Relaxation

Most people know what they need to do in order to get their body in physical shape – and I even went through a couple of examples in the previous post about the body. But what about mental and spiritual shape? Those tend to be the harder parts because not everybody knows how to do mental and spiritual ‘exercises’ so to say.

One critical point to mental and spiritual health is the ability to relax. Relaxation is important for everyone to do at least 10-15 minutes a day. Why? Everyone has their own personal stress level that’s like a line graph. For some people, their line is really low and only increases slowly over time. However, for other people, their natural stress level may be higher. Either way, as it increases without ability to decrease, anything could be the ‘last straw.’ 

Providing time each day for relaxation can help decrease the stress level in yourself that has built up over the day. Relaxation can look different for anybody. It can be a nice long soak in a hot bath or it can be reading, guided imagery, Progressive Muscle Relaxation, music, exercise, meditationor focused breathing. Some people do think of watching TV as relaxing but I say be careful of using that one because our brains are less stimulated while watching TV and the point of relaxation is not to just numb out – it’s to decrease stress. 

So what’s focused breathing and some of these other things? I say focused breathing because we breathe all day long (at least I hope you do!) and that natural habit is not what helps us relax. Focused breathing is actually paying attention to your breaths – trying your best not to think of anything else in the moment. It’s best to think of filling up a balloon with your breaths… making them steady and even. I prefer to count to three such as this: IN one two three OUT one two three. It’s important to let your diaphragm expand so that you actually see your stomach going out when breathing in. 

In the next couple of posts, I'll be discussing some other ways of relaxation. How do you relax?