After you tune in and see that something is stressing your body, then you need to learn to take immediate steps to counteract stress. How? Deepen your breathing. Focus on constricted areas of tight muscles and mentally send a message for them to relax and let go. Step away from immediate stressful situation, if at all possible, even for just five minutes, to get yourself calmed and centered.

Helpful stress reduction exercises:

1. Get out into nature. Take a walk. Hug a tree. Put your bare feet on ground or, better still, in running water. Nature has a way of calming us, bringing our rhythm closer to rhythm of Earth.

2. Pray. No matter what your spiritual path, if you have a belief in Universal Life Force energy, you can find help in letting go of excess stress through pray to God of your knowing. Enlist spiritual help.

3. Drink more water and more often. Water is vital to normal function of our system, including our ability to handle stress. So drink more during stressful times. Wat

4. Take a good colloidial mineral I find that colloidial minerals are amazing during stressful times, to help my body come back to balance. They have often helped with cramping and muscle spasms when applied topically, as well.

5. Infuse essential oils or just keep a favorite with you to sniff. Pure, therapeutic essential oils (and it does matter a lot that they are pure and distilled at low heat, slowly!) when breathed in through nasal passages, can affect our emotional state within 3 seconds! Nothing works faster. I like lavendar for relaxation and peppermint for those times when I need to be more alert.

Massage, foot reflexology and Reiki are also just absolutely wonderful for a body under stress. Many of us consider getting a massage to be some kind of luxury but I’ve come to conclusion that most of us need regular body work to remain at a level of energetic health. Some of you may not even know what foot reflexology is or what it does, but I think you will be amazed if you ever have a session. I find a good reflexology treatment almost as relaxing as a full body massage but it takes less time and usually costs less too so it may be an alternative when finances are tight or time is short. I encourage you to make your health enough of a priority to get regular help from a good body-worker. Reiki is a form of energy healing work that is also profoundly relaxing and I find that my mind is far better equipped to deal with a traumatic or mentally stressful time when I have a Reiki session. Most everyone is familiar with benefits of massage, I believe, but if you are unfamiliar with Reiki and foot reflexology, there is information at http://www.healthynewage.com/healing.html

Note for Migraine Sufferers: As a spiritual healer, I've found in every instance of migraine that onset was event-related. In other words, some trauma or disturbing, stressful event preceded first episode. The events seem often to be ego-related, and by that I mean they are associated with person's sense of who they are. I see migraines coming on after a divorce, for example, when one has to start over and redefine what they want from life. Also, when dealing with disapproving parents, as in case of homosexual who finally faces his or her choices with their parents and outcome is not positive. Having seen this correlation so many times in my work, I feel there is a physical-emotional connection in a lot of cases and getting proper emotional help can often assist in releasing migraine cycle. Of course, there are other medical reasons a migraine may happen so this information is not intended to replace any medical attention which may be needed.

Migraine relief tip: Try placing a cool cloth on forehead, and putting feet in hot water at same time.

Another way to protect your computer is to shut it down properly. Many people simply hit power button without shutting down machine first. This is a serious danger, as it can damage delicate circuits of computer. Run your computer through its shutdown system and wait until it either turns itself off, or it tells you that it is time to turn it off. This may not seem like a big deal to some, but it can damage your computer in long run.

Computer stress can also simply arise from sitting in front of silly thing so long that you realize you do not know what you are looking at any more. You know you need to get work done on silly machine, but you haven't gotten anything done and deadline is looming and you need more time, but there isn't any and… just slow down. If you are not getting anything done, they save yourself some computer stress by walking away. If you are at work, lock your screen and wander hallways for a bit. If you are at home, get up and go make yourself a sandwich or something. Just walk away and you will save yourself a lot of stress over something that is really not a big deal.

One of problems with living in computer age is, simply, computer. However, it is only a machine and you can learn to control it without it controlling you. Your computer is a tool no different than a hammer or a crowbar. So save yourself from computer stress and you won't feel compelled to use a hammer or a crowbar on computer that is supposed to make your life easier.