Stressing the point

In The Hunger Games, children from a post-apocalyptic future are summoned to represent their districts in a televised and gory fight to the death. But that is less stressful than striving to be a successful adult today.

Maybe it's a first-world problem, but everyday reactions, such as eye rolling and deep sighing, are really working their way into my schedule. Things don't go the way I want, people are increasingly unpredictable and the traffic never, ever helps.

Stress is a relentless, pressuring and draining force of human nature. But it doesn't have to defeat you. Here are things you can do to prevent your blood pressure from shooting through the roof.

Some time ago, I joined some friends in a slew of ego-bruising yoga classes to prove my openness to try other forms of exercise. "Yoga? That's where people confuse meditation with doing something right?" Little did I know that my patronising self was ill equipped to handle the punishment. There's this intimidating, formidable pose named Shiva, The Lord Of The Dance, where you stand on one straight leg and grab the ankle of the other while raising the other arm skyward, looking straight in the mirror. The good ones looked like a glorious palm tree, but the class saw me as a drunk giraffe in Louboutins. Yoga made me focus so much harder than I expected. The experience was new, refreshing and emotionally satisfying. It took my mind off work, challenged my psyche, woke my body and reduced the pain in my lower back, and I couldn't wait for class the following week.