Starting Now – Focus on Your Breath
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Close your eyes. Take a nourishing, long, slow breath – fill your lungs all the way down to your diaphragm. Breathe out.
Take another slow, deep breath. Notice the air as it flows in through your nostrils and down into your lungs, filling them completely. As you breathe out, notice the warm, moist air flowing out of your lungs and leaving your body through your nostrils.
Take several more of these slow, deep breaths. As you breathe, scan your body and check to see if you can notice any areas of muscle tension –- in your legs, your shoulders, your back. Notice if you are unwittingly pressing your tongue against the roof of your mouth. If so, release tension in your tongue, letting it rest on the floor of the mouth.
Wherever you notice any muscle tension in your body – let it go. Discharge the tension and relax.
Breathe. Relax. Breathe.
Just t hree minutes of this easy, gentle relaxation practice can make a perceptible difference in the way that you feel! This is a gift you can give yourself at almost any time throughout your day. (But not while driving!)
Your body wants to relax – and it knows how to relax! All you have to do is allow it.
Breathe.
Relax.
Relaxation CDs are an outstanding way to enhance your practice of stress reduction. They guide you to deeper states of relaxation and help you learn relaxation techniques that you can apply throughout the day.
Find a time and place (ideally the same time each day and the same place) where you can relax without worrying about being disturbed. Turn off your cell phone, or leave it in another room. (Note: please do not listen to a relaxation CD while driving!)
Sit or lie comfortably. Assume a position that eliminates any tension in your body.
Start your CD.
Allow your eyes to gently close.
Listen.
Breathe.
Relax.
Try some informal research, as you listen to your relaxation CD, to judge its effectiveness for you. Before listening, observe how your body feels. Scan it and notice any sensations of tension, tightness, stiffness, or discomfort.
Then, listen to the CD and simply relax, allowing the spoken words and the music to carry you farther into Deep Relaxation.
Afterwards, do a similar body scan like you did before. Notice any remaining sensations of tension or discomfort.
What do you notice?
Repeated listening is likely to enhance your ability to go into Deep Relaxation. Deep Relaxation has an additive effect – the more you relax, the more stress you release.
Practicing self-care by learning to deeply relax may be one of the greatest things you've ever done for yourself!
Sandi Anders, M.Div., R.Y.T. is a yoga and meditation teacher and life coach in Nashville, TN. Visit her professional website for more articles and resources. She has created the two-CD set The Alchemy of Peace & Love combining a gentle and effective relaxation meditation with a powerful guided imagery experience to boost self-esteem and self-acceptance.
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