East Valley Living Eckhart Tolle, author of A New Earth, Awakening to Your Life’s Purpose, says that stress can be defined as wanting the present moment to be different than it is. Dr. Dr. David Simon, co-director of the Chopra Center for Wellbeing in Southern California, agrees. He says that stress is caused by anything getting in the way of our desires. One antidote to the effects of stress is to practice meditation, but it isn’t always the most appropriate way to deal with stress in the moment you feel it: you might be at a meeting, or driving… So what to do? Another way to take control of the effects of the stress response is to physically change our breath. Read more here.