If you’ve been feeling more stressed recently, you’re not alone. In the annual Stress in America survey conducted by The Harris Poll, researchers noted that the level of stress in America is reaching unprecedented levels. “Essentially, we are walking, talking pressure cookers of stress with no outlet of release,” says Matt Cardone, a Palm Beach Gardens–based meditation expert. “Anytime we are unable to adapt to a demand in a real-time circumstance, we incur stress. It can be tremendously destructive.” Everyone responds to stress differently, and finding the right therapy to help relieve your stress is key to good mental and physical health. Luckily, new methods are popping up all the time, and many of these therapies are offered right here in our area. Here are seven alternative stress relievers to try today.
Sound Healing
For Barbara Spaulding, a Stuart-based master sound healer, relieving stress is about changing our brain rhythms. Spaulding uses sound therapy to realign brain waves on a cellular level. “Everything in the universe is vibrating, and everything has its own unique frequency,” Spaulding explains. Sound therapy uses musical instruments, sounds, and vibrations to adjust a person’s brain waves to an optimal level. Says Spaulding: “Our goal is to train the frequencies of body and brain to a healthy level.”
Keith Cini, owner of Agape Healing Arts in Tequesta, describes sound therapy as “harmonizing the vibration in our own body.” Lately, he says he has seen an influx of people looking for stress relief. “People are trying to gather tools to help themselves,” says Cini, who uses items such as tuning forks and Tibetan healing bowls in his practice.
Spaulding and Cini encourage patients to use sound therapy at home. “Once we determine a person’s home note or soul note, they can buy a bowl that plays that note,” says Spaulding. Over time, the stronger, more consistent frequency will overcome the lesser, weaker frequency that leads to stress.
Equine Therapy
At Hopes, Dreams, and Horses in Jupiter, founder Susan Copeland helps with stress-related issues using equine psychotherapy known as the EAGALA model. This team approach pairs Copeland, an equine specialist, with Jennifer Castellanos, an EAGALA-certified therapist, to help people work through life struggles by
interacting with horses.
Copeland explains that since horses communicate mainly through body language, they are highly in tune with emotional vibrations. “They seem to know exactly how to behave to open up one’s own ability to find solutions to troubling conditions,” she says. Copeland recalls a woman who suffered from PTSD and severe anxiety. Shortly into her session, the horses started exhibiting behavior reminiscent of the woman’s life. “I remember all three of us having goosebumps and her asking, ‘How do you make them do that?’ Our answer was, ‘We don’t.’”
At Harmony Hope Stables in Palm City, founder Kristi Huddleston harnesses the power of horses and combines it with music to help children. She started the Harmony & Horses program after experiencing the healing power of horses and music firsthand. “Both have played a role in my own journey in life,” she says, noting that something as simple as grooming a horse can have a calming effect on a child.
“Horses are highly intuitive around humans and their emotions,” she explains. “If you’re stressed, a horse will reflect that back at you. Horses need humans to be calm.” Music is integrated into the program through group music therapy, music classes, and daily music experiences that even the horses get in on. Huddleston recounts the story of how one horse helped a child who was having trouble calming down. “I called [our horse] Harmony over, and she went right over to one of the guitars and started strumming the strings with her teeth,” she says, noting that the child immediately started laughing.
