Kat - I'm afraid I haven't read through the whole thread so I might be repeating others comments.

Remember Valerian for night-time, to get through those early hours lying awake stressing nights. Works very well.

Passiflora is super for daytime, very calming.

Check out the wonderful Thich Nhat Hanh's Walking Meditation
Great little book for learning a gentle walking version of Zen Sitting - or clearing the mind and maintaining a state of calm mindful presence, while staying fully centered in the body.
Zen Sitting or traditional sitting meditation sounds all well and good for relaxation, but if you're stressed, sometimes *trying* to sit still and *just* breathe can actually make things worse! Plus you might chill out for half an hour, but what about when suddenly the phone's back on, the dogs barking and there's other stuff going on that you have to deal with? This book is a little gem. And one of my favourite books for getting to grips with a form of very simple wholistic meditative practice that has real results. I must confess my own practice has dropped off through laziness in recent months, but once you get into it for a few weeks, it starts to come together and helps *everyday* activities become calming.

Another book I have on a similar theme is called Transforming Housework, basically about the art of utilising everyday housework chores as mindful practice to centre in the here and now and gain mastery over all that OCD mind spinning stuff.

Such methods of using ordinary daily activities as calming mindful practice work for me anyway (though one does need to keep at it.)

Hope you find something that helps you.