TEACH YOURSELF RELAXATION

EVIDENCE BASED

YOU CAN LEARN HOW TO RELAX.

Sometimes, it's necessary to make a conscious effort to relax. Rushing from place to place, meeting deadlines, dealing with difficult people can all lead to one big adrenaline rush. You need to slow it down.

Chronically feeling 'stressed out' can lead to certain health issues, like high blood pressure. Or, it can make things worse, like arthritis. Historically, doctors weren't willing to recognize the direct connection of negative stress to health issues, but now we know what you feel and think also impacts your well-being just as what you eat and how acctive you are.

The good news is that research supports that relaxation techniques can help with the following issues:

• anxiety

• depression

• headache

• asthma

• heart disease and heart symptoms

• high blood pressure

• insomnia

• irritable bowel syndrome

Both chronic stress and relaxation affect body and mind. When we're physically relaxed, our heart rate is slower, our blood pressure is lower, we use less oxygen, and we experience lower stress hormone levels. Mentally, we feel calm and more able to cope. This state is sometimes referred to as “rest and digest,” in contrast to “fight or flight.”

Effective relaxation techniques include deep breathing, guided imagery, progressive relaxation, self-hypnosis, bio feedback and autogenic training. Check out my podcast, 'Mindful Moments with Shirley', for guided meditations.  I have some as short as 2 minutes to demonstrate the power of taking only a few minutes to create more calm and inner peace.

A good clue to whether or not you are operating in a 'stressed out' state or in a more restful state of calm is to monitor your breathing rate. The breath connects you directly to your autonomic nervous system, which regulates whether your dominant state of being is either 'fight or flight' or 'rest and digest'. When we're in any type of challenging situation, the boost provided by 'fight or flight' can be helpful. However, we're not meant to stay that way all the time. In the following video, check in with your breathing rate to see what state you're in.

Or listen to my podcast below.

In this video, Shirley, a leading mindfulness health educator, explains why developing awareness of breathing is an essential tool for enhancing the mind body connection and for creating inner peace and calm. To skip intro and go directly to the exercise, go to :56. She gives an introduction to conscious breathing by leading a breathing exercise for beginners to provide you with a direct experience of how simply focusing on the breath lowers your breathing rate and creates calm. Drawing attention to your individual breathing pattern is not only relaxing, but also improves your ability to be present and more mindful in general. Many people wonder why measuring your breathing rate or doing conscious breathing creates calm. Here, you learn that the breath is a physical activity is the gateway to the autonomic nervous system (part of nervous system that functions without our conscious control). Cultivating breath awareness is your first step toward consciously tapping into otherwise unconscious physical activities and leads to developing patience, concentration and the ability to quiet your mind. It's also the first step toward beginning a meditation practice. Meditation and visualization are among the tools that Shirley teaches you how to use to reduce stress, feel happier, boost energy and improve overall feelings of well-being. Shirley is a health educator who worked at Stanford University School of Medicine for 15 years.

Click here to listen to my podcast on Apple Podcasts.

If you want to learn more about the science that supports using relaxation techniques for stress, go to http://nccam.nih.gov/health/providers/digest/relaxation-science.htm?nav=cd.

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