Are you experiencing rapid heart rate, tight chest, difficulty breathing? Are you over thinking? Having a hard time slowing yourself down? If you are experiencing any symptoms of Anxiety and stress, take this is as sign that you aren't listening to your body! Put simply, when you are experiencing increased anxiety, you legitimately have an excess amount of carbon dioxide in the brain. This is why the power of breathe and complementary health care techniques (i.e. meditation, yoga, dialectical behavioral therapy) are so powerful in managing anxiety and stress! Often I find that as humans we overlook the power of the mind-body connection and underestimate what we are truly capable of. My hope is that this blog post will encourage you to take your power back, in just three simple steps you can feel more confident in decreasing your anxiety, stress, while improving our mood.

1. Breathe - Whether its yoga, a guided meditation, take a time out and just breathe-even if its just for five minutes! Purposeful breathe assists with improving cortisol levels (directly related to stress) as well as the central nervous system, enhancing the mind-body connection.

2. Step into nature - go for a walk, take a hike, smell the flowers, lay on the pavement, walk in the grass. The point here is to ground yourself (literally), doing so will assist you with connecting back to Earths center; improving homeostasis as well as mental clarity.

3. Practice Gratitude - Just by practicing gratitude you are actuality reprogramming your thought processes as well as your emotions and reactions to extraneous stimuli on a neurological level. When you take a minute to reflect on what you have it becomes sacred. Overtime, with the practice of gratitude all of what you wanted fades into the background. You are blessed, you are clothed, you are housed, you are loved. I invite you to implement a simple mantra and/or prayer into your routine daily for best results.