Resources

Feeling like there are too many pressures and demands on you? Losing sleep worrying about tests and schoolwork?

You're not alone. Everyone feels stressed out at times — adults, teens, and even kids. But you can avoid getting too stressed out by handling everyday pressures and problems, staying calm, asking for help when you need it, and making time to relax.

Here are some Helpful Links:

• Stress: Overview

• 5 Ways to Prevent Stress Buildup

• Different Levels of Stress

• Yoga for Stress Relief

• Coping with Stressful Situations

• Teens Talk Stress (video)

What are you feeling, right now, as you start to read this? Are you curious? Hopeful that you'll learn something about yourself? Bored because this is something you have to do for school and you're not really into it — or happy because it's a school project you enjoy? Perhaps you're distracted by something else, like feeling excited about your weekend plans or sad because you just went through a breakup.

Emotions like these are part of human nature. They give us information about what we're experiencing and help us know how to react.

• Understanding Emotions

• Understanding Your Feelings - quick video on different feelings on how to deal with them

• Animation on Understanding Emotions - Video (~8 minutes)

• Choosing Your Mood

• Managing Emotional Reactions

• Dealing with Difficult Emotions

• 5 Ways to Know Your Feelings Better

• The Power of Positive Emotions

• Feeling Wheel - A great tool to help you identify your emotions

  • Feeling Wheel (1)

  • Feeling Wheel (2)

• Emotions and the Brain - quick video helping describing how the brain plays a role in our emotions

• Inside Out - I don't have a link to the movie, but it is a great one describing emotions and how they impact us in every moment.

There are many different ways to cope with stress. Talking with friends, exercising, and seeing a school counselor are just a few. Yoga can help reduce stress because it promotes relaxation, which is the natural opposite of stress. Yoga can benefit three aspects of ourselves that are often affected by stress: our body, mind, and breathing. Meditation and Mindfulness are also useful tools that allow us to deal with challenging emotions and situations from a place awareness and greater peace.

Here are some links focused on mindfulness, meditation, breath-work, and yoga:

• How to Practice Mindfulness (great 5 part video series ~8 minutes each)

  • Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5

• Quick Mindful/Meditation Breaks (~3 minutes each)

  • 3 Minute Mindful Breathing Meditation

  • Relax, Ground, and Clear Meditation

  • Body Scan Meditation

  • Mindful Walking Meditation

• Meditation on Four Positive Attitudes to Increase Well Being (~5 minutes each)

  • Equanimity Meditation (Find Calm)

  • Kindness Meditation (Strengthen Happiness)

  • Compassion Meditation (Strengthen Happiness)

  • Joy Meditation (Strengthen Happiness)

• Square Breath Video - Simple breathing exercise

• Your Brain is a Smartphone - Understanding how our brain works with metaphor to smartphone

• Yoga For Stress Relief - Quick overview of Yoga along with a few videos showing some simple poses.

• Meditation to Improve Focus

  • Lion Mind

  • Counting Breaths

A quick video with great suggestions on how to talk with someone who mentions suicide (the warning signs, what to say, and also what NOT to say).

• Teen Suicide Prevention: How YOU can Help

• How Do Emotions Influence our Body

• Mind Body Wellness

Making a Routine