3 Effective Ways to Reduce Stress

Whether or not we’re entrepreneurs, the stresses of life are real and (often) frequent. What can we do about it?!

Being an entrepreneur adds to this though, because being an entrepreneur essentially means that you’re consciously taking on additional risk in order to create, build, and grow your business. 

In fact, did you know that the official Miriam Webster dictionary definition of an entrepreneur is:

A person who organizes and operates a business or businesses, taking on greater than normal financial risks in order to do so.

And the data shows that people who own or run businesses actually have higher levels of mental health issues, too. Probably because it’s intense, challenging, and sometimes pretty dang hard to take risks with your finances (and energy, and time!) to bet on yourself and your business.

It is inherently fairly stressful!

So how can we combat this? 

Today’s newsletter is focused on ways we can be cognizant of our stressors, and to reduce our physical and mental burdens of stress.

So let’s get into a few ways to tackle this: 

1. Firstly, BREATH.
   
   Breath is a universally free and easily-accessible, highly effective tool for navigating and reducing stress. 

The more you can step out of your mental rumination and get into the body by focusing on your breath, the quicker you can regulate your nervous system. 

I’ll cover 2 types of breathing that are really effective— 

The first, box breathing. 

This means that each breath — in and out, in and out (like the 4 sides of a box) — is of equal length. 

You can use the box breath by: inhaling for a count of 4, holding for 4, exhaling for 4, and again holding for 4. Repeating this for 5-10 minutes (just set a timer on your phone) is incredibly calming to the body.

The second type of breath is called 4-7-8. This is an inhale for 4 seconds, a hold for 7 seconds, and an exhale for 8 seconds. 

The reason this one is effective is because when your exhale is longer than your inhale (twice as long in this case is perfect) your body switches into a parasympathetic nervous system response. Also known as “rest and digest” – this is the state you’re in when your body is feeling secure and safe.

You can genuinely change and control your physiology through the use of your breath – which is an incredible feat. I believe more of us need to use this in order to help ourselves! It’s right at our fingertips. Or should I say, at our lips?! 

Again, try the 4-7-8 for 5 minutes and experience the shift within! You should feel calmer, more relaxed, and more peaceful and grounded after.

2. Shifting into heart-brain coherence is another great way to reduce stress. 

In essence, heart-brain coherence is when the electromagnetic field of your mind is in coherence and links with up the coherent electromagnetic field of your heart.

This is done through 3 simple steps—

(simple, not easy! This is something you can train and get better and better at. Effects will include decreased stress, decreased inflammation, increased HRV, better decision-making abilities, increased positive emotion, and more). 

First – Shift Your Focus (to your heart)

Second – Shift Your Breathing (slow it down)

Third – Shift Your Emotions (creating renewing feelings such as gratitude, appreciation, and peace) 

When you do all three of these steps, you can shift into heart-brain coherence.

A free version of this that I have been enjoying lately on YouTube can be found here, and we actually have a special one-hour masterclass taught on this by one of our Regal Resilience Strategic Partners, Mackenzie Gorman, in the Founding Members hub on our platform.

Access to this (and all of our other education workshops, trainings, and discussions) is available to our monthly members and strategic partners! Sign up here for membership or reach out to me via (a) response to this newsletter or (b) schedule a time to speak about becoming a Strategic Partner here.

Heart-Brain Coherence is kindof like magic… BUT fully scientifically researched and proven. And it’s a tool I believe we all – entrepreneurs or not – should be using to heal, to grow, and to expand.

It is INCREDIBLE for stress reduction, and I urge you to give it a go or challenge yourself to a practice it for 7, 14, or 30 days. 

3. Giving Yourself Intentional Rest & Breaks 

I think we can all admit that sometimes we get started on work in the morning, and by the end of the day we realize we didn’t eat proper meals, or we didn’t work out, or we didn’t get outside even once. 

It’s normal, but it’s not natural.

I believe that we have a responsibility to ourselves as business owners to take care of ourselves on every level – which includes putting effort and intention into our health as much as we do into our visions, missions, and businesses. 

I have a simple act that I’d like you to consider implementing: 

Schedule a short-medium time to be “off” every day, and a long period to be “off” every week.

What this could look like – (remember, No work calls or emails allowed! These are no-work zones!!)

• Take a walk after each lunch period outside

• Get 20 minutes of exercise before you sit down for work, or somewhere in the middle of your day (can literally be a standing pilates series at your desk or something easily accessible!)

• Sit in the sun or outside for 10 minutes after you have a meeting or set of meetings

• Stretching midday 

• Use the Pomodoro Techinque – which means after periods of work, you take an intentional period of rest (such as 25 minutes on then 5 minutes off or 45 minutes on then 15 minutes off, or 90 minutes on and then 30 minutes off (or even 10 if you don’t have that much time to rest!! Just something)

And then a longer “off” period could be: 

• No phone Sundays 

• A long walk on the weekend in nature 

• Spending the afternoon or evening with someone without any electronics 

We often don’t realize how incessant and constant the bombardment from technology is — and all of the messages, emails, texts, and pings that we receive really do affect our mental health, and contribute to stress. 

In this day and age, it’s more important than ever to have boundaries to protect our peace, protect our health, and protect things like creativity and flow and just ‘being.’ 

My hope for you is that you lean in a little more (or, a lot more!) toward stress-management and self-care this week.

In the end, it will improve your effectiveness not only in business, but in life itself.

MANTRA OF THE WEEK:

The more I take care of my health and myself, the more success and abundance I create and receive.

Oh, and speaking of business – 

If your business is ready for a little more exposure, for new opportunities, and for a special partnership:

We are partnering with 30 ecomm brands this month to celebrate Women’s History Month.

If you’d like to apply, or know someone (a founder or brand) that would be interested, we have some spots open! Reply to me here, or grab a spot on my cal to talk!

Con Mucho Amor,
Tanyette