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Holistic Ways To Manage Stress

Stress is an inevitable part of life, and one that seems to be becoming increasingly predominant in our busy, fast-paced lives. Add in the ubiquity of social media and chronic stress levels can quickly go off the charts. In fact, stress and anxiety have shot up over 44% in the past 5 years, with younger generations and women being the hardest hit. While there’s often not much we can do to completely get rid of stress, there are things we can do to mitigate its damage, and alter the way it affects us in the first place. Read on to learn about my favourite 7 ways that I practice daily to relieve stress holistically:

Two Wander - 7 Ways To Manage Stress Holistically

1. Stimulate Acupressure Points

Acupressure is something that I have only recently gotten into and have found ENORMOUS success with it! Acupressure works by stimulating specific points along the body’s meridian lines, which relate to certain body parts/behaviours as defined by Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM). Some pretty incredible studies have recently started being done demonstrating the powerful effects acupressure can have.

For example, 74% of insomnia patients reported better sleep after just 2 weeks of moxibustion, and the effects lasted up for up 6! Research has also shown that some of the pressure points relate to the first clusters of nerve endings that are formulated in the womb as the foetus is first developing, and this could be why they have such a profound impact!

There are different ways you can stimulate acupressure points, some of my favourite are:

Ear seeds - These are one of the best techniques for me, I really love the strong aspect of mindfulness they instil in me by forcing me stop and breath several times throughout the day. They consist of vaccaria seeds, or gold/silver studs, that are stuck on specific pressure points along the ear and kept in place for 5 days. For added benefits, you can massage them a few times a day. Ear seeds are said to be particularly useful for anxiety, fatigue, insomnia, chronic pain, depression, stress, infertility, migraines and PMS symptoms. Check out my post on How To Use Ear Seeds for info!
Moxibustion - I absolutely LOVE this practice, it’s extremely helpful for lulling me into a deep sleep, so much so that I can only doing it before bed or else I’ll just fall asleep straight away haha. Moxibustion is the practice of burning rolled mugwort near acupressure points, with both the heating action and the smoke reported to have therapeutic benefits. A moxa stick is said to be equivalent to 10 acupuncture needles! You can buy either just a solid stick, like I currently do, or use little applicators with smaller sticks that you stick on directly to the points, like these ones, which I’m excited to try. Moxibustion is said to be most effective for stress, chronic pain and inflammation (such as arthritis), PMS symptoms and strengthening immunity.
Acupressure rings - These have more of a subtle effect for me but are also very useful for instilling a moment of presence and peace throughout the day. Many people, however, have found that they can help to get rid of their anxiety altogether! They consist of wired “rings” that you roll up and down your fingers for a few minutes to stimulate the acupressure points located along there. Again, these are good for stress and anxiety, but also focus!
Reflexology slippers - I wear these in the house and have personally found them better for pain management, such as backache, but like to use them as a little acupressure “top up” as well every day. Reflexology is a well-known practice of massaging specific pressure points along your feet for various ailments such as chronic pain, insomnia, and blood circulation problems (since using them, along with Legs Up The Wall yoga pose, I’ve found that my legs aren’t sore and heavy at the end of the day in summer too)!
Shakti mat - I use this to lie on as I’m meditating in the mornings and it is SO incredibly relaxing, I feel like I’ve woken up from the world’s best nap after (and 12,000 other reviewers also think so too)! Acupressure mats work similarly to the traditional bed of nails by stimulating a variety of nerve endings collectively along your back and neck. Again, this is great for pain management but also stress and anxiety issues, increased circulation, energy, improving sleep and lowering cholesterol.

If available to you, you can also go for regular massages, acupuncture, or simply stimulate the acupressure points yourself with your fingers for a few minutes a day. The 7 best acupressure points for stress and anxiety are as follows:

Yin Tang/ Hall of Impression - This is basically your third eye, in between your eyebrows
Heavenly Gate Point - This is located at the top part of your ear, where the curve is
Shoulder Well Point - This is at the base of your neck where it meets your shoulders
Union Valley Point - This is the fleshy webbing between your thumb and forefinger
Great Surge Point - One of my favourites, this is located at the base of where your big and second toe bones meet (also good for PMS)
Inner Frontier Gate - This is one that I am unfortunately extremely familiar with because it’s also used for motion sickness, located 3-finger’s width from the base of your hand in the centre of your inner wrist
Spirit Gate - Also on your inner wrist, right where your hand begins at the side of your little finger, this is great for insomnia too

2. Practice Meditation + Mindfulness

It’s no secret that meditation is basically a godsend, not only for stress and anxiety, but a whole host of beneficial outcomes. I’ve written a guide you can check out on How To Mindfully Meditate where I discuss my personal journey with it and the effect it’s had on my life. Another excellent addition to living mindfully, especially for those who struggle with meditation, is breathwork.

Many forms of deep breathing and breathing patterns exist so you can find one that works for best for you, I personally simply like to do a Buddha breath which is inhaling deeply into the belly first (as we’re supposed to) then chest and up to the collar bone for a count of 6, exhale in that order for another count of 6, and repeat 5-6 times. I also found inner-child meditations, such as Rising Woman’s one, to be particularly beneficial for labelling and validating emotions in times of need. Finally, simply focussing in on the present moment (what you can see, hear, feel, smell, taste) is an excellent way to ground yourself and get you out of your head!

Although I do my meditation in the morning, I’ve found it really helpful to add in an extra meditation at the end of the day in times of need to de-stress from events if need be. Taking part in a challenge or course might be useful in helping you get started and sticking with it. I first began with Headspace and can really recommend it, I also recently tried Deepak Chopra’s 21-day abundance meditation program and really liked it!

3. Do Conscious Yoga

Doing yoga, or any other forms of exercise and really just moving your body in general, will do absolute wonders for lowering your stress hormones, heart rate and blood pressure, but I found a significant change after I started consciously doing my yoga practice. Whereas before I was going through the motions and enjoying the stretch and workout, now I use it as a moving meditation. I really zoned in one my “ujjayi (ocean) breath” which is just remaining really present and in my body feeling all the sensations, not allowing my mind to wander and bringing it back when it does. Often, I’ll practice with my eyes closed to be even more in my body. The health benefits of yoga have been well documented for a wide variety of ailments, some of the best poses for stress include:

Child’s Pose
Cat/Cow
Bridge Pose
Legs Up The Wall
Puppy Pose
Dolphin Pose

These poses work on regulating your heartbeat, blood pressure, and relaxing your nervous system. I also recently really got into Yin yoga which I have found to be extremely beneficial. It’s so nice to give your body a long breather at the end of the day/week. So many emotions are stored in the body and often we move through poses quickly which doesn’t allow for stagnant energy to be properly released. Whereas before I never really saw the benefits to Yin yoga and thought it seemed a bit boring, all of that drastically changed when I tried it for myself! Much like meditating, sometimes it’s when we are still that the best healing can happen.

4. Adapt Your Mindset

While it’s not possible to never get stressed again, we can change what causes us to be stressed in the first place and to what extent. Travelling is something that really helped me go with the flow and not get blindsided by sudden changes, by driving home the realisation that it’s all part of the journey, nothing is the end of the world, in 5 years’ time none of this will matter and, most importantly, this one thing isn’t currently stressing anyone else out but me haha i.e. I can choose how I react to something.

Books, podcasts, affirmations and mantras are all also extremely beneficial with this and worth using daily. Another thing that causes us stress is being overloaded, so it’s worth cutting back on commitments, saying yes only when you really want to, cutting yourself some slack and talking to yourself how you would a friend or child. Self-care is another big one for making sure you’ve got a healthy mindset! Having a morning and nighttime routine that you love are really great ways to show yourself some TLC, come back to centre, and relax in the present moment while revving/winding down for the day. Have a look at my morning routine for lasting energy and nighttime routine for ultimate sleep for inspo!

5. Spend Time In Nature

Time in nature is something that we are all sadly often lacking, so much so that researchers have started adopting the concept that we are deficient in Vitamin N. At least 2 hours each week in nature has been advised as the minimum requirements. This is because not only is the hormone-like Vitamin D absolutely crucial to our mood (along with a whole host of other physiological benefits of course), time spent in nature enormously helps regulate our nervous system, which in turn is extremely beneficial for our mental health. It also helps to get us out of our heads, literally grounding us and can help put things into perspective. The terpenes found in the natural essential oils that plants release also have really positive physiological and psychological benefits.

Studies have shown that after 20 minutes in nature, people can begin to see long-lasting effects on mood, feelings of connection and blood pressure. Aiming to get even just a quick 5-minute walk near some trees a couple of times a day can really help put things in perspective and always leaves me feeling better. Bonus points if you can do this with company because quality time spent with friends and family is always beneficial for our health too! This also works to a lesser level just by viewing nature, as long as it’s real, for example out of a window or by getting a fish tank.

6. Clean Up Your Sleep + Diet

Finally, make sure the major components in your life, sleep and diet, are on point. Making sure to get good quality sleep hygiene and ditching the processed foods, which will only make you feel worse in the long run by messing with your microbiome, are some of the strongest mitigators against stress. Cut back on caffeine and alcohol if these affect you too. It’s also essential to get enough Omega-3s which are significantly correlated to depression! This is an experiment I inadvertently practiced on myself haha by stopping to take them and not replacing with fish, my mood saw a drastic drop before I realised what had happened and started back up again. Supplements, teas and adaptogens are all also extremely beneficial to reduce stress. Some of the most efficient for me have been:

Ashwagandha
Rhodiola
Valerian
Lemon Balm
Kava Kava
Chamomile
Lavender

BONUS: Use aromatherapy. Essential oils are one of my favourite, and most effective, methods of stress relief! You can either diffuse them at home or add a couple of drops to your pulse points (diluted) and/or pillow. Lavender, chamomile, ylang ylang, bergamot, rose, clary sage and lemon have been shown to have positive effects on mood and anxiety. If you have persistent problems, and before taking any supplements, always make sure to get medical advice from your doctor.

7. Journal Regularly

Journalling is an excellent way of getting our emotions out of our body and processing them properly for a healthy relationship with them. I like to do this with a weekly free-flow journal where I let everything out onto the page stream-of-consciousness style and then additionally whenever I need it. Likewise, feeling gratitude does absolute wonders for our stress and happiness levels. Again, I like to do a weekly gratitude journal and then top up whenever I need an extra boost of appreciation. After getting a beautiful Magic of I astrological planner, I also started briefly journalling at the end of each day and found this to be really useful for getting any final thoughts out! It can assist with sleep problems too which is always a bonus. Tying into this, I also find Spirit Daughter’s monthly astrology journals really great for a deep dive into how I’m feeling and use them as check-ins throughout the year.

So those are my 7 favourite ways to manage stress holistically that I use daily, I hope they can be of some use to you too! What other stress management techniques do you use, if any? I’d love to hear them in the comments section below if you feel like sharing, I’m always on the lookout for new ideas!

As you’re working on your stress levels, you might also be interested in checking out the 11 simple detox routines I practice daily too!