Simple ways to reduce stress.....

Below are links to two great articles that will help you reduce stress.  The first is the 'art of breathing', so simple, so free and always available.  Yoga practitioners have utilized breath for thousands of years and now we are studying the effects on chronic illnesses. Breathing effects the heart, the brain, digestion  and the immune system.  Another 'no brainer' - we breathe - lets put it to our best advantage....

http://www.npr.org/2010/12/06/131734718/just-breathe-body-has-a-built-in-stress-reliever

This second link is perfect for the season - how giving effects us.  Is it the 'warm glow', a link to parenting or is it hormone related.  Oxycontin, a hormone produced in the pituitary gland and the brain, released during childbirth and as people bond is directly related to generosity. Be enlightened by this article and consider how you feel when you give!

http://usat.ly/eY3BwN

Then, of course, there is a massage, a soak in the tub, a walk in the park...you have skills to tap into easily....

***

"One would give generous alms if one had the eyes to see the beauty of a cupped receiving hand."   ~ Johann Wolfgang von Goethe