Talking to God and experiencing God's presence were so easy and natural for me as a very young child. Yet the strict family environment in which I was raised and the even stricter grammar school in which I was educated constantly challenged my faith. I was literally taught that God was a punishing God, and I felt fearful much of the time. By age nine, I was suffering from constant bouts of headaches, stomachaches, and insomnia that continued into adulthood.

I grew up living my life on automatic pilot, pushing myself to the edge, holding down stressful jobs, pursuing advanced degrees, trying to be perfect. In my twenties, my physical symptoms expanded to include chronic back pain, TMJ, endometriosis, and psoriasis. Eventually, I was hospitalized for a severe gastrointestinal problem.

The doctor who was treating me asked, "Have you been under any stress lately?"

"Me? Oh, no!" I answered. In telling the doctor all that was going on in my life, however, I held a mirror up to myself. Finally I understood how incredibly stressed my life had been and still was.

Awakening to My Own Spirituality

Reading scientific research that showed how important spirituality was to healing helped me understand how vital the mind-body-spirit connection is to health.

I began to awaken to my own spirituality, and I defined it as my relationship with God, myself, other people, and nature. Always eager to help others, I now realized I had neglected myself. That neglect had kept me from rediscovering what I must have intuitively known as a child: I was a spiritual being created by God and loved unconditionally by God.

Meditation was instrumental in helping me make that rediscovery. As I began to meditate, I moved into that quiet space inside myself where I could listen to my inner voice and experience my connection with God.

Next I began a healthy nutrition and exercise plan. I took a look at how I had been beating myself up with negative thinking such as: I should have known better. That was really stupid of me. I'm not okay.

In a sense, I had been rejecting God's unconditional love by not respecting myself. When I admitted how distorted my thinking was, I was able to be more compassionate with myself. I understood that I could participate in my own healing and actually experience health, joy, and inner peace.

The Wonder of My Freedom

Within three months the physical, stress-related symptoms went away. Within six months my free-floating anxiety—a sense of not being worthy of peace and happiness—ceased. I felt so wonderful and free! I still do today.

My goal during the past ten years has been to connect with as many people as possible to let them know that we all have the power to make changes in our lives that can help us live with better health, more joy, and inner peace.

My intention is to teach people what I have learned to do for myself. So I encourage you to do the following: listen to your inner voice-the divine part of you. Feel a spiritual connection with God, yourself, and others. Allow yourself to experience inner peace and participate in your own healing.

In the Moment

I encourage people to be conscious of what they are doing in the moment. So much of stress and anxiety is about focusing on what could go wrong or what we don't have control over.

One of the ways to stay conscious in the moment is to begin the day with a peaceful wake-up call: Become aware of your breathing and your body, think about what you have to be grateful for, and focus immediately on how you want the day to go.

Then hold that focus, practice breathing deeply and fully, and keep affirming that you want to move through your day easily and effortlessly—aware of the Divine in all that you do. Before your feet even touch the floor, you have already established a positive intention for the day.

Throughout the day, try dedicating a few moments here and there to deep breathing and meditation. This is so important because you may notice that many times you are breathing very shallowly and even holding your breath, especially when stressed. When you do this, your body thinks it is suffocating and goes into a stress response to try to cope with not having enough oxygen. Breath is your life force, and as you breathe fully, your body comes into balance and you think and focus more clearly.

When you have a true sense of your divine connection, you are more likely to look at the events of life as part of your path in life, part of your learning and growth. You then recognize challenges not as threats but as opportunities to use the wisdom that God has given you.

When you feel caught up in a stressful moment, simply take a breath, a full breath down to your belly. Know that you are breathing in the breath of life, the breath of the Divine. You will understand how breathing deeply and fully can be a prayer that blesses you physically, emotionally, and spiritually.

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Lori Leyden-Rubenstein is a psychotherapist in Rhode Island. Her academic credentials include a Ph.D. in health and human services and a master's degree in business administration. She is a speaker on stress and anxiety management.

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