The stress of modern life can make real relaxation an elusive dream. Yet there is no reason life has to be filled with anxiety and stress. If you take some time to learn the art of relaxation, you can easily rediscover the enjoyment in life. The secret of relaxation is a controlled state of mind. For example, you could spend a whole hour in a health spa; but, if you spend the whole time worrying about what will happen tomorrow, how can you relax?
Relaxation Techniques
1. Now is the only Time that is important – How often do we find ourselves worrying about the future? Anxiety about the future takes up a significant portion of our thoughts. But, to be honest, worrying about the future doesn’t help in any way. If you always live in the past or future you will never be able to relax. To be in a state of relaxation means living only in the present moment.
2. Your environment Matters – Where you spend time has a subtle influence over your state of mind. Consciously we may not be always aware of this; however, you will notice that in some rooms it’s easier to relax and be at peace. Look at your room; if you see piles of clutter these will act as constant reminders of things you need to do.
These constant subconscious reminders are a heavy weight on the mind. If you tidy up the room and create a pleasant environment, it will make a big difference to your state of mind and enable you to relax. Don’t be reluctant to spend a bit of money on things like air-freshners and flowers. Spend time tidying up your living/work environment. Its essential to relaxation and will also make you more productive.
3. Meditation – During meditation we actively make time to silence the mind and bring to the fore a real feeling of relaxation. Meditation helps because we learn to control the relentless flow of thoughts. During meditation, the aim is to keep the mind still; this brings clarity and inner peace. This is the best type of relaxation because we become free from the relentless worries and anxieties of our own making. Find time to meditate for 10 or 15 minutes each day; through meditation we can easily detach ourselves from the pressures of the world.
4. Productivity not Procrastination – Relaxation doesn’t have to mean spending all day on a beach doing nothing. We need to learn how to relax, even in the midst of our daily activities. Prioritise the things that you need to do. If you do things systematically, one at a time, you will feel less stressed and get things done quickly. It’s when we try to do several things at once that we put ourselves under great pressure — this struggle which makes relaxation impossible. Don’t make life hard for yourself. Do one thing at a time and enjoy doing it. When you’ve completed your necessary work, then you have the reward of pleasing yourself without a guilty conscience.
5. Do Not Depend on the Opinions of Others – How much do you depend on the opinion of others? When we worry what people may think or say, we place a burden on our mind. Subconsciously we work towards trying to please others. However, when we have this state of mind it becomes impossible to relax. No matter what we do or say, there will always be someone who manages to criticise or find fault. Therefore, we should develop an attitude of detachment to both praise and criticism.
This doesn’t mean we’re indifferent to the views of others; it just means we won’t allow ourselves to lose our inner peace because of their opinions. This piece of advice isn’t easy to implement but over time we can gradually give less importance to the views of others. Relaxation can only occur if we aren’t constantly thinking about what others are saying and doing.
6. Time to Yourself – Don’t allow yourself to always be at the beck and call of work and other people — make time for yourself. If you are harassed by constant email and phone enquiries, take evasive action. Only take calls and answer emails at certain times of the day. It’s unlikely that your availability, 24 hours a day, is indispensable. When we allow pressures to build up, relaxation becomes very difficult. But, if you really try hard, you should be able to reduce the demands placed on your time and energy.
7. A change is as good as a rest – Life should not be a constantly repeating soap opera. If you find yourself stuck in the same routine, do something completely different. For example, if you spend all your evenings watching rubbish on TV or surfing the internet, you will not get a feeling of real relaxation. Go for a walk or do some sporting activity. The change of scene and activity will help you relax and get away from the monotony and frustration of daily activity.
Relaxation is as simple as gentle Breathing
If you feel stressed take a few moments out. Just watch and be aware of your breathing. Breathe naturally and gently; this will have a very powerful, calming influence on your mind. When you breathe in, feel that you are breathing in inner peace. When you breathe out, feel you are exhaling all your anxieties and worries. Relaxation can be this simple – it doesn’t have to be complicated at all.
Tejvan Pettinger is a member of the Sri Chinmoy Meditation Centre. He lives in Oxford where he works as a teacher. He also offers mediation classes as a community service and updates a blog at Sri Chinmoy Inspiration a collection of articles on meditation and self improvement.
Photo by: Tejvan Pettinger
I believe we all know these things, the thing is that we always forget in our monotony lives and even think that resting is waste of time…
Thank you for reminding me that life is not only about work ;d
I use mediation every single to relax and prepare my subconscious mind to soak in my visions of a better lifestyle.
Another method I’ve been using lately is visualization with vision boards. Have you ever heard of them? They are images pasted on a board that represents your hopes, dreams, and goals. Studying these boards every days plants seeds of these goals within your subconscious mind. For relaxation, you can put images on the board that symbolize relaxation, like a calm beach, a sunset, etc.
Your subconscious mind is where all of habits are formed. Combine these visualizations with mediation and affirmations, and the seed in your subconscious mind will begin to grow, sprouting a newly developed habit that is oriented towards your desired outcome, or goal. If it’s relaxation we’re talking about, you’re body will begin to naturally relax because a subconscious reaction is being triggered by your affirmations, visualizations, and meditations.
John Assaraf does a better job of explaining this and showing you how to do it in his new book “The Complete Vision Board Kit.” I downloaded the free chapter here, its very informative and bind-blowing: http://tinyurl.com/56mfen
Hi everyone. I am more and more convinced that our happiness or unhappiness depends more on the way we meet the events of life than on the nature of those events themselves.
I am from Angola and also now teach English, give true I wrote the following sentence: “Clocks high quality clocks from howard miller, bulova, seiko.”
Thanks for the help :p, Grear.
Good reminders! I especially need to practice #6: Time for Myself, including getting to know myself better – determining, reflecting, and meditating (loosely speaking – reinforcing in my mind) what I value most and where I’m headed. It helps me to find out my true core – it helps me know what I think and believe, and reminds me of those things.
I recently started going to Chinmaya Institute for yoga and meditation..I’m enjoying it so much! I feel so relaxed when I leave there, its wonderful!
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I like this post because it keeps things nice and simple, calm.
Great advice! I think that every once in a while it is okay to procrastinate but it is important that you accept it for what it is. You should say to yourself “I’m procrastinating but that’s alright. This is my procrastination time.” Of course, if you are saying this to yourself 24/7 then maybe you have a problem, but every so often is not such a bad thing. I think that we have come to think of procrastination as a dirty word. Besides procrastinating by doing something you really enjoy can help you to relax and remove any unwanted anxiety.
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Thank you! I’ve been reading up on mindfulness the last couple of weeks to get out of this stressed state I seem to be in.. This great, complete post is (hopefully) just the additional info and help I needed!!
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True. Worrying about the future is a common problem for most of us. How do we expect to relax if our mind keeps on thinking? Thanks for this wonderful advice.
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These are all good suggestions. We have to learn and understand the factors that affect us first if we are really interested in having a day of relaxation.
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This is one of the nice article i have read about the relaxation techniques. But, here i find the easiest technique of relaxation and they give the contents in an easily understandable manner. After reading this article, I got a conclusion that “Being ourselves and live the life you like” is the best way of relaxation. Thanks for the author to enlighten the technique to this wandering guy.
Great article! With all the hustle & bustle of daily life, we are always rushing from one thing to another and rarely take the time to stop and appreciate all this is around us. As a nation, we suffer from high levels of stress related, easily preventable diseases.
If people would only take the time to relax and take some time out of their busy lives, they would be much healthier and more productive.
Also breathe by expanding the belly, filling the lungs from the bottom to the top, in through the nostrils and out through the lips. Drink deeply of the free oxygen and fully expel as much of the carbon dioxide as you can.
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The breathing exercise that you described – I have practiced and it is really effective.
I personally think that it is all in the attitude.Our total personality makes us stressed or relaxed. We may practice all the relaxation techniques, but unless we take steps to change our outlook,our basic reactions will always be the same.
For example- procrastination and worrying about what other people think – these are all attitudes that get reflected in our various character traits.
No denying that we should take steps to relax our minds, but keeping the bigger picture in mind helps.
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Good article – relaxation is not just about relaxing now, it is about unburdening our mind so that we are free to relax all the time.
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Excellent tips there! Thanks for the post.
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Полезно.
Meditation is the key way to relax ourselves. No matter what you, if your mind is not meditated and does not stay in present, you will feel messy.
Установил тему на телефон. С такой темой тебя пропустят в любой клуб.
I’ve been reading up on mindfulness the last couple of weeks to get out of this stressed state I seem to be in. This great, complete post is hopefully just the additional info and help I needed! Thank you!
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Completely agree with every word you said. Recently I had been to Goa ( India) land of beaches to relax. It was a nice change from my real busy life.
very nice, id like to add deep breathing to the list
relax is life…
thx for the list, although number 5 tips is kinda hard to do for me …
Great post. Number 6 is something I need to work on. I need to do a better job balancing my workload. Sometimes I can get carried away, just ask my girlfriend.
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[...] Relaxation Techniques [...]
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Thanks for reminding me to live in the moment. It’s that instant of time between then and later…so easy to forget!
I agree that aromas used in http://www.handsonaromatherapy.com” rel=”nofollow”> oilsoils to relax help with meditation in keeping your mind as stress free as possible. I’ve seen how it works at vacation resorts and it really helps when your want to relax.
I REALLI SHOULD WORK ON #5
After reading this article, it really helps me and when i worked on meditation it gives me a nice change, everyone must have to think of their health and give time to oneself for relaxation.
Hypnosis does help relaxation as well
I find exercise helps my stress levels enormously. Any thing outdoorsy – I think the combination of the endorphins from the exercise and the fresh air really clears your head.
It gets everything back into perspective. I love the comment about not listening to what others think as well. It’s so true! We really all need to follow our OWN hearts more and then I think we would all be calmer and less stressed!
The comment about not being afraid to splash out on flowers etc for the home is so true. Not only will it add to a relaxing environment but the very act of spending money on things for YOURSELF adds to your feeling of self-worth, which will lead to increased self-esteem, which I think is key to de-stressing and relaxation.
We all need to spend more time and effort on ourselves and welcome the abundance and beauty real life has to offer!
And not being at the beck and call of others is such a good point too! Does anyone agree? Or am I being selfish
?
Hi,
Great article. Thankyou for sharing. I just wanted to add a little bit about the “being in the now” part. I remember reading that a Stanford University study researched how many thoughts the average person has in one day – the result was 60,000, 59,500 of which were the same as the day before! This shows that most of us are rarely focused in the now, and therefore open to worries, many of which are a repeat of the day before, and the day before that, and so on..
It can be hard to keep yourself “in the now” but this is very definitely worthwhile and practice does indeed pay off.
Roseanna Leaton
The part about meditation is great. I use guided relaxation/meditation otherwise I get a bit lost and my thoughts start drifting back to evryday ’stuff’.
You can even do one yourself, just record your own voice taking you through a peaceful scene or event and play it back!
I really need to work on my life work play balance. Everything just seems so out of whack at the moment – is anyone else having a tough time?
Im feeling a little lost?
We are all the prisoners in this society—- we are the prisoner of time. The prison belongs to time is very easy to be escaped, but we just do not the way or we are just unwilling to break this prison. This prison is belonged to time, but we just sentenced us into it. When is the last time you go for a picnic with your family? How long since last time you went to the wild and breathe the fresh air? When is your last vacation? How often do you read your favorite books or do something you like instead of reading the business documents? If these questions sent you into deep thinking, welcome to the prison of time. And the yellow or blue lanyard with your picture is the prison ID card for you. The lanyard is the chains. Your number in your company is your ID number in this prison.
That is right; you just sentence yourself in the prison by work. Working hard is kind of moral excellence. But working too hard is a punishment. Your job is not the only thing you have in this world, you have family, you have friends and you have the habits. If you even do not have time to be with them, what is the difference between you and the prisoners? You might think that you could have more time to be with them when you are retired, well, do not you think that would be the same as the prisoner who is set free at the old age? You are free to arrange your schedule, if I were you; I would like to be with my family rather than my colleagues.
Maybe from tomorrow, you should leave more time for your children, your wife and your friends. Besides, working overtime is a sign for ineffective working.
i find that the news and sports tend to stress me the most and even though i know my 800lb gorrilla, i cant help myself.i have to somehow get this under control before i blow a gasket or something.i refuse to take medication.this website is really helpful. so i will take some advice from this page and do myself some good.thanks.
Very nice post. I will use this article for my meditation students!
Thanks!
Taking time to relax can really improve your health. I like to dedicate a space to relaxation. In the summer, there is no better way to relax and concentrate on breathing than in my backyard hammock.
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nice post…given a lot of tips for relaxation…
Trying out some early morning exercises makes you to fit yourself in a relaxed mind…i have tried an iPhone app that pretty much suits this case..Its iFaceLaugh qite simple and funny app that can make you get relaxed.
Great post and I am really glad I found you. I’m not done reading this blog! Thanks.