So you have some simple yet effective stress relief exercises that you can incorporate into your day. And again, the key is to find what resonates with you and to be consistent, even if it's just for a few minutes.

Speaker 1:

For some people, they don't like to sit still and do the visualization.

Speaker 1:

They rather do a movement break.

Speaker 1:

I think that's kind of like me. For some they like that relaxation, they like to sit and they like to kind of get into that relaxed state. For some, doing something a little more active, like doing the breathing exercises, can be really helpful. So again, this isn't about you doing these four. It's identifying what really works for you, because everyone's different.

Speaker 1:

So I encourage you to try one or two of these exercises this week and I want you to notice how you feel before and after. What's going to work best for you and really just practice these exercises and have them as little tools that you can just access whenever you're feeling stressed. As little tools that you can just access whenever you're feeling stressed. Okay, well, thank you so much for joining me on today's episode, and I will talk to you next week, take care. Thank you so much for joining this conversation today. I hope this episode was helpful to you on your healing journey. Don't forget to subscribe so you never miss an episode packed with valuable tips and insights designed to empower you. If you found value in this episode, I'd be so grateful if you left me a review wherever you're listening from and share your thoughts and feedback. This really helps me to reach more women, just like you. Thanks for listening.