Top 13 Simple And Effective Relaxation Techniques
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When do you get the chance to actually relax? And I don’t mean the few minutes you get to watch your favorite soap on the telly! Today, the world has become a stressful place. There is stress at work and there is stress at home. There is no escape. Sometimes, we talk to our friends to unburden ourselves of worries. And sometimes, we seek medical help.
Most of us end up doing the same tasks every day that we end up feeling tired and lifeless. The thing is that relaxing is not just a physical need, it is important for your mental health too.
But there are ways with which you can beat stress to relax your body and mind. These effective relaxation techniques in a great way will prevent mental stress and anxiety.
There are many simple ways by which you can relax. We have listed top 13 simple and effective relaxation techniques here. Pick one that is suitable to your lifestyle.
1. Meditation
Meditation is a great way not only to enhance the activity of the brain, but also helps you to relax your mind and body. Practicing meditation on a regular basis for a few minutes can give you immense calming effects, which can help you alleviate anxiety, depression and stress. Psychologist Robbie Maller Hartman, from Chicago, says that researches have shown regular meditation can help make the brain more resistant to stress.
Compared to other relaxation techniques, meditation is easy and more effective. Just sit straight on a mat on the ground and close your eyes. Now focus on your awareness. During the period of meditation, try to concentrate for a few minutes on your breathing and increase the duration daily. Some people ease out with yoga, some practice reciting ‘om’. You can also sit down straight and repeat to yourself words such as ‘I am at peace’, with closed eyes. You will notice a difference within days!
Every person has his own style of relaxation to reduce stress. In every stressful situation, deep breathing can come to the rescue. Deep breathing is very good to reduce stress and depression in a minimum amount of time. It is an easy, effective, and quick relaxation technique. Just take a break, sit down and inhale through your nose, to fill up your lungs completely and exhale through your mouth. It will instantly make you calm, slow down your heart rate and decrease blood pressure by increasing the intake of oxygen.
If you practice deep breathing or muscle relaxation exercise like Pranayama, you’ll definitely find peace of mind in a short span of time.
3. Practice Mindfulness
Mindfulness is one of the effective relaxation techniques that you can practice. It is an effective technique for those, who want to feel relaxed easily and wish to get quick results.
Often confused with meditation, mindfulness is to appreciate the present. Have a clear mind, focus on the present, appreciate what is there and block the past. It can be as simple as appreciating a flower or scenery; the idea is to focus on the present to reduce stress. Look at something, concentrate on the details, listen to your heartbeats! Do this till it clears the mind from other stressful thoughts.
Alternatively, you could just breathe slowly, close your eyes and try to concentrate on a single object, forget all worries and thoughts. Practice it up to 30 breaths or for 3-4 minutes, whatever you feel comfortable with. At the end of the session, you will come away feeling refreshed and relaxed. It is an instant relaxation technique.
4. Use The Power Of Touch
The present day world is filled with depression and stress. A number of researches have found that the power of touch can change one’s life dramatically. It is an open secret that a pat on your back or a peck on your cheek can heal and boost you from inside. The right power of touch can help reduce blood pressure, develop your overall outlook on life and make you a better person.
5. Relaxation Through Visualization
Visualization is a familiar, simple, and effective relaxation technique. Visualization can help you attain relaxation and inner peace, bringing about positive changes in your life. Practicing visualization can help reduce depression, anxiety, stress, mental disorder, while helping you gain self-confidence and attain peace.
Take any object, it can be a pencil or a coin, (not your phone) and describe that to yourself focusing on the tiny details. Try visualizing a peaceful scene, probably one from your last vacation; it can be a sandy beach or snowy mountains or just an open sky. The more you focus on the details of your visualization, the calmer you will feel from inside. The idea is to distract your mind from troubling matters and think of something peaceful.
6. Try Self-Hypnosis
Self-hypnosis is a popular tension relaxing exercise. If you practice this method correctly, it can help you feel totally reinvigorated and relaxed within half an hour. There are hundreds of methods available, but a simple and quick way helps you to regulate your breath and relax your muscles very easily. You can follow the countdown method, count from ten to zero, while focusing within.
7. Try To Decompress
This is a great quick relaxation technique, which you can use to feel relaxed in a short span of time. Just place a warm heat wrap around your neck as well as shoulders for at least ten minutes. You can also use a hot water bag for the same. Now, close both your eyes and try to relax your face, neck, shoulder, chest and also your back muscles. After 10 minutes, just remove the wrap and use a tennis ball or a spume roller to massage your neck and shoulders. After completing the massage, you will surely feel relaxed.
8. Practice Laughing Exercise
Laughter is the best medicine when it comes to beating tensions and worries. It is really an amazing technique that can give you instant relief from all your tension and depression. It is natural and healthy for your overall mind and body functioning. Whatsoever the sadness or pain you have in your mind, whatever the stress and tension you have inside, just laugh it away. And don’t forget to smile!
9. Listen To Music
Music is the language of the divine! It plays a very important role in everybody’s life, regardless of the genre. Each one of us has a peculiar favorite that gives us peace, happiness or relaxes the mood.
When you feel tensed or depressed, just put on your headset and play your favorite music. Listening to soothing music can lower blood pressure, heart rate and anxiety. Soon, you’ll be tapping away your worries to the beat of the song you are listening to!
10. Drink A Cup Of Chamomile Tea Or Coffee
The classic technique of sitting down with a cup of coffee/tea actually works. Tea can soothe our mind and body, especially green tea or chamomile tea. When you feel stressed or tensed, just brew a cup of hot chamomile tea and you can sip away your worries.
Green tea, peppermint tea or any good scented herbal tea can be used to relieve anxiety for the same effect. A study in London showed that drinking tea had a stress-hormone-balancing effect. For instant stress relief, a cup of tea can be grabbed while listening to music or watching a peaceful scene.
11. Count Sheep
This is an old method usually practiced to divert the mind. Research says ‘it is hard to count and think at the same time’, hence when you count, you lose focus from all other matters of trouble. If you can’t sleep at night because of a chattering mind, try slow breathing and with eyes shut imagine a farm with sheep, and count them. You can also try counting backwards without the sheep. Here you are not breathing deep, only slow breathing that is controlled.
12. Soothing Bath
Hot water bath is a tried and tested way of relaxation at home. Add 1/3rd cup of baking soda and little ginger pieces to a hot water tub and relax yourself for 10-15 minutes. You can also add a cup of salt, like Epsom salt, for a detoxifying effect and muscle relaxation.
13. Kitchen Remedies
Apart from these home relaxation ideas, there are a number of remedies from the kitchen that can help calm stress and anxiety. Cherry, lettuce, and celery have a soothing effect on the nervous system and can be had for quick relief. Oats, pasta and rice can be incorporated into daily meals to cure prolonged anxiety attacks.
A positive outlook is a must if you want to survive this chaotic life. And these simple relaxation techniques will go a long way in helping you attain inner peace and develop an optimistic outlook. Try them!
What do you do to beat stress? Share your relaxing techniques with us in the comments section.
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