I take a weekly yoga class. The meditation and mantra in addition to the exercise makes me feel like I've been rebuilt from the ground up by the time I go home.

I take a daily swim. When I am in the pool I can work through whatever is bothering me and leave the water lighter.

When I'm stressed and physically exhausted I like to do three things. 1. Give myself pep talks about how well I'm doing and reminding myself of how great it is that I'm challenging myself in various ways. 2. Think of myself as a full-time public health educator and about how going on that jog or doing crunches in the airport will inspire those around me. 3. Hang out with a cute kid or someone who will really make me laugh.

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I ride my horse and groom my retired horses. No matter how I feel, whether positive or negative, I always feel better after riding and playing with my horses.
I also like to play "pile of dogs" where I get down on the floor and roll around with my two Portuguese Water Dogs
and whatever other dogs may be visiting at the time. Just a few minutes of this silly behavior can re-energize me so I can get back with a fresh outlook to doing all the things that need to be done that pile up and cause the stress in the first place.

Bikram yoga! It is my favorite form of exercise. It takes place in a super-heated/humid room which warms the muscles and increases stretch plus helps you "sweat it all out". The class requires intense focus which helps me to quiet my mind and detach from all of the everyday concerns. Plus the class is exactly the same each time, which also helps me to quiet my mind, meditate and detach. Plus, I'm losing weight, getting strong and healthy. It's a triple win!

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My husband and I share a glass of champagne and toast a new direction we want to move toward. We take an evening off from responsibility and envision what we want to have. this practice moves us out of the stress and into a positive mental space from which we can cope with our stress.

I make a conscious decision to do something that I want to do. This could be taking a walk, whether around the block or in the woods; or taking a Pilates class; or, with a little more advance planning, taking a few days and heading out of town, just by myself. It can even be tackling that cleaning project that has been looming or, dare I say it, the daily grind of laundry. It's all in how I look at it. I've discovered that a lot of the stress I experience has to do with reacting to and doing what other people need me to do, so my antidote is to decide proactively to do something because I want to do it.

I do water exercises for an hour three times a week. I also have a favorite place in Maine that I "memorize" when I am physically there- once every year or two. Then, when I am home again, I close my eyes and call up the sights and sounds from that place when I feel stress coming on. I can feel myself relax.

Tai chi and chi gong. I have been doing Yang style with a student of the late Cheng Man Ching for over 20 years. I believe it has helped my blood pressure stay low and slowed down my rheumatoid arthritis. Our group meets every Saturday morning in a park in Santa Monica that has become a tai chi park.

For five years I've been trying to master how to live a less-stressed life. My findings agree with the first writer, Jenna Kelkres. I believe a weekly yoga class really helps set the tone. I attend one each Sunday morning. Throughout the week, when I'm frazzled I go out on my deck or to my sofa and sit in stillness a minute. I have to remember that achieving one task a day is enough and breathing and appreciating in the present moment is everything. That fills me with calmness usually. Also, as a mother of young ones, planning dinner meals for the week on Sunday really helps reduce my stress throughout the week.

I am a contemplative type who loves regular periods of high activity. I am prone to overreact to stress if I don't deal with it early, so I have learned to listen to my inner self.
If I can talk it out, I do.
If I can't, or there is no resolution, I run outdoors, and work things out rationally in my mind, always looking for an answer until I find one.No repression.
I look at things objectively from the big picture biological viewpoint that I developed at Smith and have expanded ever since. When something terrible happens, I don't ask why, I ask, why not? I confirm my knowing that I can handle it and go from there. For example, during and after my divorce, I wrote a book about divorce (and love and recovery), The Love Cycle, and it was great therapy!

I find a quiet space and let my mind flow to our summer place in New Hampshire. I mentally walk off the deck and down to the lake, out onto the dock and lower myself into the water where I sit for a while at the bottom of the pond in the quiet and cool.

I have several must-dos when it comes to stress management: 1. I exercise every day, typically around 5 a.m. It gets my day off to a great start and allows me to be there for my husband and kids at night after work. 2. I have a good book going that I end my day with. 3. Time for self -- I schedule SOMETHING for me when life is getting to me: a massage, a hair cut, a girls' lunch or dinner. 4. I laugh with my family, co-workers and friends -- I'm sure I'd be dead if I forgot this one.

1. Exercise daily (or as close thereto as possible); 2. Yoga (Bikram until my knees cried foul--now back to gentler forms) and belly breathing works wonders--including to calm hot flashes; 3. Friends, family and laughter; 4. Bach or Mozart--both work for me; 5. A good book to read to push the worries from my mind in order to get to sleep.

I take a weekly yoga class. I think more yoga would benefit me but I can't always fit it in. I write the class on the calendar and try never to schedule something else for that time. I try to breathe deeply at moments of high stress. I find writing down all the things I'm stressed about will sometimes alleviate it ... it seems worse when it's whirling around in my brain than it looks on paper. Sometimes instead of trying to make something happen (with the kids especially) if I just let go of my agenda it relieves my tension, as does hugging the kids and/or dog :)

Bikram yoga...there's nothing like it! I strongly encourage others to try it!

Journaling and good books. I like Allison's post about toasting an imagined best future. Lovely.

I practice the violin and take walks. A cousin of mine vacuums her stress away but so far I have resisted that approach.

I sing opera in my car -- loudly. I'm a lawyer so I spend a fair amount of time in my car. The other drivers must think I'm totally bonkers, but ask me if I care...

Or I listen to a good audiobook; I recommend Tolkien's LORD OF THE RINGS for full spiritual refreshment.

Or I play on the internet.

Or I just do whatever silly thing comes into my head at the moment.