Stress
This de-stressing exercise is simple but requires commitment. If you feel more comfortable by doing so, take off your shoes. Lay flat on a rug, mat or carpeted floor. Do not use a pillow or a mattress. The object of this exercise is to get you body to conform to the flatness of the surface you are laying on not to have that surface conform to you.
Start by taking a deep breath and expelling that breath as a sigh. The secret is to sigh like everyone and everything that you love in your life has just been taken away from you. Sigh like it could not get any worse. Sign three (3) consecutive times and then commence to relax your toes. After you have relaxed your toes, relax your feet. Continue to relax your body all the way to the top of your head.
By the time you get to relax your knees you may find that your feet are no longer relaxed. This is not a failure on your part. It is natural. Simply sigh and start again at the toes.
As you work your way from the feet to the head and discover that a previously relaxed part of your body has tensed up again you must give a deep sigh before recommencing. This exercise should be continued for at least fifteen minutes and may require several sessions before you start to obtain results. It can be effectively used to induce deep sleep. As you maintain your regime you will find that within a few days your sleeping patterns, comprehension and energy levels improve. You will also notice a diminished level of nervous energy in your everyday life.
A `Pavlov's Dog' side effect of this practice is that you can induce a state of deep relaxation at any time you need, simply by sighing. I was once caught in abysmal traffic and in desperation and while not thinking I let out an involuntary sigh and experienced deep relaxation instantaneously, to the point where I had to be careful not to fall asleep in the traffic. Al.
This de-stressing exercise is simple but requires commitment. If you feel more comfortable by doing so, take off your shoes. Lay flat on a rug, mat or carpeted floor. Do not use a pillow or a mattress. The object of this exercise is to get you body to conform to the flatness of the surface you are laying on not to have that surface conform to you.
Start by taking a deep breath and expelling that breath as a sigh. The secret is to sigh like everyone and everything that you love in your life has just been taken away from you. Sigh like it could not get any worse. Sign three (3) consecutive times and then commence to relax your toes. After you have relaxed your toes, relax your feet. Continue to relax your body all the way to the top of your head.
By the time you get to relax your knees you may find that your feet are no longer relaxed. This is not a failure on your part. It is natural. Simply sigh and start again at the toes.
As you work your way from the feet to the head and discover that a previously relaxed part of your body has tensed up again you must give a deep sigh before recommencing. This exercise should be continued for at least fifteen minutes and may require several sessions before you start to obtain results. It can be effectively used to induce deep sleep. As you maintain your regime you will find that within a few days your sleeping patterns, comprehension and energy levels improve. You will also notice a diminished level of nervous energy in your everyday life.
A `Pavlov's Dog' side effect of this practice is that you can induce a state of deep relaxation at any time you need, simply by sighing. I was once caught in abysmal traffic and in desperation and while not thinking I let out an involuntary sigh and experienced deep relaxation instantaneously, to the point where I had to be careful not to fall asleep in the traffic. Al.
