Christmas can be a very stressful time for all kinds of reasons even if you have nothing else to worry about - which, for at least 95% of us, isn’t the case.
The best way to deal with stress is to anticipate it and take positive steps to cope with it, so over the next couple of weeks or so we’re going to be talking about simple physical relaxation exercises that can help you to cope with stress positively – not just at Christmas, but all the time.
None of these techniques will take up great chunks of your day – half an hour at most and sometimes as little as three or four minutes - and none of them are going to cost you anything. You do need to appreciate, though, that you are going to have to LEARN how to relax.
Genuine mental and physical relaxation isn’t about just sitting down and taking it easy: it’s a skill - like riding a bicycle or driving a car – and (just like riding a bicycle or driving a car) you need to practise until it becomes second nature. That takes time, motivation and commitment.
We’ll start tomorrow with abdominal (or diaphragmatic) breathing. That probably doesn’t sound very exciting, but actually it’s the most important stress management technique of all.
What will you get out of it?
Improved health and well-being, increased energy, and the ability to be mentally and physically relaxed at will.
What do you need to complete the exercise?
A place lie down – a floor or a hard bed - and three or four minutes.
What do you need to get the best out of the exercise in the long term?
A place to lie down and three or four minutes every day until abdominal breathing becomes your normal pattern of breathing. If you practice every day you'll find that that happens very quickly.
Let's all have a stress-free sane, slow Christmas
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