The stress no more: February 2013

20 Best Ways to Relax Your Body and Mind

If you follow these simple tips to relax your body and mind, you are on the best way to find relief from tension and anxiety, cope better with everyday problems, be emotionally stronger, and improve your concentration. You can become more positive, more tolerant and get more out of life. Generally the most effective way to overcome stress and anxiety is not so much to try to change the situations themselves, but simply to change the way you deal with them.

There are many ways to relax body and mind, ranging from the physical (massage, acupressure etc), to the emotional (influencing the subconscious) and spiritual (tapping into the universal life force and your inner spirit). In this article I will give you a few starters so you can instantly begin to relax. There is always more to learn!

Relax

Improve your fitness - a fit body is much more able to cope with stress and there is a lot of satisfaction to be gained from physical fitness and achievement. Start slow and don't overdo it - but steadily build up your strength.
Improve your eating habits - You are what you eat - try eating more vegetables and less fat and see how quickly your body will react and your ability to relax will improve.
Improve your drinking habits - instead of coffee, have a glass of water or herbal tea. If you are feeling anxious, try to cut down on stimuli like caffeine or alcohol which will stress your body even more.
Improve your posture: slumped shoulders and a dropped neck inhibit breathing properly. Straighten up and feel how good it feels to stand up to yourself.
Get comfortable: To be able to calm and relax, remove your shoes, undo your tie or neck button, loosen your belt, unclasp your bra, slip into something comfortable. This is the prerequisite of any relaxing exercise.
Fresh air: Open the windows and breathe in the fresh air.
Slow down: Instead of talking and searching for company at any cost, take a couple of minutes outdoors to slow down. Nature has its own way of calming your mind.
Silence: find a place in silence - treasure it, absorb it, immerse yourself in it, hang on to it as long as possible. Many relaxing exercises will start with a place of silence.
Control Your Breathing: Straighten up and take a deep slow breath through your nose, deep into your tummy, do not let the chest rise, relax your shoulders - then release the breath slowly through your mouth.
Muscle relaxation: Sitting or lying comfortably tense the muscles of one arm - hold it - then let them go limp and feel the difference. Savour the relaxed feeling. Do the same with the other arm and the legs one at a time
Shoulders and neck: Slowly rotate one shoulder backwards and forwards, then up and down. Do the same with the other shoulder. Gently let your head fall down on your chest, then bring it up and backwards. After that, tilt your head on the left and right shoulder. Repeat this slowly.
Jaw release: Open your mouth wide, then close. Repeat this a few times. Then put your fist under your chin, open your mouth and press the lower jaw against the fist. Hold this for a few seconds, then release.
Hands: Clasp fingers tightly and press, then release. Become aware of how tension feels. Then nestle your left in your right hand, the thumbs gently touching each other. Remain like this and relax.
Motivation: motivate yourself to continue on your path to calmness. Actively seek it; if you are certain that you can achieve it the positive energy will push you forward.
Reject stress: Distinctly reorganize your priorities. Reject anything that will put pressure on you. Learn to say no and become more positive and energetic.
Affirmation: This is a whole wide field of possibilities. Try to visualize a certain situation (you being able to cope with a stressful situation for example), then imprint this picture onto a stone or small object you can fit into your pocket. Then every time you touch it you will see this picture and affirm yourself that you can achieve it.
Autogenic Training: This as well is a big field and is a good method for emergency stress response. Lie down and think of your arms. Feel them getting heavy. Think: "My arm is getting heavy", again and again. Do the same with the other arm and each leg. You can also think: "My arm is getting warm" and repeat that. Feel it getting warm.
Influence your subconscious: To reinforce messages to your subconscious, like "I am calm and can cope with this situation", there is no way like this: repeat, repeat, repeat.
Visualization: Go to sleep with a picture in your mind how you would like to be. Do this again and again, every night. Try to wake up with this picture in your mind.
Concentrate on the task at hand: If you immerse yourself totally in a task, so that you achieve the very best result you are capable of (this can be anything at all, for example washing the dishes, ironing, driving a car or mowing the lawn), you will find that task becomes like a meditation in itself. Time flies, you derive satisfaction from your efforts and you spend at least this time completely in the here and now, not worrying about past or future.

20 Best Ways to Relax Your Body and Mind

Anna R. is author of the website http://www.windrose.com.au

Public Speakers! 12 Tips For How to Relax Just Minutes Before You Speak

You're sitting there waiting to speak. You feel the tension creeping into your shoulders, your thighs. Your stomach tightens up. Maybe your mouth gets dry. And the confidence and enthusiasm you felt a minute ago starts wobbling.

Now's the time to get up from wherever you are, excuse yourself and head for any place (even the restroom) where you can have five minutes alone. That's really all you need--just those few minutes to do these easy exercises and get your blood flowing, your muscles unlocked and your confidence back in place.

Relax

Your body, your vocal cords, your brain are all connected in such a manner that tension in one affects the others and makes it difficult to focus on your message. This is not news to you, right? You may already have noticed that if your knees are quaking, your voice may be shaking, and your memory may be forsaking you!

Public Speakers! 12 Tips For How to Relax Just Minutes Before You Speak

What you want to do is break that connection, which only reinforces the discomfort, in as many ways as you can so that every part of you is supporting, rather than sabotaging your presentation.

If you can spend five minutes in a room by yourself just before you speak, do these simple exercises: (If you can't, scroll down; there's help for you, too.)

Stretch your body up and around, and gently bend over.
Take some good deep belly breaths. Make your ribs and back work.
Stretch your face into funny shapes to get it loose and relaxed.
Make your eyebrows go way up, and your eyes open very wide.
Sigh deeply several times.
Hum.
Stick your tongue out.
Do tongue trills.
Pant. (This is particularly effective to release any tension around your middle.)
Flop--really flop--over as far as you can easily. Be sure your head flops all the way down. Holding your neck and head up creates more tension and is counterproductive!)
Smile.
Remind yourself that you are going to enjoy yourself while you're being terrific!
Inhale for a slow count of one, exhale for a slow count of two. It's easy to look as though you're listening attentively to someone while you do this.
If you can get away with it, double the counts to two and four. (Best not to allow your eyes to glaze over.)
Wiggle your toes.
Wiggle you toes. Do tiptoes. Circle your ankles.
Put your hands under the table and wiggle your fingers and circle your wrists.
No matter how long or short the tablecloth is, SMILE!

If you're in handcuffs, footcuffs, headcuffs and bellybuttoncuffs you may be out of luck. However, there's always Imagining! Science is telling us that our brains cannot distinguish between a real and a fancied experience.

So fancy for all you're worth! What've you got to lose?

Public Speakers! 12 Tips For How to Relax Just Minutes Before You Speak

Carole McMichaels, Speaker, Coach, Author: Fearless Public Speaking: How to Get Rid of Your Stage Fright and Prepare and Deliver a Winning Presentation, invites you to join her free newsletter on speaking in public. You may also get your free report, "7 Valuable Tips on Writing a Mind-Gripping Speech". http://getridofpublicspeakingfears.com/

How to Relax Your Eyes and See Better

You have probably experienced a feeling of strain in the eyes after hours of some monotonous activity, prolonged reading or sitting at the computer. Excessive close work can lead to deterioration of vision. Dr. Bates, an American ophthalmologist of the 20th century studied symptoms and causes of defective vision. He discovered that bad vision can be prevented and even reversed. All techniques are safe and beneficial not only for the eyes but for the mind as well.

Here are some relaxation techniques to boost the acuity of your eyesight according to Dr. Bates:

Relax

Palming: cover your closed eyes with your palms so there is no pressure on the eyelids and in a way that excludes all the light. Even a few seconds of palming help to reduce the stress. 5-10 minutes are even better. Combined with memory and imagination palming produces even better effect.

How to Relax Your Eyes and See Better

Sun treatment: expose you closed eyelids to the direct sun rays (it can be done through the glass too, if necessary). Do not strain or tightly squeeze the eyelids, just expose them to the sun moving your head gently from side to side. It helps to reduce light sensitivity and reduce general stress. It is also great for releasing the neck muscles. This technique, too, can be combined with memory and imagination for better result.

Memory: just remember any pleasant event from your life or some beautiful scenery, for example a sunny tropical beach, mountainous landscape, etc. Some people find it helpful to remember black ink of the letters.

Imagination: same thing, only instead of remembering you visualize some beautiful and relaxing scene, for example, meadow covered with beautiful flowers, clear lake, mountains, etc. It is helpful to visualize distant views and switch your glance between a distant objects and a close one. It is important to visualize pleasant thing and here of course it has its advantage over the memory. Also even you are doing it in your mind, remember to stay relaxed and not to strain. It does not matter if you cannot visualize clearly, you'll still get benefits.

Shifting: move your glance from one side of the object to another and observe the object moving in the direction opposite to the movement of the eyes. In the normal eye shifting is done very rapidly so it helps to develop and maintain this habit.

Central fixation: The part of the object one looks directly at is always seen the best. It is always used in combination with shifting. Do not try to see the whole object at once but rather shift you glance from point to point. It is actually automatic process, central fixation is rather a symptom than a cause of a good vision.

This is, in core, the Bates method. It is not exercises, it is maintaining correct visual habit. For more in-depth explanation I highly recommend you read the book of Dr. Bates Perfect Sight Without Glasses. It is very informative and a must read if you are serious for preserving your good eyesight. It is indispensable if your eyesight just started deteriorating.

How to Relax Your Eyes and See Better

Alice deMont writes about the Bates method and natural vision improvement. For more tips and techniques on how to see better, visit her blog http://thebatesmethod.blogspot.com

Pain Management - Teaching Your Patient to Relax

The experience of pain affects every aspect of a person's life including the person's mental, physical and emotional state. Those who experience it for a prolonged period are incapacitated, unable to lead a normal life and deal with the requirements of everyday reality. Prolonged and persistent pain, needless to say, can cause unbearable anguish and depression.

Kinds of pain

Relax

It comes in many forms, and can be classified as chronic, acute or breakthrough. Chronic is the kind of pain that persists for a month or more, or one that persists beyond the normal recovery time of a particular illness. Pain that persists for months or even years as a result of a chronic condition is also classified as chronic, and may vary in intensity; low intensity chronic pain can also be debilitating. Acute pain is a short-lived one that results from injury or an acute illness. Breakthrough pain is a flash that can vary in intensity, from moderate to severe, typically transitory and occurring in the background of an otherwise controlled pain.

Pain Management - Teaching Your Patient to Relax

Conscious experience of it

Pain is felt through the nervous system. Primarily, it is a strategy of our biological instinct to make us avoid experiences and situations which may cause us harm. However, there are times when the sensation of pain prolongs unnecessarily, when the information of it is no longer useful but is still felt. In some illnesses and injuries, the brain receives information about the pain and the person feeling the pain can do very little to avoid the stimuli. Also, it may not be just a simple stimulation. The conscious experience of pain can involve other factors such as emotion, memory, and physical condition. Some of it may not even have an organic-related cause such as a disease or injury.

As memory

It has been described as a construct that involves pain remembered in the past, experienced in the present, and anticipated in the future. This is the reason why chronic pain can be so debilitating, no matter what intensity. The experience is heightened with the thought and anticipation that feeling will be there tomorrow, and the day after that, and so on. Learning to relax and letting go of the fear and anticipation can do a lot to change the experience for the better.

Techniques for alleviating it

For patients who have chronic pain, getting addicted to narcotic painkillers is the last resort. Natural remedies to help alleviate it are preferred. One of the best ways is to learn how to relax. While this may sound easy, it takes a lot of practice to consciously relax. The best way to go about this is with meditation and breathing exercises. The idea is to focus on the breathing or an object and chant a word such as "Om" until one gets into a trance. Another meditative approach is called osteomyelitis. The goal is to focus all the attention on the pain in a relaxed way as possible. Don't think about negative thoughts about the pain (such as cursing to yourself or pitying yourself or getting angry). Make the pain a focus of your meditation, observed dispassionately for what it is.

Pain Management - Teaching Your Patient to Relax

Brent McNutt enjoys talking about landau pants and urbane scrub pants and networking with healthcare professionals online.