This episode is for you if you frequently feel on the threshold of breaking through into the “I’m so stressed” panic, or giving up, or rushing around like something is the end of the world when you kinda know that it’s actually not. Welcome to my most straightforward, real talk on stress. This is not about how to eliminate stress from your body but actually why we need it, and how to raise your threshold for dealing with it. I give you all of the practices I have been doing for the last year and let you in on what I’ve discovered regarding how letting yourself recover fully is absolutely essential in order to experience the gift of strength that stress gives you. Stress is the mind and body’s way of reacting to what it believes it can’t handle. The good news? That belief can change. What you are actually capable of handling, can also change.
Join my retreat: Sweet Simplicity, January 2026
https://www.shawnakru.com/sweet-simplicity-retreat
Get a copy of my guided journal for $33 with code POD33
https://www.ritualofwritingjournal.com/
My stress-relief youtube class collection:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL1n0YzhY8I7X-ynzDhU0PTE40LrOf43IV
Time stamps:
00:00 intro
02:40 the emotional hangover of responding poorly to stress
8:20 a new definition of stress
11:20 something you believe you cannot handle
14:20 if you are not disturbed, you will not change
16:00 every system in the bottom needs stress: until threshold
18:30 raise your threshold for dealing with stress
19:30 breath: tangible tips
23:15 guided practice: coherent breath
25:25 the pause gives us back time, it doesn’t take it
26:27 the gut: 1/3 of our blood supply
29:10 95% of serotonin is made in the gut
31:20 a new story of stress to tell yourself: the bear & the frog
37:00 the real stress journey
38:00 frog in boiling water analogy
43:00 don’t look at the peak, look at your feet
45:45 we make it so complex that we never begin
47:30 is this anything?
49:40 it’s the journey of the bear, not walking into walmart
50:41 an impossible ask.
