*photo by KaitlinTen TAA! DAA! HAPPY NEW YEAR ALL! Let’s start it out right with my new Insights into the psychology of everyday life. I have been asked by popular request, to launch a monthly Self Help Series, along with my regular poetry and blogs. Look for a new topic the first week of each month. Remember, to comment or ask questions, you must be Subscribed (free no strings attached) and Sign In.
The Series is not treatment, not psychotherapy, but rather is intended as a teaching guide to give insight into the mental aspects of life, to inspect the cause and effect of psychological problems and what one might expect in seeking psychological treatment. Look to the Self Help Series as a means of better understanding psychological issues and what one might expect from therapy. Contact your local psychologist for follow-up treatment as needed.
Topic #1 is RELAXATION
STOP! Take a deep breath (take two) sit quietly and say your favorite prayer, thought, saying or poem. How do you feel now - at least a bit more relaxed and peaceful? Now continue with today’s lesson:
How many times during your day do you do this relaxation response? Once, twice, a dozen times? If you did it once every hour, you would do it 16 times. Let me take the time to show you how to do the Relaxation Response:
Stop what you’re doing and sit, stand, lay quietly. On the next inhale, breathe in through your nose. Take as much air in as you can. Fill your lungs to the count of four. Then without hesitation, breath out gently to the count of eight through pursed lips, like you were breathing through a straw. Get all the air out, and repeat once more. Be still for the moment, reflect peacefully, then go about what you were doing. (*If you get lightheaded or dizzy, stop. You’re not doing it properly. Don’t force it. Breathe gently in through your nose to the count of 4 and out to the count of 8 through pursed lips) Drop your shoulders let your whole body relax. Don’t rush. Relax
Try it now, right now! . . . There, now how do you feel? Would you agree you ought to do this more frequently through each day? How bout you make a habit of taking a deep breath more often throughout your day. You’ll feel more refreshed, renewed.
You see from the time we wake up, stress of the day begins to build up inside us. By doing the Relaxation Response, you essentially reset your body’s stress level back to zero. And instead of bouncing off the ceiling by mid afternoon, you perhaps only bounce off the wall!
Dr Herbert Benson wrote in his book, to first, Take One Minute for Yourself, and you will be much more able to do and help others for the next hour. By resetting your body’s stress level, you save yourself from unnecessary expended stress energy. You will find yourself more at ease, less fatigued, thinking more clearly, being 0more efficient and effective at what you’re doing. Best of all, your Relaxation Response helps to decrease heart rate, lessen anxiety, reduce the release of adrenalin, lessens vasoconstriction, relax muscles. It works to decrease headaches, not to mention you will be a more pleasant person to be around. Stress cues the body to store fat, so the relaxation response is important in weight control As well.
The Relaxation Response is an essential part to every self help therapeutic activity you undertake: exercise, nutrition, relaxation, positive thinking, spiritual awareness. Do it! Practice! Practice! Practice until it becomes a habit. Do all of the Relaxation Routine until it becomes second nature, till it becomes your new healthy habit. Watch how refreshed, less stressed you are. We will use this Relaxation Response in every topic in this series. So get good at it, till next time.
Develop a new healthy relaxation habit to your daily routine - and IT’S FREE!