Mental Relaxation Techniques
Once you have mastered the technique of muscle relaxation you can try relaxing your mind in this way:
1. Try clearing your mind of any stressful thoughts, anxiety or worry by breathing in and out slowly and regularly and concentrating all your attention on your breathing actions, even saying to yourself very slowly " breathe in, hold, breathe out".
2. Let pleasant thoughts flow through your head and freely associate.
3. In any worrying thought recurs, prevent it from doing so by saying "no" under your breath or return to concentrating on deep breathing.
4. With your eyes closed, imagine a tranquil scene such as a clear, blue sky or calm, blue sea. Try to visualise something pleasant and blue because this has been found to be a particularly relaxing colour.
5. Think fairly hard about your breathing and become aware of it. Feel how it is slow and natural. Concentrate on each breath as you inhale and exhale. Listen to your breathing.
6. You should be feeling calm and restful by now - it might be helpful to repeat a soothing word or mantra such as love, peace or calm, or you may prefer a word with less symbolism such as breath, earth or laugh. Think of a word or even a calming sound like "aaah" while you are breathing out.
7. Remind yourself to keep the muscles of your face, eyes and forehead relaxed and tell your forehead to feel cool.
It might help you to settle into your relaxation method if you adopt a starting routine. For example, if you repeat a mantra or drop your shoulders this can be the signal to the rest of your body to begin.
Whenever you practice a relaxation method, make sure that you are breathing deeply, in the most controlled way. |
