Heartfelt Therapies

Relaxing takes a Conscious Effort!

Many people are living their lives in a stressful state. Our culture rewards this typical Type A personality with admiration and advancement. A free test can be taken on Eli Bay’s website to see how your Type A traits add up: http://www.elibay.com/typeatest.html

If we do not get our heads around how to address this detrimental state of being, we are setting ourselves up for illness, if not life-threatening health issues. First we have to notice when we are personally stressed in order to consciously counteract it (self-analysis test http://www.elibay.com/stresssystemstest.html). The Relaxation Response shuts down the Flight or Fight Response, and goes further to establish decreased muscle tension, lowered heart rate and blood pressure, deeper breathing, calming of the belly, and a peaceful, pleasant mood. The easiest way to bring about the relaxation response is to sit on the beach listening to and watching the ocean. Obviously, beach vacations in our self-created, hectic lifestyles make this natural elicitation a rare event. A purposeful practice is necessary! Unfortunately, such an activity goes against what our day and age considers acceptable behaviour, because it essentially looks and feels like 15 – 20 minutes of doing nothing! How unproductive is that?

Leonard Holmes, former About.com Guide, wrote in his article, “Managing Stress: The Relaxation Response”: If you do incorporate this or any relaxation technique into your life you may notice at least the following four benefits: http://mentalhealth.about.com/cs/stressmanagement/a/relresp.htm

• You will gain increased awareness of whether you are tense or relaxed. You will be more “in touch” with your body.
• You will be better able to relax when you become stressed-out.
• You may even reduce the resting level of your autonomic nervous system – walking around more relaxed all the time.
• Your concentration may improve. By repeatedly bringing yourself back to the meditation, you are strengthening the part of your mind that decides what to think about.

Also:

• According to nurse practitioner Peg Baim, MS, clinical director of the Center for Training in Mind/Body Medicine, and a researcher at the Benson-Henry Institute for Mind Body Medicine:

When you practice the Relaxation Response, you are actually activating the areas of the brain that have been positively conditioned, rather than those that have been negatively conditioned. “You tend to feel compassion, forgiveness and oneness as opposed to the stress response, where you feel hatred, resentment and [separation]. It is as if we have two different brains.”

http://www.integratedmeditation.com/docs/mind%20body%20in%20modern%20medicine.pdf

There are several ways to achieve the Relaxation Response. Choose what you are comfortable with, so the odds are better for developing it into a valuable habit.  A few techniques are described by the Canadian Mental Health Association:
The Relaxation Response, Progressive Muscle Relaxation, Deep Breathing, Visualization, Meditation, Nature

ALSO:

Body scanning: tuning into body sensations and awareness

Mindfulness: bringing your attention onto the details of the present moment

Repetitive exercise: nurse practitioner Peg Baim, MS, clinical director of the Center for Training in Mind/Body Medicine and a researcher at the Benson-Henry Institute for Mind Body Medicine states:

“Exercise is in and of itself an antioxidant, and stress is an oxidant. Stress is wearing and tearing the body down with more inflammatory molecules, and exercise is actually allowing the body to release molecules that will deactivate that inflammation.”

Repetitive prayer: focusing your attention to slow down the thoughts and activity

Yoga, Tai Chi, Qigong: slow motion movement with body/mind awareness, stretching, muscle toning, focused attention, deep breathing, and visualization

*Releasing emotional issues: quiet time free, from the distraction of endless activity, has the tendency to expose personal trauma or self-evaluation. Gently sort through the discontent, or seek help of practitioners to completely purify your energy of negativity and stress.

You may have noticed that few of these beneficial practices will be typically prescribed by your medical practitioner, which means you are responsible for incorporating these life enhancing habits yourself. The authentic affect is not dispensed from bottles. You need to slot space into your daily life for intentional self-care – the RELAXATION RESPONSE!

Filed under: Emotional Health, Meditation, Mental Health, Physical Health, Spiritual Health, Stress on June 18th, 2010