ExchangeEveryDay Past Issues

In Bless Your Stress (East Lansing, MI: Yes Press, 2006), Leslie Charles and Mimi Donaldson describe their approach to ridding your body of stress, the way the Heimlich Maneuver is used to dislodge objects from your throat. Here is how their stress-busting technique, dubbed the "Heim-like Maneuver," works...

"Sit quietly for a moment.  Shut your eyes and gently place your hands on your diaphragm with your thumbs touching the point where the Heimlich Maneuver would be administered.  Behold your beating heart.  Smile just a little bit and take a moment to appreciate yourself.

"Take a deep breath, pause for a couple of seconds, and then slowly exhale. Relax your face, your jaw, your shoulders, your thighs; anywhere you may feel tension. Feel the rhythm of your rising and falling breath and the cadence of your heartbeat.  Let a wave of stress leave your body with each exhale.

"Once you establish your breathing rhythm, slowly drop your hands onto your lap for more relaxation...."

Research shows that stress in the crucial early years of a child's life can pose dramatic, lasting challenges to development, learning, and behavior. This is the practical book early childhood professionals need to recognize stress in young children—and intervene with proven relief strategies before pressures turn into big problems. Developed by celebrated early childhood expert Alice Sterling Honig, this guidebook helps readers address the most common causes of stress in a young child's life, including separation anxiety, bullying, jealousy, and family circumstances.

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