Taking A Break From Stress

Are you going through a particularly stressful day where everything seems to go wrong? Take some time to try out these relaxation exercises to calm your nerves and stop the jitters.

 

GUIDED IMAGERY

Guided imagery meditation is a gentle but powerful technique that focuses and directs the imagination in proactive, positive ways. The imagery’s effectiveness relies on using all your senses to imagine a picture, a person, place, or time that makes you feel relaxed, peaceful and happy. Because of the brain structures involved when guided imagery techniques are deployed, it will often heighten emotion, laughter, sensitivity to music, openness to spirituality, intuition, abstract thinking and empathy. It can be used to promote relaxation, which can lower blood pressure and reduce other problems related to stress. You can also use it to help reach goals (such as losing weight or quitting smoking), manage pain, and promote healing.

Even though imagery is a form of meditation, it is easier for most to use than mindfulness meditation, as it requires less time and discipline to develop a high level of skill - almost anyone can use it.

DEEP BREATHING

Breathing techniques, especially deep breathing, help you feel connected to your body - it brings your awareness away from the worries in your head and quiets your mind.

Deep or abdominal breathing requires you to breathe from the diaphragm or lower abdomen instead of your chest. To check if you’re one of those chest-breathers, grab a watch and count the number of inhalations you take over one minute. If it sums up to 10-12 breaths per minute, it means that you are breathing from your chest, also known as shallow breathing.