Inhale, exhale … Millie Grenough can’t stress enough how easy it is to be more relaxed

It’s not just you.

The whole world is just the tiniest bit stressed out lately. There’s plenty to worry about, too: the price of gasoline, the war in Iraq, a brand-new hurricane season, road rage, the impending arrival of the avian flu, the 5 pounds you put on this winter that haven’t come off yet when here it is, almost time to wear your bathing suit again.

All of it rides around in your subconscious mind, even when you’re not directly thinking about trouble, says Millie Grenough, a New Haven author, executive coach and speaker, who has developed ways — four, to be exact — to keep the stress from creeping up and finally flattening you.

And don’t worry. You don’t have to go away on vacation, or become the best pal of the Dalai Lama to make these stress reduction techniques work. You don’t even need to start listening to New Age music. All you need, Grenough says, is one minute, 60 tiny seconds, and you’ll be on your way to rewiring your brain to feel better.

“You can even do them at your desk,” says Grenough, who wrote the book, “Oasis in the Overwhelm: 60-Second Strategies for Balance in a Busy World,” Beaver Hill Press, $16.95, after a near-death experience scared her into re-evaluating her own life. “And if you don’t have a minute, not even one minute — well, then some can work in 30 seconds,” she says with a laugh.

Take the 4-D technique, for instance. Grenough says this one helps your mind by giving your body a break, relaxing your tense muscles and clearing your mental clutter. “It’s especially great when you’ve been sitting at a desk working for hours,” she says.

How to do it (the nutshell version): Stand up, letting your body relax. Then, when you’re centered, stretch, really stretch, your body to the ceiling while you yell, “North!” out loud in a full voice. Exhale, inhale, keep stretching as far as you can. Then let yourself drop forward toward the earth, yelling, “South!” while you collapse and let yourself just hang while you exhale. Repeat these techniques by standing up and stretching to the east and west, yelling and stretching with each new direction.

And, of course, you don’t have to simply yell the names of the four directions. Grenough has taught this to groups who yell, “Spaghetti!” or “Fulfillment!” with equally good results.

If your office environment can’t handle somebody standing up and yelling and stretching, perhaps a quieter exercise would be helpful. Grenough suggests the One-Stone Meditation, which she learned from the famous Vietnamese monk, Thich Nhat Hanh, at a retreat years ago.

“It’s the simplest and perhaps the most powerful of the stress-reduction strategies,” she says.

To do it, you find a stone — or any object of comfort — and hold it in the palm of your hand. Then, with relaxed attention, focus on the stone: its texture, color, the weight of it in your hand, the warmth or coolness of it. Then, with your eyes open, breathe in and out very slowly as you look at the stone.

“Take nine more in-and-out breaths while you look at the stone,” says Grenough. “Don’t get upset if your mind wanders and starts making grocery lists. That’s what minds do. Just gently bring it back. This teaches your mind to stay focused, to be present in the moment. I’ve seen it work with everyone from CEOs to athletes to little children. Within less than a minute, practitioners report feeling calmer and clearer.”