Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    From $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    Release Yourself Part I. Stress Less. Live More.: The “KISS” Series; Keep it Simple, Sweetheart, #1
    Release Yourself Part I. Stress Less. Live More.: The “KISS” Series; Keep it Simple, Sweetheart, #1
    Release Yourself Part I. Stress Less. Live More.: The “KISS” Series; Keep it Simple, Sweetheart, #1
    Ebook97 pages1 hour

    Release Yourself Part I. Stress Less. Live More.: The “KISS” Series; Keep it Simple, Sweetheart, #1

    By Sophia Elan

    ()

    Read preview

    About this ebook


     

    Stress less. Live more. 

     

    "Release Yourself" is a 3-part series dedicated to conquering destructive stress for health, happiness and harmony. In this well-researched and engaging series, Sophia Elan shares simple, life-changing, proven strategies (based on holistic therapies and neuroscience) to become a stress conqueror and reclaim your mental and physical well-being. 

     

    This book, PART I of the three-part series, reviews the nervous system and stress response and documents how chronic stress, directly and indirectly, impacts mood, energy, appetite, weight, sleep, digestive health, immunity, and the risk of developing mental disorders and physical diseases, as well as aging in general. The epic rise in chronic stress parallels the epidemic rise in mental and physical health challenges, including dementia, neurodegenerative diseases, obesity, and autoimmune diseases. Elan contends that this parallel is far from coincidental and that you have the power to be the master of your health destiny. Elan documents the connection between unabated, prolonged stress and the development of virtually every mental and physical health challenge. PARTS II and III of this series collectively offer 50 practical, evidence-based, transformative strategies to successfully manage stress and resolve the wide-ranging negative physiological, psychological, and behavioral consequences thereof. 

     

    The majority of doctors' visits are for stress-related symptoms. Conventional medicine fails to appreciate the causative/contributory factor that chronic stress (including trauma-induced stress) plays in physical and mental health issues. Conventional psychotherapy is often cost-prohibitive and fails to recognize/address the vast potential physiological impacts of chronic stress. Conventional therapies primarily rely on drugs to superficially make the patient feel better. Drugs are generally ineffectual at best at resolving issues long-term, are often counterproductive, and frequently cause significant negative side effects. 

     

    Conventional approaches treat the body and mind separately, failing to appreciate and capitalize on the interconnectedness of mind and body and failing to realize the cumulative psychological, physiological and behavioral manifestations of chronic stress. Time to get unconventional, according to Elan. Manage your stress so it doesn't ravage your mind, body, and spirit. 

     

    "Release Yourself" is part of Elan's "KISS" collection, a catalog of self-care made simple books, utilizing Elan's trademark "keep it simple, sweetheart" philosophy. "KISS" guides are designed to inspire and empower you to achieve optimal mental and physical well-being, via simple, natural, accessible lifestyle routines. 

     

    A conqueror of lifelong traumas, Elan preaches what she practices and shares an insightful toolkit for resolving chronic stress and overcoming the pervasive destructive stress-induced impacts she knew all too well from a lifetime of misdiagnoses and mistreatments. By resolving her traumas, employing her "KISS" philosophy, Elan found the key to ending her physiological challenges, her mental anguish, and her maladaptive coping mechanisms, including substance abuse. 

     

    Stress is inevitable, suffering is not… In her compassionate and relatable voice, Elan encourages us all to be our own best health advocate and "insurance" by engaging in simple, empowering natural habits and practices to live the rest of our lives as the best of our lives.

     

    Keep it simple, sweetheart…




     

     


     

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherMediterranean Me
    Release dateJul 31, 2023
    ISBN9798223785040
    Release Yourself Part I. Stress Less. Live More.: The “KISS” Series; Keep it Simple, Sweetheart, #1
    Author

    Sophia Elan

    Sophia Elan's journey is an inspiration to all those who seek to follow their heart and live their dreams. Sophia, a University of Chicago Law School alum and former corporate lawyer, left her career to feed her soul. "Sicilian Seductions" is the first novel in Sophia's 8-part Mediterranean-based "Happily Ever Now" collection, a testament to the power of following one's instincts and finding true happiness. Most recently from Napa, California, Sophia resides along the exquisite Turkish Riviera; she is blessed to be the living embodiment of a Mediterranean lifestyle, having lived in the region for almost two decades. Sophia's passions and natural health and fitness background provide endless inspiration for her holistic wellness Mediterranean Me brand. A conqueror of complex PTSD, Sophia also writes non-fiction with the mission of using her insights to enhance others' lives. Sophia is proud to have travel essays published in International Living, the premiere travel publication for retirees that fueled her own wanderlust. Sophia invites you to join her on her literary journey and embrace the magic of a Mediterranean lifestyle through her website, www.mediterraneanme.org.      

    Read more from Sophia Elan

    Related to Release Yourself Part I. Stress Less. Live More.

    Titles in the series (7)

    View More
    View More

    Related ebooks

    Wellness For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • UNLIMITED

      Your Toolkit For SELF-CARE

      Oct 9, 2022

      Your Toolkit For SELF-CARE
      5 min read

    • UNLIMITED

      THERAPY worked FOR US…

      Oct 20, 2022

      THERAPY worked FOR US…
      6 min read

    • UNLIMITED

      WHY ROUTINE Is Good For You

      May 13, 2020

      WHY ROUTINE Is Good For You
      1 min read

    • UNLIMITED

      What Is Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis?

      Nov 24, 2019

      The thyroid gland is a butterfly-shaped endocrine gland located below the Adam’s apple on either side of the lower neck. Its main role is to produce the hormone thyroxine (T4), which the body converts into triiodothyronine (T3), the functional versio

      1 min read

    • UNLIMITED

      4 Health & Wellness Markets Open to Writers

      Oct 7, 2024

      With all things cozy on my mind, I want to explore health and wellness markets open to freelance writers. After all, there are few things more comforting than the thought of a healthy mind and body, and the following markets endeavor to help their au

      4 min read

    • UNLIMITED

      Women And adhd

      Jun 1, 2024

      Women And adhd
      8 min read

    • UNLIMITED

      Food For Feelings

      Jun 13, 2018

      Words CARROL BAKER You have a brand-new mortgage and your work hours are cut, your partner has cancelled a weekend away and the dishwasher has just flooded the kitchen. Before you reach for a handful of cookies or that brie calling you from the fridg

      7 min read

    • UNLIMITED

      Rhodiola

      Aug 4, 2023

      Rhodiola
      1 min read

    • UNLIMITED

      How To Be Happier

      Aug 4, 2023

      How To Be Happier
      1 min read

    • UNLIMITED

      Mind over IMMUNITY

      Oct 10, 2018

      Mind over IMMUNITY
      9 min read

    • UNLIMITED

      Press Pause

      Jul 30, 2020

      Press Pause
      1 min read

    • UNLIMITED

      How To Thrive In Times Of Change

      Jul 12, 2020

      How To Thrive In Times Of Change
      4 min read

    • UNLIMITED

      Do You Have Brain Overload?

      Feb 24, 2020

      Do You Have Brain Overload?
      2 min read

    • UNLIMITED

      The Mindfulness Experiment

      Sep 9, 2020

      The Mindfulness Experiment
      7 min read

    • UNLIMITED

      3 Things To Read To… CHANGE YOUR PERSPECTIVE

      May 10, 2022

      1 The Power Of Fun by Catherine Price (Bantam Press, £14.99) explores the health and happiness benefits of prioritising playfulness, along with strategies to get you started. 2 Feeling Myself by Natalie Lee (Vermilion, £16.99) is a raw look at the

      1 min read

    • UNLIMITED

      Big Love

      Jun 20, 2024

      This book reminds me of the early times. . . Somehow this book really connects the early 1970’s and the 21st century, and shows us how, due to this dedication and devotion to the spiritual path, to the lineage, to Lama Yeshe and to Lama Zopa Rinpoche

      1 min read

    • UNLIMITED

      Four Ways To Explore Gratitude

      Oct 26, 2021

      How do your physical senses recognize and experience beauty? Explore how you notice something lovely today. What part of that process sparks gratitude? Write or draw about that beauty. Notice the good ideas you have today, in any area of your life—a

      1 min read

    • UNLIMITED

      Calming Your Hormones

      Jul 13, 2022

      Calming Your Hormones
      5 min read

    • UNLIMITED

      From The Editor

      Jan 18, 2024

      From The Editor
      2 min read

    • UNLIMITED

      Build Your Resilience

      Dec 21, 2021

      • One to one Prioritise those relationships where you can talk about what matters to you. In the words of Bill Withers: ‘No one can fill those of your needs that you won’t let show.’ • In a group The need for community is hardwired into us. It might

      1 min read

    • UNLIMITED

      Invest Your Energy In The ‘Now’

      Dec 9, 2018

      Imagine your whole life as a timeline from the day you were born right through to the day you are going to pass. Now, if I gave you 100 tokens that represented your emotional energy, and I asked you to place them along the timeline wherever your atte

      2 min read

    • UNLIMITED

      The New FRONTIER

      Jun 1, 2022

      The New FRONTIER
      2 min read

    • UNLIMITED

      Chakra exploration: Part I

      Feb 14, 2018

      Chakra exploration: Part I
      8 min read

    Related categories

    Reviews for Release Yourself Part I. Stress Less. Live More.

    0 ratings

    0 ratings0 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

      Book preview

      Release Yourself Part I. Stress Less. Live More. - Sophia Elan

      IN DEDICATION

      to

      His Holiness, the Dalai Lama

      for

      Being a Source of Peace & Inspiration for Me & Countless Others

      A Natural Lifestyle Guide to Conquering Your Stress

      To

      Optimize Your Body, Mind & Spirit

      For

      Health, Happiness & Harmony

      (Time to Move)

      FORWARD

      STRESS LESS. LIVE MORE. As a survivor of complex post-traumatic stress disorder, I know a thing or two about stress. More importantly, I know even more about perseverance and triumphing over traumas/chronic stress. I intimately know the trauma psyche, the physiological embodiments of chronic stress, and stress-induced behavioral consequences. Most importantly, I know how to get out of this morass with natural, simple, inexpensive, accessible lifestyle strategies.

      My philosophy as a writer is to write the books I want to read, so I do... I used the "power within" (that we all have) to stop chronic stress from wreaking havoc on my body, my mind, my spirit, and my life. It’s my mission now to help transfer that "power without" by sharing my insights, consistent with my "K.I.S.S." philosophy to "keep it simple, sweetheart." Healing should not be a luxury; it should be accessible to each of us. Healing does not happen in silence or solitude. This belief is the genesis of this book, indeed, of all my books.

      As those of us familiar with chronic stress know all too well, virtually no aspect of life is untouched by the detrimental ravages thereof. What’s more, chronic stress’ sister mental issues, anxiety, and depression, often coexist with their overlapping and distinct symptoms. Stress manifests psychologically (e.g., as constantly worrying, being anxious, feeling on edge, or having difficulty concentrating or remembering things); emotionally (e.g., as feeling irritable, moody, easily frustrated, or even angry); physiologically (e.g., as fatigue, high blood pressure, difficulty losing weight, frequent colds or infections, headaches, general aches/pains, and even chronic degenerative diseases); and behaviorally (e.g., as withdrawal, lethargy, sleep disturbances, deprioritizing self-care, an inability to relax, or even addictive behaviors for food, alcohol or drugs, for example). I think most of us tend to think of the consequences of stress as psychological or emotional and don’t appreciate the link between chronic stress and our physical health or our behavior as much.

      I don’t know about you but I’m a bad news first kind of person. In any event, since it’s my book, we’ll start there...  The bad news concerning stress is two-fold. First, it affects virtually all of us. Second, chronic stress, directly or indirectly, underlies - or is associated with - essentially every negative health status, nagging or debilitating ailment, mental disorder, and chronic degenerative disease (including obesity, high blood pressure, migraines, inflammatory conditions, autoimmune diseases, anxiety, depression, dementia, and our top killers, cardiovascular disease, stroke, and certain cancers).

      You’ve likely heard about how chronic inflammation underlies virtually all ailments and diseases, both mental and physical. Did you appreciate though that one of the primary causative factors of chronic inflammation is chronic stress? I can sum up the heart of my message with the following logic:

      Chronic stress = chronic inflammation

      Chronic inflammation = chronic mental & physical ailments/diseases

      Therefore: manage chronic stress to avoid most chronic illnesses

      Chronic inflammation is a primary pathway between chronic stress and the development of a lot of health challenges. We hear a lot about anti-inflammatory strategies given the clear connection between chronic inflammation and mental and physical health problems. There seems to be a lack of focus on resolving chronic inflammation at the source, however; that source is frequently chronic stress. Tragically, we all too often seem to view chronic stress (and associated lack of sleep) as almost a badge of honor, as reflected in the phrase, What doesn’t kill you, makes you stronger. Personally, I’m tired of amassing so-called stress-induced strength and more focused on preventing/resolving the what doesn’t kill you side of the equation.

      This book is an alarm call, highlighting the prevalence of chronic stress and detailing the significant deleterious impacts of this contagion on the body, mind, and spirit. Chronic stress is killing us literally and figuratively as a society; it is not making us stronger. In addition to most of us not fully appreciating the far-ranging negative implications of chronic stress, I also think most of us assume we more or less just have to live with it as a fact of life. Although I lived almost the entirety of my life operating within the constraints of those thoughts, I’m now happily here to beg differently...

      This "Release Yourself" series is a comprehensively-researched lifestyle guide, offering simple, proven strategies to stop the scourge of chronic stress to help prevent or treat the countless mental and physical ailments, disorders and diseases, and behavioral issues for which chronic stress is a significant causative or contributory factor. The incredible news is that there are many things we can do that have demonstrated efficacy to prevent, reduce, or adapt to, chronic stress, and to increase our resilience to stress. Tried and true, personally, anecdotally, observationally and scientifically. This is extraordinarily empowering as it gives us the ability to proactively prevent/redress the various stress-induced/related undesirable behaviors and negative mental and physical consequences.

      We tend to think of most mental and physical health issues as inevitable consequences of aging, but they are absolutely not inevitable; oftentimes the culprit is chronic stress and it is within our power to address it. I think we tend to think of some of these strategies as too simplistic or passive to be able to truly have a significant impact. I know, I did. I researched voluminously for this book and applied most of the strategies to my own healing; these evidence-based approaches are remarkably effective. Their simplicity/passivity makes them easily accessible to most of us. We need to embrace these natural solutions to reduce the default reliance on prescription drugs, which mask but do not resolve our stress-induced societal crisis - indeed they exacerbate the problem.

      Globally, we are overwhelmed, overweight, overloaded with toxins, over-drugged, sleepless, and sedentary, and suffering physiological, psychological, and behavioral consequences, manifesting as mental and physical calamities. I’m confident that when we truly appreciate the profoundly negative and pervasive consequences of cumulative lifestyle habits, we can collectively start down the path of preventing and treating these degenerative issues and improving our overall quality of life. It’s a fact that lifestyle factors account for the vast majority of chronic degenerative physical and mental conditions. It’s a fact that innumerable positive lifestyle changes can positively change the sobering tragic reality that we are a dis-eased world.

      This series was originally a chapter in my upcoming book, "Mediterranean Me: The KISS Plan for Optimal Health", but it became so voluminous and important

      Enjoying the preview?
      Page 1 of 1