Learning how to relax

Have things come to a crisis crunch point where all you can do is shake, buzz out, and barely hold your head up for the aching neck pains and throbbing headaches? You have entered the major stress zone; in fact, you have peaked and you're in need of some major chilling out and de-stressing before you harm your body any further. If every single thing you do and experience has now become too hard, burdensome, tiring, and fear-inducing, do yourself a favor and allow yourself to relax. (Something many of us have no longer know how to do.)

1. Choose a time in your day when you can truly relax and be uninhibited. This may be after you come home from work or school, where stressful events have taken their toll on you. It is usually most helpful to try and unwind at the point where you are coming down from the highest stress, as this usually occurs where you can do little about it (such as in the middle of a meeting when you're being torn to strips, or when a teacher is yelling at you for not doing something right etc.)

2. Run yourself a hot bath with lots of scented oils and bubble bath. Relax in this bath for about 10 - 20 minutes. Avoid being in it too long as it gets cold (unpleasant) and energy-sapping (something you do not need right now). Just long enough to refresh and restore a small amount of energy to get back to your own head space.

3. Find your own space and darken it. Light it with gentle lamplight or candles, whichever is preferred. If you're a worrying type, prefer the light so that you don't have to worry about burning anything. Put on some soothing music and lie back on a comfortable bed, lounge, floor, etc. Relax doing this as long as you want to or until you feel that is enough.

4. Give yourself a massage. Self massage is very effective at reducing the pain from muscles that tighten when stressed. Ask someone to give you one if you feel you cannot do this effectively yourself.

5. Do something proactive. Is this situation arising a lot? Get out paper and pen and write down your feelings. Try to identify what is triggering each feeling. If you feel up to it, write down ways that you think will help alleviate the triggers.

6. Exercise frequently. A lot of people don't like exercising because they feel like it's a waste of time. The solution to this problem is feeling productive while exercising. Improved fitness and regualar exercise will often aid sleep problems and increase energy levels. A fantatsic remedy for the mind also.

7. Take time out. Do something just for yourself. An activity or something that you enjoy doing but haven't done for a long time. Go see a movie or visit a gallery, do something creative like painting or making music. Sometimes even just taking time out on your own visting your favourite cafe and reading the paper can work wonders. 

8. Disrupt harmful behavior patterns. Most people create tension by repeatedly reliving the same stressful situations over and over whether it's working at a desk, driving, talking to someone, making phone calls or whatever. If you think working at your computer for hours a day contributes to physical tension... experiment in different ways to make the experience more relaxing and pleasurable. You don't necessarily have to stop doing the stressful activity, but rather change how you are doing it.

Note:

Do not let things get to such a bad state that you find yourself stressing deeply regularly. This is a sign that something is desperately wrong and you need to react. See a health professional to debrief and to find some constructive ways to deal with your problems.

published 3 years ago

schmeidi

641 points