From an article on teaching yourself to relax- Classic relaxation techniques include meditation, deep breathing, visualization (e.g., picturing yourself at the beach or another relaxing environment), getting a massage, and progressive muscle relaxation. Psychology Today offers this five-step process to change your physiology to quickly make you feel more relaxed. It starts with orienting yourself and feeling more connected to your surroundings, then goes through slowing your breath and coaching yourself into a more relaxed state. Practice mindfulness, which simply means paying attention to the present moment. Often, its hard to relax because your mind is busy somewhere else. Consider enrolling in a mindfulness-based stress reduction program, an eight-week course that teaches people with chronic illnesses or medical conditions how to calm their minds and bodies. Try something different and active. Maybe a break from the everyday routine to take a painting class or water skiing would be relaxing to you. Raise your laugh quota. Spend more time with people and things that make you laugh (or convince yourself that everything is funny) and youll find greater relaxation and a better mood. Remind yourself to relax. Ive always had a hard time falling asleep and relaxing, but lately this one deceptively simple technique has been doing wonders: think of restful language. Often we dont even realize how tense we are, but thinking or reading words like relax and let go can turn that all around.
Posted on: Thu, 20 Mar 2014 18:01:33 +0000