1. Close your eyes - The act of simply closing your eyes causes a change in brainwave production from fast-paced beta brainwaves to slower, peaceful alpha waves. Give yourself at least 10 - 15 minutes of quiet time with your eyes closed and you’ll naturally feel more relaxed.

2. Relax your tongue - Sounds fairly silly and ridiculous to most people, yet it is an extremely potent way to effectively calm your mind. Calming alpha brainwaves increase when your tongue relaxes, and beta brainwaves (stressful brainwaves) decrease. Let your entire jaw relax along with your tongue and go into a calmer state of awareness.

3. Go jogging, walking, hiking - Exercise is a great way to desensitize your nervous system and do away with stressful feelings. Get your butt moving and go for a nice jog at the gym, walk through the neighborhood, or hike through the mountains!

4. Lay out in the sun - Laying out and soaking up sun rays naturally boosts levels of the neurotransmitter serotonin, and allows us to effectively go into a deep state of relaxation. Feel free to go to the beach and feel the vibrant radiance of the sun while laying in the soothing sand. While your at it, feel free to get a nice tan!

5. Guided meditations - Guided meditations usually involve an individual consciously relaxing their entire body. Set aside 10 - 15 minutes to scale your body for areas of tension and replace all tension with a feeling of relaxation. You will feel great and be able to quickly unwind and unstress after a short guided meditation.

6. Deep breathing - We all realize that when we allow ourselves to be overcome with stress, our breathing cycle is shorter and quicker than normal. To directly attack stress, take deep breaths by inhaling through your nose and exhaling through your mouth. This quickly changes us from a state of intense stress to one of peacefulness.

7. Get a massage - If you just don’t feel like doing any of the other suggestions, getting a quality massage will be extremely effective at reducing your stress. The physical relaxation that results from getting a massage, will slow down your stressful mental processing and leave your body and mind with a new sense of vitality.

8. Take a vacation - Sometimes when we allow ourselves to get caught up in a work-related stress cycle, the best thing to do is take a nice vacation. For some, a vacation could mean taking the day off work, while for others, it could mean taking a two week all-inclusive stay in the Bahamas. Sometimes taking a vacation is clearly your best option for letting go of stress!

9. Deal with the root cause - Ask yourself what event, person, or thing is the root cause of your stress. After you understand what is causing your stress, target and eliminate the root cause in as respectful and peaceful of manner as possible.

10. Accept your stress - The action of accepting your body and mind’s reaction to stress alone will help you recover from stress quicker. When you don’t accept your adrenaline, rapid thoughts, etc., you put yourself in a position to become more stressed out over what is happening to yourself. Accepting yourself will break the cycle and allow you to feel more peaceful.

11. Lift weights, pump some iron - There has been mounting evidence that lifting weights is great for relieving stress. Though lifting weights obviously isn’t as vigorous as intense aerobic exercise, it does help us release and lower stress levels by releasing tension within our muscle groups.

12. Talk with friends, release some heat - Expressing your emotions by having a quality conversation about your stress with a trusted friend will always help relieve stress. Your friends may provide helpful suggestions, encourage your relaxation, help take stress off of your focus, and allow you to get the bottled-up fury out of your system.

13. Get involved with nature - Experience nature and appreciate it’s beauty. I have mentioned this in my first article in the 10×10 series to becoming more conscious because it can be a very blissful experience. Appreciating what nature has to offer, by seeing the animals, plants, the encompassing sky, and pure beauty, you will naturally lose focus of stress.

14. Sexual orgasm - What some may not understand is that the act of sexual orgasm really is a profound way to relax. Usually, after sex, you feel tired. Sex provides a great workout, bonding with a partner, and is really one of the best ways to let go of stress. Though stress may really take your mind off of sex, it may just be a key ingredient in the process of your recovery.

15. Take a nap - We already know that taking a nap has been proven to boost brain power, but what you may not think about are the stress relieving benefits that napping can provide. Sometimes the only way for your brain to fully recover is to snooze on it and allow your subconscious to sort itself out.

16. Brainwave entrainment - As you probably already know, I am an advocate for brainwave entrainment. Why? Because it helped me through a time in which I desperately needed relaxation and desensitization. After just one alpha or theta brainwave session, most people feel completely calm, revitalized, and rejuvenated. If you’d like to give some brainwave entrainment a shot, I recommend any of the featured products in my “recommended products” section.

17. Listen to soothing music - Ever tried to listen to some nature music, beach music, or meditation type music? Listening to soothing music is an awesome experience and definitely feels great to listen to when feeling stressed. It has potential to shift your thoughts from a cycle of stress to one of calmness.

18. Say a peaceful prayer - Say a prayer that resonates with your purpose, beliefs, and soul’s values. Keeping your prayers peaceful and add visualizations if necessary. Make as lucid and peaceful of visualizations as possible during your prayer and try to connect deeply. When you can successfully pull of a deep, soulful prayer, it will encompass your body and mind with beautiful quietude.

19. Be around calm people; positive people - A great technique is to surround yourself with calm people. Their beliefs, actions, and behaviorism will naturally rub off into your consciousness. Spending time with stressful, negative, or hyperactive individuals will probably drain your energy and will not aid you in the process of de-stressing. If you must hang out with some monks for awhile to become more calm, then do it!

20. Hit a punching bag - If you feel that you need to release some pent up stress from your muscles, got hit a punching bag until you can no longer move your body. It may help to think of the punching bag as your inner stress and with each hit, you are becoming more peaceful. For some individuals, a good ole fashioned punching bag is all they need and want to calm down.

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