Wow…what a week! I just wrapped up a video shoot and I’m taking time this weekend to focus on mindfulness and yoga. While a busy life can be energizing, balance is important in all things in life, including fitness. By acknowledging a natural ebb and flow in life, your body and mind will let you know it’s time for a balance check. This weekend, take a few minutes to sit quietly and be still. By doing so, you’ll be rewarded with more energy, creativity and joy

Stress is a messenger. Even though there’s a lot of talk about reducing and eliminating stress, it’s important to see it as a friendly emotion that reminds you about the need for balance in your life.  When you view stress as a tool, it’s easier to make peace with it.

Stress is our body’s natural response to change in our environment, and the automatic fight-or-flight response that stress triggers is genetically coded within us. When you experience too much stress, though, hormones like cortisol and adrenaline flood your body and that can wreak havoc on your health.

Another reason you’d be doing your body a favor if you take stress down a notch is because your heart rate increases when you’re stressed, which leads to higher blood pressure and blood being shunted away from your stomach, causing poor digestion.

When stress taps you on the shoulder and says you need more balance in your life, it’s important to listen to it.

If you need more balance in your life, creating inner peace is easier than you might think. For me, nothing provides as much relief, energy, clarity, positive feelings, and an incredible feeling of rejuvenation than taking a minute to pause in stillness, and then stretch my body. Just those few seconds of stillness to mindfully connect with your body allows you to be your best self, and completely restore body and mind.

That’s why in the video above, I’ll guide you through a 2-minute relaxing stretching routine that will help you shed stress so you can replenish the vibrant energy within you.