Free Stress Relief Tools

On this page you will find effective, quick and easy relaxation strategies!

How stress management can help your parent and you
Calming recorded guided meditations you can listen to over and over
A gallery of stress management practices. Select what appeals to you!
Simple soothing ideas for when you just can’t relax

Soothe yourself and relax your parent

If you need a break from stress, you are not alone. In a 2015 survey of people caring for family members, 42% requested assistance with coping and managing stress for themselves and their loved ones. (Source: Caregiving in the US 2015).

Helping your aging parents is not for the fainthearted. Nor is getting older. Here’s how you and your parents can take a break from the stress while developing greater resiliency to the challenges you face.

With less stress, you and your parent can

Enjoy better quality sleep
Feel calmer and in more control
Mindfully use your interpersonal skills
Be more resilient to life’s challenges
Allow your natural compassion to shine through (rather than irritability and anger!)
benefit from more focus and better attention span
Enhance your creativity, both in the arts and in problem solving
Support a loving and compassionate approach to life…and to caring for aging parents

Free guided breathing meditations are an easy way to relax – just listen!

Most people find that guided breathing meditations are very relaxing and use them comfortably. For people with post traumatic stress disorder or seizures or if you take medication especially for diabetes, thyroid, hypertension, anxiety or sleep, there are some considerations about meditation so please check with your doctor before trying wellness practices. Click here to learn more in my blog

Fragrant breathing meditation

Calm and centered breathing meditation

Count While Breathing guided meditation

Gallery of Relaxation Ideas

Scroll through for some brilliant stress management suggestions. Some of the images have links to awesome resources!

Soothing posts from “Calm and Centered”

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If you can’t relax, that’s ok- simply try one of these soothing ideas to regain some composure and find a bit of peace.

Sometimes, attaining a state of relaxation seems impossible. Even if you know the benefits – quality sleep, resistance to infection, less muscle pain, better problem solving – you cannot get to a relaxed state from your stressed state. Fortunately, even if relaxing seems unattainable, soothing yourself can reduce your stress level by a degree or perhaps two.

Sometimes simple soothing strategies are not going to meet your needs. At those times, get expert help. Call your doctor, your therapist, your pastor, or get yourself to an emergency room. Be safe.

Soothe yourself when you have had a difficult day, have too much on your plate, or perhaps are experiencing a period of intense change. You deserve it.

Fall Back to find what’s missing

Caregivers, have your days been filled with coping with one urgent issue after another? Fall back for a moment to find what’s missing from your day to day experiences. Now’s the time to retrieve what isn’t urgent, but still of great importance to you.

Be Calm: Reduce Cellphone Bings

Blog #11 in the Soothing Series: Gentle ways to regain your composure and find some inner peace. Cellphone bings and buzzes interrupt sleep, activities, train of thoughts, quiet time, recreational time, and family time. Here are four ways to set boundaries with your mobile devices so you can be calm and centered.

Nature’s Peace During Covid-19

How to tap into nature’s peace to cope with stress, isolation, and healing during the Covid-19 pandemic

Alarming Long Term Care Problems

Feeling helpless about alarming long term care problems? Five frightening problems affecting residents’ quality of life plague long term care today. You CAN advocate for change, get help for long term care residents, and help burned out staff.

How do I live in this crazy world?

This crazy world certainly makes it difficult to remain centered. Connecting to what we find meaningful is centering. Living meaningfully balances the chaos around us. When it’s hard to recall what is important, contemplative prompts help. Be centered by learning 3 simple steps to recall what’s meaningful to you – by using contemplative prompts.

Healing Healthcare Job Stress

Healthcare job stress ravages all medical care settings during pandemics. But you CAN sleep better, work better, and survive pandemic job stress. Rest.Work.Survive www.LymanCenter.com/courses is a free* online program offering healthcare employees effective, easy-to-learn and quick to use strategies for stress and sleeplessness. Read more https://lymancenter.com/?p=1814

The work from home frustration antidote

Work from home frustrations abound and keep you from finishing what you need to do. Professionals are working from home with less tech support and without their colleagues – but with their families and roommates. Family caregivers are trying to work while caring for children or elder parents. What is the antidote to frustration?

Surviving Covid 19: The Nature Photo Challenge

With so much closed and cancelled I am trying to remember that nature is always open. With so much fear and stress I am trying to remember that nature is grounding and often soothing. Walking or otherwise exercising outside is especially good for stress but noticing and admiring nature from a window is good too. …

Your next step – learn to avoid the causes of stress

These self-guided free tools on this page help you to manage stress.

If you want to avoid the causes of stress while caring for your aging parent, and enjoy more quality time with your parent, your next step is Time to Care.

Time to Care