Quick Wellness Hits For Mental Health Awareness Month

These days, stress is all around us. After all, there are so many objective reasons to feel stress. This month is National Stress Awareness Month, intended to shine a spotlight on all that stress and motivate us to do something about it. And it slides right into May, which is Mental Health Awareness Month. Whether you (finally!) get out the ashwagandha gummies, crack open that bag of mushroom-fortified coffee or take a class on decocting relaxing herbal elixirs, self-care can diffuse and distract from stress and anxiety, which can be quite therapeutic. Doing something right now, preferably something that fosters a sense of community, can help get you back on track toward feeling a sense of calm, balance and well-being.

Here are a few easy ways to re-calibrate, de-stress and beat the doldrums.

Escape and Connect with Nature

Plan a getaway–and then actually go! Last year, two out of three people surveyed by Ipsos Consumer Tracker planned to take a summer getaway. But only half that number actually went! A long weekend is a great refresher, and you don’t need to go far. Be spontaneous and book it on the fly. If you can break for the beach, the salty sea air and pounding surf is a great restorative.

The Sanctuary Beach Resort, a 60-room beachfront getaway set along 19 acres of natural sand dunes and California coastline along the Monterey Peninsula, outside San Francisco, is a perfect restorative. Recently reopened after an extensive renovation, Sanctuary offers accommodations right on the beach along with a range of wellness experiences that include beach or power yoga, journaling, chakra alignment reiki, sound bath meditation and more. Whether you are seeking solitude, immersion in nature or a reconnection with family or friends, you will find it in a comfortable and cozy seaside cottage, where your choice of lavish breakfast is delivered in a picnic basket directly to your door.

If you are looking for a structured wellness weekend, the Burnout Recovery Journey begins with a Nourishing Welcome Basket of snacks and nonalcoholic aperitifs. Head for the Renewal Studio & Spa for a 90-minute Relaxation Massage and 30-minute HIGHERDose Infrared PEMF Mat experience. Also included is a a SLNT Faraday Phone Sleeve for digital detox and a 20-minute Sleep Hypnosis Audio, if the sound of the ocean waves outside your door isn’t enough for you. Also new, the Solstice Detox Massage will stimulate circulation along with the lymphatic system and the body’s natural endorphins. A la carte, the new Solstice Detox Massage begins with dry brushing followed by a seaweed mask applied to the body to detox and hydrate the skin. The coup de grace is a 60 minute relaxing massage followed by a natural mood-boosting HigherDose red-light mask. That, along with beachfront yoga and mediation should coax you back to a state of well-being quickly!

With the Salt Wood Kitchen & Oysterette restaurant and bar at hand, you will be deliciously nourished and fortified. If you do feel like venturing off property, Sanctuary isn’t far from the Monterey Aquarium or the picture perfect town of Carmel-by-the-Sea. At the close of day, enjoy the beautiful sunset “BondFire”–a private beach bonfire overlooking the sea, intended to foster connection with family and friends while you share a glass of wine, snacks and maybe dinner on the beach.

ENJOY A DAYCATION OR MEMBERSHIP

If you can’t get away, enjoy a staycation–or plan several. For those who love hotels, the purchase of a ResortPass can be an easy way to enjoy a day stay at a hotel not far from home, where you can book a pool cabana and spend the day poolside. Find a luxurious spot to do nothing, or, if you must, bring your laptop and work, while enjoying hotel wellness and spa amenities such as steam and sauna; access to a hot tub, beach or fitness center; yoga or kayak rentals.

Resort Pass offers access to 2000 luxury hotels in 250 cities across 35 states, including Four Seasons, Fairmont, Waldorf-Astoria, Ritz-Carlton, JW Marriott. (If you are booking an Airbnb in a warm weather destination, the Resort Pass allows access to hotel pools and spas nearby, without staying there.)

Many hotels also now offer their own “membership pass” which can allow access to their pool, grounds, wellness classes, spa and other hotel-stay-for-a-day amenities. At the vibey Ranch Motel & Leisure Club, a re-upped motel in San Antonio, owner Jayson Seidman, founder/CEO Sandstone Ltd., has tapped into a nostalgia for community with day passes, popups and programming and memberships that include use of the facilities from pickleball courts to live music, the mescal lounge and pool. He’s rolled out the concept to eight other properties around the US. “People miss belonging, having a sense of community,” Seidman says. “It’s not about being exclusive, for us it’s about people who enjoy having interesting conversations and meeting people.”

GET OUT AND MOVE

Head to a dance class. For years, I would walk by the Alvin Ailey Dance Studio on Manhattan’s West Side and peer into the floor-to-ceiling glass windows, watching students who looked like they were having a great time. I finally tried it, and guess what? They were! Dance is a surefire mood booster. Dancing not only feels good and makes you happy, it releases endorphins, reduces cortisol levels and releases oxytocin (the bonding hormone that is released when connecting with others) and dopamine along the way, according to Stacey Marks, CEO, Fly Dance Fitness, a gym that fosters community through dance.

“Dance as a fitness modality is more than just a physical workout, it’s a mental health oasis,” she says. “Dancing to high energy music from our clubbing days brings back a sense of nostalgia, making the workout that much sweeter. Everyone is there to have a good time and great workout. So much of what we do at Fly Dance Fitness is building friendships, forming bonds and loving what you see in the mirror.” Especially over the holidays or in the dead of winter, go out dancing, or join a class and get those joy boosters shaking.

Dancing reduces cortisol levels and releases oxytocin (the bonding hormone that is released when connecting with others), dopamine and endorphins. And “dancing to high energy music from our clubbing days also brings back a sense of nostalgia, making the workout that much sweeter,” says Marks.

TAKE A BREAK TO SAVOR BEAUTY

Visit a local gallery or museum, discover something new and look at an awe-inspiring piece of art–it will restore your faith in humanity. It may even enable you to stumble onto something new, get outside yourself and lift your spirit, even for an hour.

This past week, I popped into the San Antonio Art Museum (SAMA), a beautiful building filled with Ancient Egyptian and Asian galleries, along with rotating exhibitions that feature contemporary Latinx artists such as Amalia Mesa-Bains. And I stumbled on a modern gallery that I’d never seen before, with works by Philip Guston, Helen Frankenthaler, Richard Diebenkorn, Helen Frankenthaler, Philip Guston, Dorothy Hood, Hans Hofmann, Frank Stella, Diego Rivera, David Siquieros, Orozco. I also found a contemporary Indigenous Australian art collection and an entire gallery devoted to Art of the Americas pre-1500 that I didn’t know was there! That brief immersion completely recalibrated my stress levels and brought me back to balance.

TAKE A DEEP BREATH

If you practice yoga, now is a good time to ramp up your practice, and if you don’t, it may be a good time to start. Stress can cause you to hyperventilate or take shallow breaths, and yoga puts a focus on coordinating movement with deep breathing. And if yoga is not your jam, when you find yourself feeling stressed, while sitting at your desk, try mindful breathing: Kevin Joseph, yoga instructor, Ay Well + Fit Studio, recommends taking a moment to take a deep breath in through your nose, count to 4 then release the breath slowly. Repeat three times. Take a walk and focus on the smallest things along your path with curiosity about how it makes your life easier.

“Breath work, meditation and yoga practices de-stress the body by allowing the parasympathetic nervous system to be activated, allowing the oxygen to be carried through the most integral areas of the body,” says Joseph.

A friend and fellow yoga lover used this to sign off on an email just this morning: Inhale. Exhale. Repeat. Take advantage of this time of year and motivate yourself to work on small ways to de-stress and jump-start Mental Health Awareness Month.