Your head is pounding, your mind racing. The muscles in your neck and shoulders have stiffened into a kind of armor. You're fed up, wound up and stressed out. What's worse, you don't have a vacation day in sight.

Hey, I've been there. What you need is stress release, and fast. Before you protest that you don't have the time, take a look at my favorite five stress busters.

No gurus needed. No how-to manuals or fancy equipment. All you need is a time commitment of 20 to 30 minutes.

Here's what works for me:

1. Meditate the easy way (20 minutes). No mantras. Just yourself, a quiet place and a minimal-movement policy. Count your breaths, keeping them slow and natural. Try counting to 10, over and over. Focused attention slows the mind down and relaxes the body.

2. Blow off steam — uphill (30 minutes). No designer jogging suit needed, just comfy shoes and a hill. Find a steep hill near home or work. Start out slowly to warm up and then gradually pick up the pace. After 10 minutes you should be really moving. Swing your arms and get your whole body into the locomotion. At 15 minutes, turn around and walk back. Focus on huffing and puffing the stress out of your system.

3. Dance it off (20 to 30 minutes). If you're like me, and you spend the better part of the day in front of a computer screen, movement is critical to your stress relief. No time to go to the gym? Then throw on some music and dance when you get home. Who cares if you're terribly ungraceful? Pretend you exude grace with every step, twist and turn.

4. Be like Mike (20 to 30 minutes). What's your favorite sport? Basketball, boxing, tennis? Grab a ball, dribble, dunk and do some layups. If basketball isn't your game, visualize yourself stepping into the ring at Madison Square Garden for a title fight.

Jab and hook and rope-a-dope, as you go the distance for a few rounds. How long has it been since you picked up your tennis racket and practiced your serve against a wall? Picture yourself acing Sampras. You don't need a team or even a partner for these activities, just 20 minutes and a little imagination.

5. Be a contrarian (30 minutes). OK. This ain't scientific. Stress is basically saturation, overload, too much of one thing. When you're feeling overwhelmed, take a timeout from the cause of your stress and do something totally different. Your mailman doesn't unwind by taking a long walk. Your landscaper doesn't spend his free time puttering in the yard. Find a stress relieving activity that emphasizes different skills than those you use at work. It'll bring the balance back to your life.