Jeré McMahan starts each morning by listening to soft music and drinking her coffee.

She says this morning ritual, which she shares with her pets, is what keeps her stress level down and prepares her for a hectic day.

Over the years, she has battled breast cancer along with recent hip and knee surgeries, and has used relaxation techniques and Western and alternative medicine to heal her body.

“I think a lot of the alternative healing works through the body and through the mind,” said the Gainesville resident. “I think once you set into motion your mind and thinking positively and encouraging your body to accept whatever healing is administered to you, whether it be through laying on of hands, whether it be acupuncture, stones ... through the power of God’s grace and through the elements that my body is going to accept all the gifts.”

In such a chaotic, stressful and busy world, taking a few minutes every day to de-stress and clear your mind is key to living a healthy and happy life, said Gainesville acupuncturist Tamara Clarke.

“I think that stress is the root of so many things,” said Clarke, owner of Flourish Acupuncture and Healing Arts. “In Chinese medicine we say that 80 to 90 percent of disease is emotionally based, even if we don’t know it. We can tend to store our emotions in places we don’t even know; we go through periods of anger, loss, grief, worry, stress, and it shows up in different people in different ways. Some people with heart disease, some people with migraine headaches, people with low back pain, outbursts of anger, menstrual cramps — these things can all be rooted in what is going on deeper.”

Clarke added that she doesn’t think everyone should have to go to an appointment with a massage therapist or an acupuncturist to relax.

“My goal is to empower people by taking care of ourselves,” she said. “Then when we need help by going to the chiropractor, acupuncturist, massage, we do that.”

Clarke demonstrated acupuncture at last week’s Alternative Healing Arts night that Unity Church offers the first Wednesday of each month.

There were several other alternative healers at the event, including a certified yoga instructor, a chiropractor and a certified B.E.S.T. practitioner, which uses pressure on pulse points to relax the body.

Emilie Cook, a certified yoga instructor at Celestial Studios in Gainesville, said stress does so much damage to our bodies over time. But adding a stress-relieving routine will help many aspects of your life.

“Stress does damage to our bodies from headaches to neck aches,” she said. “My style of yoga is gentle and very restorative. It exercises the mind, body and spirit ... flexibility in your body reflects the flexibility of your mind.”

Dr. Rick Gadbois, a member at Unity who spent time with Cook in her yoga station Wednesday night, said he relieves stress by listening to his inner self.

“When I am feeling stress it is often from something real or imagined, and what I do is go within and look at what my needs and feelings might be. Then I go in and listen,” he said.

A few minutes of reflection each day is great for the body and mind, but if you think you need more intensive therapy, a short drive to Panther Brook Spiritual Center in Habersham County may be exactly what you need.

The center is run by Emerson Brooking, who has taught relaxation techniques for more than 40 years and now welcomes those looking for relaxation and reflection to share in his stress-relieving discoveries through his Learning Relaxation/Stress Management Skills workshop each month.

“It is only three hours; I made it that way so if somebody wanted to stay and practice or hang out in the forest for a while they could,” Brooking said. “We have a trail here that is a little over a mile and a half, and I have seven spots along the creek that have a hammock and a chair and people can just be alone in the forest.”

During the workshop, Brooking will hook up attendees to a biothermal feedback device to test how stressed each individual is at the beginning of the class.

“You don’t have to do it but we would put it (biothermal feedback device) on your finger and essentially it would measure skin temperature, and there is a relationship between cortical activity, what’s going on in the brain and what is going on at the fingertip.”

The more stressed you are, the lower your fingertip temperature is, he said, demonstrated by a simple exercise.

“I will have them go around and if they are willing to say what their skin temperature is, because one of the most common phobias is public speaking, as they get closer to speaking their fingertip temperature usually drops,” he said. “So they can see first hand what is going on with their body.”

And another stress reducer? Brooking’s services are free.

“Now some people want to pay, but I do not solicit donations ... what I want to avoid is someone feeling like they have to give money. It is a way of being of service,” he said. “These are skills that I have used and experienced and I wanted to share. They are so powerful and I did not want money to be the reason that they stayed away.”

Brooking said he just hopes to spread a little of his mountain peace with the area and maybe help folks during troubling times.

“I think that people need to discover is that there is a peace inside,” he said. “They have a very quiet place inside of them and they can learn to access that place. It has always been there and it is just a matter of learning techniques to help them.”