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Know Thy Self Things to Avoid Bedroom Atmosphere (Ambiance) Stress…Ahhhhhh! Relaxation Techniques Exercise: Treadmill it! Site References For More Tips

Relaxation Techniques

From the beginning of recorded history, the ancients seemed to have known things that many of us today either did not accept or needed some form of scientific proof before we would finally believe. There is a connection between the mind and body, and if one does not believe this today, then he or she might also believe the world is flat.

Relaxation Response
One of the examples many students of the mind and body learn about today is Dr. Herbert Benson, a graduate of Harvard Medical and the discoverer of the "Relaxation Response". He has written a book called Relaxation Response, and we would highly recommend reading it, if you are more interested in this topic. We are going to cover the basics in the following few paragraphs.

The relaxation response is a homeostatic or balancing technique, which can be practiced to help us cope with stress in a more healthy way. As we meet the stressors of life, our bodies have a stress response system, in particular the 'fight-or-flight' system, which is part of the autonomic nervous system's reaction to stressful stimulus. When faced with a stimulus we interpret as dangerous, threatening, or frightening, our bodies react in a way that can give us heightened, short-lived, top performance in handling the situation. We can either run away very fast or we have a great deal of our strength available to us in handling whatever it is that we face.

Basically, the body charges itself up for action and survival. Adrenaline and cortisol levels increase, blood pressures and heart rate increase, the pupils dilate, blood rushes into the large muscle groups and away from the hands and feet, and the body is ready for whatever physical action is at hand.

Most scientists believe this is nature's way of keeping the human animal alive, or an evolutionary byproduct to help maintain the survival of our species. We are not the only species to be equipped with this self-defense mechanism in the face of perceived threat, as many animals throughout the kingdom have the same biological defense mechanism.

Some think it was an appropriate mechanism in our distant past, as when faced with a roaring lion, we could escape or defend ourselves as necessary with full potential force, but today is an inappropriate response to modern problems or threats. This is understandable, as the stressors today are more of a psychological nature and not physiological in most cases. We are not facing actual lions, but the metaphorical lions of the twenty-first century, like our bosses or competitors. And we have to keep our eyes open for those land sharks as well! But, all in all, our times have changed and many believe this type of response system is an evolutionary leftover that only seems to get in the way in today's times.

It actually makes sense. Today, when we are faced with perceived stressful situations, our bodies become prepared for action…real physical action! And in today's society, real physical action is not usually an appropriate means of resolution. In fact, we have had to grow and learn to inhibit the biological drive to fight-or-flight in many situations in our so-called civilized society, or we might just find ourselves spending a little time in a small cement room, physically inhibited from the rest of the world! This biological defense mechanism usually is not the most appropriate response to today's stressors.

In fact, over time, if we are subjected to our own innate natural, self-defense mechanisms without appropriate release of this energy, our bodies will slowly build up excess stress, which can leave our bodies more open to diseases of all sorts, and potentially lead to death.

With the relaxation response technique you can learn to reverse this biological reaction to stress and help balance the body's drive back to a more healthy and functional state of being. Numerous studies have shown how effective this technique can be to lower blood pressure, help reduce heart disease, increase immune system functioning, and more. College students around the country learn about this technique in their studies, as it has been a lifesaver for so many people for decades and medically documented and apprised by healthcare professionals.

The technique is as follows:

• Find a quiet and comfortable place to sit.
• Close your eyes.
• Start to relax your muscles one by one from toe to the top of the head through and allow them to deeply relax. (Read "Progressive Muscle Relaxation" below.)
• Breathe in through the nose and exhale through the mouth, counting the out-breaths…thinking ONE…inhale…TWO as you exhale,
and so on. If your mind wonders or your body starts to build tension, relax the body and mind, and begin counting with the number ONE again.
• Continue this relaxation response technique for approximately 15-20 minutes.

It can help greatly if you do this same relaxation technique the same time and place each day, because this will give your subconscious contextual clues, which can set the process in motion as soon as you enter the context, either time or place, each day. This is great especially as we begin this technique, and as we progress, we would like for our cue to be internal and not dependent on any external contextual cues. You can do this by using certain words as cues that you are about to begin the process and mental cues when you end the process.

Almost seems silly to say, but please do not do this technique when you are driving a car or need to be alert to your surroundings.

In this section, we will go ahead and describe some other techniques, but you can read more about the relaxation response and all the physiological processes that take place (what it accomplishes) in your Stasis Sleep™ Pillow Companion Guide© (while supplies last).

Progressive Muscle Relaxation
This relaxation technique is very simple and yet highly effective for many people. There are many variations you can try that accomplish the same results as the relaxation response described in the above section. The main goal is to bring our minds back to the moment, back to the place we are physically, go beyond the mind chatter going on inside our heads, come to a place of being in the world, and relax our bodies back to a more naturally 'neutral' or homeostatic state.

Progressive muscle relaxation (PMR) brings the fruits of working with both our minds and bodies simultaneously.

• Sit or lay down in a quiet comfortable place.
• Close your eyes.
• Take a few moments and tighten your body for a few seconds and then relax. Do not push yourself beyond your limits and make sure you do not hurt yourself by holding your breath too long or letting pressure build in your body. Then, relax.
• Take your mind to your feet and visualize one foot at a time, relaxing all the stress potentially tied into the area spending as much time as you need to feel the entire foot relaxed and heavy. Allow yourself to feel the weight of your own foot. When you feel this area of the body feeling nice and relaxed, move the mind up the same foot to the calf area and relax this area. Spend 15 to 30 seconds on this area and then move to the thigh, back to the other leg's foot, up to the calf, to the thigh, and then move the mind into the hip area of the body…relaxing…relaxing.
• Then move to your arms. Relax the hand on one side of your body, up into the wrist, upper arms and shoulder area. Then move up to the stomach and lower back, the solar plexus, chest and back, and up into the shoulders. Take your time in this area, as the shoulders can be a great bearer of stress.
• Move into the neck and then into the facial muscles. Take some time to relax the muscles around the eyes, cheeks, forehead, mouth, and jaw muscles. Relax your tongue. Then move into your head and scalp area and relax all of those muscles.
• Use a cue to tell yourself you are about to leave this session, and you are going to carry the comfort and relaxation with you as you rise from your session.

Another possible addition to this technique, as you find it easier and easier to do, is to attach or associate a number "one" to the first area you relax, then "two" to the second area you relax, and so on. The reasoning behind this addition to the technique is to associate comfort of the area, focus of the mind, and general state of being with a number, which will give you the ability to move into a greater overall state of comfort at any given time. Simply counting the numbers and visualizing them at each area of your body will achieve a quick entrance into a very similar state of being. Amazing! Take your time and enjoy it. Remember, the point is to help you come back to living in the moment with a clear and relaxed mind and body (get rid of that icky stress)…it should become a very nice experience.

Visualizations: Counting Sheep?
Have you ever tried counting sheep to help you go to sleep at night? Maybe it is supposed to make us so bored in preoccupying our minds with such monotony, it helps our sleep debt come to the surface, thus allowing us to fall asleep. Not a bad idea actually! Unfortunately, it does not always work that way, especially because it is just so boring that our minds and worries soon come rising back to the surface again. After all, who would find counting sheep interesting enough…and for that matter RELAXING? Maybe at another time in history, but seems to be far away from recent generations, unless you are a sheep farmer.

Even though this may sound like we are giving the method of counting sheep a bad rap, there is actually a lot that we can take from it, alter it a bit, and learn to make our own nice dreamland visualization to help us with sleep onset and stress relief. If we take a step back and ask ourselves why counting sheep might have worked, we might realize certain meta-principles that can give us the ability to apply them to any kind of visualization. For the most part, we have a goal and we just need some guidelines to apply or parameters within which to remain.

Principles of Visualizations:

• If going to sleep, lay down in bed and make yourself comfortable. If you are simply going to relieve some stress, go ahead and find a comfortable sitting position. Of course, you should have the proper conditions mentioned throughout this entire page…by this time, it should go without saying. (Read more about Bedroom Atmosphere on this page for little things to help create the proper atmosphere for youself.)
• Close your eyes.
• Become aware of the body's weight, remember to bring you mind and body into synch. There is a reason for this…if not understood, then the mind can be used for a visualization as an escape from the moment with that of a pure mind and lacking all physical realization, which can only make us live more in our minds and imaginations while excluding the realities of our bodies. Sure, this sounds extreme, but the body and mind work a great deal from habit and we want to bring a balance into our lives with these techniques, not an overwhelming imbalance toward mind and escape, but a balance between mind and body.
• Now for the visualizations: Choose anything that you feel brings you pleasure, relaxation, and comfort. Many people think about laying down a white sandy beach in front of glistening blue water, while others think of laying down in a grassy knoll with wild flowers all around. Take boat ride along your favorite shoreline. Whatever your heart desires. Please remember, it is not a reality, but a dream of sorts. There is reality and there are dreams. It is important to know the difference.
• Use all of your senses in your dream. Feel the sun on your skin, the smell of a cool ocean breeze, or taste of an ice cream cone on a sweet summer's day while walking along the beach wall. Hear the sound of your favorite concerto, band, or musician. Hear the sounds of the ocean, of the birds, or the crickets in the night. If you have associated a level of comfort to any of these things or whatever it is, please allow yourself and your senses to 'visualize' the pleasure of your own existence.
• If it is the case that you are using this technique to assist in sleep onset, you might fell as if you fall right into your dream state with the same visualization. Your creative subconscious may begin a story or adventure for you. Enjoy a good night's sleep. If you awaken and feel you cannot get back to sleep again, take another journey to your place of comfort.
• If it is the case that you are using this technique for stress release, go ahead and bring your mind back into your body and then allow yourself to slowly open your eyes. Make sure you are alert before continuing and reflect on how you feel and if there is a noticeable different in your level of stress/comfort. If you found a place of comfort with your visualizations, you should notice a difference and there should be less stress than before you started.

Remember, you can diversify and change your visualization and the different pleasurable sensations whenever you want. Use your imagination to help bring comfort and peace back into your life…and get rid of that icky stress! Yuck!

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