Have any of you tried mindfulness meditation for stress? Here's a link to the wikipedia page:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mindfulness_(psychology)

It's been shown to be clinically effective at treating pain, stress, anxiety, and depression. It comes from a Zen tradition, but is a non-religious form of meditation. It was developed by a physician at UMass named John Kabat Zinn, and it's becoming quite widely used. My doctor suggested it for me becasue of blood pressure and arythmia issues.

I signed up for a mindfulness meditation class a few weeks ago, and it's actually helping with a variety of stress-related medical annoyances. I think it would help with any athletic pursuit, too. I am very non-woo woo, and quite skeptical by nature, but I quite like this class. The only down side is that you have to actually DO the meditation to make it work, and it's always hard to find the time. The class I'm taking works in some gentle yoga, too. I think you can find classes in most metro areas.

Thought I would throw this out there, since IBS can be exacerbated so much by stress.

Gillian