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

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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.

stress: your gut, your breath & a new story