Did you know you already own the best stress zapper in the world! It’s with you no matter where you are and what you’re doing. Even when you’re impatiently standing in a long line at the store or after you find out you didn’t get the job or when you’re angry with your partner or your kids or your roommate. It’s right there… inside you.

It’s your breath. Everyone knows how to breathe. In fact, you are inherently good at it. You are constructed perfectly to employ your breath to dissolve anxiety and doubt and fear at a moment’s notice. Pretty Cool, huh!

Right now, take a deep cleansing breath, inhaling through your nose and exhaling out your mouth. As you let your breath release, gently allow your shoulders to settle toward the floor as you imagine tension easily sliding off and being absorbed by the earth. How’s that for feeling more relaxed in an instant.

Now, gently let your attention shift to your navel and pretend you are breathing in through the front of your bellybutton and out through the small of your back. I know it sounds silly, yet your imagination allows you to do many creative things. When you breathe through your bellybutton, you naturally bring your full attention back into your physical body. Notice the shift in perspective as you try it.

When we’re afraid or anxious, our attention naturally shifts to the worried thoughts in our head, “Oh no, what will I do now… this can’t work… I can’t make it… I’m not good enough...” and before we know it, we’re “out of body” … preoccupied… not present… unaware. In other words, we become disconnected from our bodies, our honest thoughts and our genuine feelings because the rumination of fear is taking up all the working memory in our brains. We are trapped in a circular chain of figuring out how to negotiate a way to “not feel” the feelings we’re already feeling and not liking.

Your breath, however, can bring you back to center at any moment… thus ejecting you from the cycle of criticism and analysis of the left brain and effortlessly shifting you into your creative, intuitive right brain where inherent feelings of peace and wholeness reside. It’s not quite that simplistic, yet you get the idea.

Merely by becoming present in your body, your emotional resources become available again. You are alive and in a body and your feelings even those you dislike and wish to avoid can be welcomed because they are just transient states of awareness; they are not you! They will pass. Wow! That’s good news.

© 2010 The Inner Magician Series

Author's Bio: 

Deborah Sandella has been called a “master healer” by well-known author, Joan Borysenko Ph.D., and visionary physician Larry Dossey describes her work as, “a practical, down-to-earth method of realizing the immense potential that lives within everyone.” Deborah has a Masters degree in Psychiatric Nursing and a Doctorate degree in Human Communication, and has been an assistant professor at the University of Colorado. She has been honored by her peers as “Outstanding Clinical Specialist,” and received the “Research Excellence” Award for her doctoral dissertation funded by the Colorado Hospital Association. Her book and CD, "Releasing the Inner Magician," (RIM™) has received an EVVY “Best Personal Growth Book” Award, and her self-discovery curriculums have been employed successfully by thousands of people. Her work has been featured on television, radio and in print. Currently, she assists Jack Canfield, the Chicken Soup for the Soul co-author, at his seminars and is co-creating a self-healing audio program.

Synthesizing Ericksonian Hypnosis, Interactive Guided-Imagery, and Somatic Therapy, Deborah has pioneered the RIM™ process, an unprecedented transformational method that bridges mind and body for rapid insight and sustained emotional and physical healing. Dr. Sandella heads the RIM™ Institute where students learn how to apply the RIM™ process and become Registered RIM™ Facilitators.

Her Inner Magician/RIM™ books, CDs, seminars, and individual sessions are powerful healing tools that tap the subconscious directly to create effective and groundbreaking physical and emotional recovery. Her latest product is a 6-CD audio program designed as a self-guided course that dissolves anxiety and builds self-confidence. In fact, recent research found that her book and CD when used regularly over 8 weeks significantly reduces hallmark symptoms of stress-related illness. The RIM™ Institute currently is conducting qualitative research to investigate client outcomes following individual RIM™ sessions.