3 simple ways to relax now

how many times has someone told you, “relax…” ? probably more than you care to remember. telling someone to relax or chill is a sure way of getting them more upset. many times people command others to do things they don’t know how to do. “relax” is one of those commands.

this article will arm you with three tools you can use immediately to achieve some deserved relaxation, even if only for a moment. repeat the exercises over time to reach deeper and deeper levels of relaxation more quickly than you now believe possible.

i have included a simple trick you can use to trigger a relaxed state without using the exercises once you have learned to get yourself there over and over. read to the end for the trick.

simple ways to relax:

1. a moment of silence: close your eyes and sit still for a minute or longer. don’t try to do anything. just sit there and enjoy the silence. if you have thoughts, so what, you have thoughts. don’t worry about them. people often get confused and stressed out about what they are supposed to be doing. for this moment, let go of that.

use these videos as a timer to assist you:

start with one minute and work your way up to five minutes per day, or whenever you feel the need or desire to relax. make sure to do it every day, but don’t stress out if you miss a day. that defeats the purpose… 🙂

2. ultra slow neck turns: turn your neck from side to side e-x-t-r-e-m-e-l-y slowly. if you feel so moved, follow along with this video until you get the hang of it yourself. you might feel plagued by rampant thoughts and the desire to move more quickly at first. over time, you will feel the joys of slowing down and taking a few moments to do this exercise. one great side effect is deep relaxation of the neck muscles.

3. what the hell is going on? its best to lie down when you begin using this technique. later on, you will find yourself able to do it in your head at all times in all situations. for now, lie down flat on your back. make no voluntary movements. do your best to make no interpretations.

just describe out loud every sensation and feeling you notice in your body. if you need help, just scan your body from head to toe and report out loud what you notice. if you have trouble describing something, just say, “there is a sensation in my knee…there is a twitch in the leg…” etc.

again, drop all judgment of yourself. judging yourself increases tension. don’t judge yourself for judging yourself, silly. just notice when it happens and move on. laugh a little and tell yourself that the judging voice is not you…

leave comments with questions and results below this post. click on the post title to reveal the comment section below each post.

ok, that’s all for now…..

oh yeah… i almost forgot the little trick.

once you begin to notice the difference between relaxation and tension, you can anchor the relaxed state to an image, gesture, sound or scent. choose one thing and stick with it until you feel it working. here’s how you do it:

pick one image, gesture, etc. not one of each, just one total for now.

next, do your preferred form of relaxation until you notice yourself getting more relaxed. once you get as relaxed as you wish to get, visualize or look at the image, listen to the sound, do the gesture or motion or smell the scent. repeat this process every time you relax. use the same anchor every time.

test your anchor by doing the action you chose when you want to relax. you should notice yourself dropping quickly into a relaxed state. refresh the anchor every chance you get by doing the relaxation exercise of your choice and doing the chosen action over and over. you will KNOW once you get it.

enjoy,

-mr.g