Stress is an everyday factor
in all our lives. We need a certain amount of stress to keep us going.

Here are the few methods that have helped me through these very
stressful times. I am slowly learning to be less stressed out and I am building up my energy levels to what they used to be.

BASIC RELAXATION METHOD

Lie on your back on the floor down in a darkened room. Let your mind go blank. First tense your toes and then let go. Work up from your feet to your face tensing and relaxing your muscles bit by bit and alternating each side of your body.

You will feel warm, heavy, numb and relaxed. During this exercise breath deeply and evenly a few times, then sigh the breath away. When you have finished relaxing your body, rest for 15 minutes slowly stretching and shaking your body before getting up.

HERBALISM

Chamomile can be taken as a tea for restless children, insommina, nightmares and is also a very good as a late night drink to help you go off to sleep. For women it can be taken for menustrual cramp.

When you are taking it for menustrual cramp, have the tea three times a day. It also can be used in a bath to relieve and soothe your tired and aching muscles as well a tired mind.

Valerian can be taken as capusules, tablets, tincuture, or in root form for insomnia, anxiety and tension.

If it is taken as a root then you crush 1 teaspoon (5ml and soak it in cold water for 12-14 hours and you drink it as a sedative. Valerian can also be accompanied with other herbs in their formula for treating stress and their related problems.

Sage is used for treating insomnia, depression, irregular menustration and menopause. It can be taken fresh in a tea or as a wine.

Garlic can is taken tablet or capsule formula or eaten either raw or cooked with your food. It is recommended for high blood pressure, and helps build up the bodies resistance to infection.

Lemon Balm is used for anxiety and palpitations. It is taken as a tea or as an ingredient in food.

Peppermint is a remedy for anxiety. and as oil can be used to massage affected areas for migrains, facial neuralgia and rheumatic and muscular aches and pains.

Ginseng can be taken as an infused dried root tonic drink for increased mental and physical vigour, to combat depression caused by exhaustion or external stress.

Rosemary oil is used for aching joints and for rheumatic joints. It can be eaten in various types of dishes. It is also used for nervous stress and headaches as well as mental fatigue. It also can be taken as oil in aromatherapy to relieve headaches by messages into the temples and back of the neck affected.

I have drunk fresh roseamary as a tea and it is very good for unwinding especially when I am feeling mentally worn out. I usually accompany this drink with basil, bay leaf and honey to sweeten it. Honey is better than sugar as it assimilates better into the blood stream. I take all my herbal drinks with honey.

ACUPRESSURE

Acupressure or Do-in/Shiatsu are like acupuncture without the needles. Shiatsu is Japenese for finger pressure. Both acupressure and shiatsu promote healthy by restoring the healing energy (chi) health flow along 12 special pathways, meridians on the body which are associated with the vital functions by conducting energy to and from each organ.

By using this method you can remove blockages and increase the flow the healing energy of your body. This method can be repeated up to five times a day with each session lasting around 20 minutes, though relief is often felt as little as five minutes.