Waiting in your doctor’s office for your annual checkup is a little bit like psyching yourself up for a job interview. A busy person’s about to walk through that door and give you 10 minutes to tell her how you feel. With game time a few minutes away, you begin to organize the facts in your head. “OK, I need get the blood tests run, tell my doctor about the headaches and lower back pain, and make sure I get that cyst in my arm checked out. Got to make sure I stay healthy.”

Healthy. For most of us, what “healthy” really means is that we’re surviving. Move us from the doctor’s office to a friend’s couch, and the truth about how we really feel starts to come out. “I wake up stressed out about work. I’m tired in the afternoon. I can go the whole day without ten minutes to relax and have fun. It seems like there’s never enough time to get everything done.” But that stuff isn’t important enough to tell the doctor. As long as our fast paced life doesn’t prevent our bodies from getting out of bed in the morning, we ignore the threat stress poses to our health.

In prehistoric times, the caveman had to survive the threat posed by the saber tooth tiger. When the predator pounced, stress kicked in. The heart pumped faster, adrenaline flowed, breathing patterns became shallow and quick, and the caveman leapt for the nearest tree. The human race was programmed with the flight our fight response, so much so that it became an instinctive response to threats.

While the saber tooth tiger has disappeared, stress hasn’t. Ironically, the very physiological response that allowed early humans to survive predators has become the new danger. Stress is today’s saber tooth tiger. In modern life, it’s triggered constantly. Traffic makes us late. Our boss gives us one too many deadlines. The kids, dry cleaning, and mom’s birthday gift all need to be picked up in the next 10 minutes. We remember the credit card bill we’re struggling to pay. Anytime we think there’s a threat to our physical or psychological self, and we’re not sure we have the resources to deal with it, we get stressed.

Cardiologists, therapists, and other health professionals know what stress can do to us. The good news is that some of the world’s foremost medical experts have developed tools we can all use to counteract stress. In examining the contemplative practices of the world’s faith traditions through the lens of western medicine, these experts have documented the power of relaxation done right. Research has proven that mind/body techniques like breathwork, meditation, and visualization, when practiced consistently over time, have an incredibly powerful healing effect.

Like any other skill, a relaxation practice takes some time and effort to learn. And like any lifestyle change, it takes an on-going commitment. Just like not smoking for one day won’t allow your lungs to heal, meditating for ten minutes won’t erase stress from your life. But unlike baseball or painting, anyone can develop a powerful relaxation practice. It’s literally as simple as breathing. And unlike pills and doctors visits, mind/body techniques are one kind of medicine that’s absolutely free, once you learn how to practice.

Society tells us that a bigger car, more money, and a fancier title will make us happy. But what if taking 20 minutes out of our day to breathe was all it took to help us enjoy our family, give us peace of mind, and draw the tension and pain from our bodies? What if we didn’t wait till our bodies or our relationships broke down before we took steps secure real health?

As a health professional, I can tell you that incorporating a relaxation practice into your daily routine is the smart thing to do. As a meditator, I can tell you’ll discover peace and inner strength in the face of adversity. Find a relaxation practice that suits you and try it out for yourself. Your health and happiness is worth it.