Stress can be beaten

Stress is unavoidable but it doesn’t have to be unbearable.  Regular relaxation is an invaluable contribution to the overall enjoyment of anyone’s day to day existence.  Everyone takes vacations and looks forward to the weekends, but here is the run-down of a technique that, when used on a daily basis, can make the tediousness of everyday struggles or annoyances less overwhelming. 

A good place to breathe

            Find a comfortable place to sit, where you know you won’t be disturbed for 10 or fifteen minutes.  It can be a seat on a train or a chair you use for your lunch break or coffee break.  Sit with your back straight, shoulders back, feet flat on the floor, and hands on your lap.  Direct all of your attention to your breathing, in through your nose, out through your mouth, making sure that it’s your stomach, not your chest, that’s expanding and contracting.  Now "look within yourself".  No, literally.  Roll your eyes up as far as they can go, as if you are trying to look at the inside of your forehead.  They will tire quickly, but hold them there for at least five deep breaths.  Then slowly close your eyelids, keeping your eyes rolled up.  If you do this correctly, your eyelids will flutter like crazy on the way down.  This is normal and a good indication that the muscles around your eyes are relaxing in a way that they are not used to.  Continuing to breathe deeply and easily, tell yourself that each intake of air gathers all of your stress and tension, and each exhalation is letting it go. 

Letting go from your head to your toes

            Next, when you’re ready, you are going to direct your attention to each part of your body, from the top of your head down to the tips of your toes, telling each area to relax as you do so.  Sometimes it is helpful to visualize a light shining on each area as you do this to help isolate it mentally.  Make sure that your brow is not knit, that your tongue is floating freely in the middle of your mouth, not pressed to the top or bottom, and that each of your limbs feels limp and lose enough that if someone were to pick them up and let them go that they would flop immediately down like a wet towel.  It is normal for your fingers and toes to feel tingly or warm when you reach them, another indication that your muscles are letting go. 

The ten step method

            Now picture yourself at the top of a stairway, ten steps from the bottom, with a closed door at the landing.  With each step, from 9 to 0, you feel yourself become twice as relaxed as you were.  Some people feel heavier as they descend, as if they are sinking into their seat, and some people feel lighter, as if they are floating.  You take each step slowly, counting down as you go.  Once you reach zero, at the bottom of the stairs, you see the door, you open it.  On the other side is your favorite place to relax.  It can be a favorite chair in a favorite room, or a towel on an empty beach, or whatever you want it to be, as long as it’s a place you associate with nothing but pleasantness.  You walk easily over to it and take a seat.  Now just stay there, enjoying the freedom and comfort of it, worrying about nothing but the evenness of your breathing.  At this point you can repeat a phrase that you would like to internalize, any phrase you want, in time with your breathing.  Or you can simply sit and enjoy the relaxation.

Back to reality