RazzWorks

WHAT IS YOUR IDEA OF RELAXING?

Alot of people when they think of the word relax, picture themselves sitting on a beach with a drink in their hand, or perhaps sitting in their backyard with a BBQ grilling their favorite food. Or some other scenario where everything seems easy, enjoyable and calm. What the average person does not think of when they think of the word relax is how it relates to your body or mind and it’s relationship with stress. Nor do they think of how relaxation can be achieved by relaxing your physical body and relaxing your mind. While taking a moment to just breeth.

Does your back sometimes ache down your spine, you feel tension in your shoulders, your neck may be a bit stiff, and your jaw feels tight? Perhaps even finding it hard to breeth because your chest feels tight. Well, you are not the only one. As a matter of fact, many people feel this way. In many situations, these are the physical signs of mental stress. It’s not uncommon for many to feel these symptoms on a daily basis due to the stress of life in general. The surprising thing is choosing to consciously make yourself tense up can actually help relieve alot of stress and help you to relax. In other words, the symptoms of tension can be used to help with solving the problem of stress.

Now perhaps the last statement doesn’t make sense to you yet. Let’s do a very simple demonstration. Take your hand and make a fist. Breeth in. Now squeeze. When you squeeze notice how your arm muscle also tenses up. Also, if you squeeze your fist really hard notice how your elbow wants to tuck into the side of your body. Notice when you make a fist, you are also making some of your other muscles tighten up. You might even notice your fingers turning white because you’re squeezing so hard. Now it’s time to relax. Ok, breeth out and let go of the fist and let your hand open up. Notice how your hand just drops and your arm muscles let go at the same time. Basically, you stiffened and tightened your hand and muscles on purpose creating tension, then when you let it all go those parts of your body simply feel more relaxed.

Breeth in a nice deep inhale, fill your lungs and hold.

While holding tense up your whole body as you did with your fist.

Count to 3 then let it all breeth it all out in one breath.

Relax for 3 seconds and then repeat.

Do it 3 times in a row.

Easy to remember. 3 times in a row.
Inhale hold & stiffen for 3 seconds.
Exhale it all & relax for 3 seconds.

The most important part of this technique is the part where you relax.
You can do this as often as you want to or need to.

With life things get busy. The busier things get the more stressed out one can become. The worst of it is that this stress seems to sneak up on you. That is where taking a moment to breeth comes in handy. As quick and handy as it may be, it is still basically a quick fix.

If you want a better overall solution that can even help with preventing stress and tension from building up, try some basic daily stretches. Stretching is great for loosening up your muscles and also helps with better blood flow through your whole body. Just before you start something stretch your arms, legs, and body first.

It does not matter if the task is one where you have to sit or one where you physically move around. Doing some simple easy stretching will relax your body and muscles. Having a relaxed body will also create a more relaxed mind. Give it a try. It only takes about 3 to 5 minutes and then notice how it makes you feel.

Isn’t it great? It’s amazing how something so quick and simple can make you feel so much better. Whatever the task is that you are about to start you quite often get a ‘Yeah I can do this!’ attitude.

There are times and situations that occur when your mind is so busy that you start to panic. Once panic begins to set in, it can be very stressful and hard to deal with and think clearly. This situation can occur during times like making a big dinner for family/friends on a special occasion, or you’re preparing and setting things up for a very special event and you’re worried about not getting things finished on time. Sometimes it can occur when you have too many people talking to you or around you all at the same time. When situations similar to these occur and panic sets in, you sometimes feel overwhelmed and all of a sudden you can’t seem to think at all. Just tell yourself to remember to breeth.

Should you catch yourself in a situation like this where you’re stressing out, thoughts flying through your head, overwhelmed, or in a state of panic odds are your body and mind could be responding to a fight or flight scenario. And if that is the case your body will also be flooding with adrenaline. Now your heart is beating faster, you’re feeling warm, and even possibly have so much energy you don’t know what to do.

Do this, sit down for a moment. If there are people around, excuse yourself and go to the bathroom. Or step outside for some fresh air. Now what you want to do, to calm your mind down is simply stop, breeth, and just observe. It’s called being mindful. It only takes a minute or two or as long as you wish.

Observe your thoughts without judgment. Observe how you are currently feeling. Observe the way you breeth. Be mindful, be aware, it is what it is. No judgment. Sit, and relax. After a minute or two you will notice your heart rate will slow down, and your body will begin relaxing. Taking the time to simply observe yourself and your surroundings causes relaxation.

This little exercise is the simplest of all. You can do it when anytime you just want to relax for a moment. With this exercise, you simply just sit and observe how you breeth. You don’t try and control it, just pay attention. As you breeth, is it shallow, fast, slow, or in a pattern? Along with paying attention to it, every once in a while breeth in through your nose as if you were smelling the air, and then let it go.

You will find paying attention to how you breeth and inhaling through your nose once in a while is very relaxing. You will also find that your heart rate starts slowing down, and then you begin to really relax. Not saying you need to do this part, however, with myself, I have noticed at the end when I’m ready to continue on with my day I take a deep breath, really sucking the air in through my nose, and letting the air fall out of my mouth like a big old sigh.

So the next time you feel some tension or some little aches and pain in your body, or when you feel yourself getting a little stressed out. Try these super simple techniques to help you relax. Just breeth and relax. Tell us in the comments below which method you like best, also if you have a different one you like using, tell us about it.