Here's a little deep-breathing Excercise I learned that truly does help settle a person when he or she is strEssed or tEnse. First, you close your eyes and breathe deeply--in and out. You refuse to allow anything to Enter your mind while you're doing this Exercise (which takes only a couple of minutes) and you think the first half of the phrase on the inhale and the last half of it on the Exhale.
The Exercise focuses on the word C E N T E R:
- Completely / surrender
- Empty / of Expectations
- Name / your work
- Trust / your resources
- Embrace / the moment
- Return / refreshed
It's not yoga, it's not medication, and it's not a miracle. It's just a little, bitty way to Ease up when life is getting you down.
Care to share any of your own relaxation techniques?
It's the refuse to let anything enter your mind part i have difficulty with. How?
ReplyDeleteThanks for posting this - I'm writing down the acronymn on a sticky note right now ;-)
ReplyDeleteTo relax, I take the dogs out for a long walk, either in the woods or to the beach. The crashing of the waves always helps to chase away the stress.
I love guided meditation. It helps clear my mind of all the constant thoughts that stream through it. I'm going to try your CENTER exercise.
ReplyDelete@ Mooderino: Just keep breathing and forcing thoughts (other thant the topic of your letter or the deep breathing) from your mind. It took me a little while to master the ability to push thoughts from my mind, but it was easier than I expected. What helped was (at least initially) limiting the excercise to 2 or 3 minutes. Now I can do it for much longer periods of time--as need. Thanks for visiting!
ReplyDelete@Katie: Yes, the sound of water does it for me, too. Walking the dog, especially first thing in the morning, also helps--especially when I leave my cell phone in the house.
ReplyDelete@Kris, Hope it works. I find it amazing. During really stressful times, CENTERing 2 or 3 times will actually do the trick!
ReplyDelete