About relaxation. How to relax when you can't sleep? How to relax after a hard day? How to learn to relax? Advice from a psychologist

Admit that you are stressed. Obviously, a little stress is good for us - it brings interest, excitement and motivation into our lives, bringing it into the right balance. However, when the level of stress in your life forces you to put up with things that are detrimental to you and constantly worry you, you risk slipping into a state of extreme stress. You are under severe stress if:

Make time for relaxation. Once you've accepted that stress is negatively impacting your life, it's important to find time to relax amidst your busy schedule. Here's what will help you bring rest and relaxation back into your life:

• Get rid of guilt. Influenced by many religious beliefs and cultural beliefs, we often overestimate the value of hard work. With the passage of time and the advent of smart technologies that keep us on alert 24/7, many of us have come to the conclusion that staying busy is the only way to prove our worth. Misinterpreting the concept of “hard work” can completely drain you. Hard work is about giving your tasks the right amount of attention at the right time, rather than letting them take over your day!
• Accept the fact that sleep is a very important part of life. While you sleep, your brain continues to learn in ways that are not possible while you are awake. Sleep restores your body in many ways that are not possible while you're awake. Don't be tempted to underestimate it. It is claimed that some people feel great after 4 hours of sleep, but this is the exception rather than the rule - for most of us full recovery 6–8 hours of sleep are needed. Dreaming is a very important part of the sleep process, allowing you to explore the farthest corners of your imagination.
• Make time for relaxation during your day. Think of it as a meeting with your most important client - yourself! - which you cannot miss or reschedule.
• If you are at home, mark this time on your calendar in black ink for everyone to see. This will help your whole family understand how important it is to give you time to relax.
• Understand that you may not find it right away the best way relax; you will have to do it through trial and error Don't give up: keep searching until you find the right combination of activities that allow you to relax and restore your enthusiasm and desire to live life to the fullest.

Relax your body

1. Practice breathing techniques. Slow down your breathing and actively concentrate on it. Usually this is the most easy way calm down.

   • Breathe with your belly. Place your hands on your stomach and as you inhale, try to push them with your stomach away from you, and as you exhale, on the contrary, bring them closer to you.
   • Inhale through your nose and exhale through your mouth.
   • Inhale for a count of five, hold your breath for five seconds, and then exhale slowly for a count of five. Do this ten times to relax your muscles and nerves. As you exhale, imagine that stress and tension are leaving your body along with the air.

2. Eat healthy. Proper nutrition Helps your body feel balanced and healthy, making you less sensitive to blood sugar spikes and anxiety. Practice moderation in the following areas:

   • Avoid excessive consumption of refined sugar, which is found in candy bars, cookies and sodas. Carbohydrates found in pasta, for example, are easily converted into sugar. This can cause your blood sugar levels to spike and drop, interfering with your body's ability to use energy efficiently and causing you to feel anxious.
   • Don't overuse caffeine. A large number of caffeine can make you nervous and irritable. Try not to consume caffeine after 13:00 or 14:00 and do not increase your morning dose. If you need more coffee than you should, switch to decaf or Herb tea with little or no caffeine.
   • Drink water. Drinking a cup of water at a time will energize your body and give your brain a chance to take a break and then look at a stressful situation with fresh eyes.
   • Eat fresh fruits, vegetables and whole grains that do not contain refined sugar: apples, grapes, carrots, broccoli, brown rice or whole grain bread.
   • Eat plenty of low-calorie proteins: chicken, fish, grains, legumes, dark leafy vegetables or low-fat dairy products. These proteins are best source energy.
   • Take a multivitamin. Some vitamins relieve stress. Vitamins B and D are especially good for relaxation.

3. Exercise every day. This is the most famous, scientifically proven method for significantly reducing stress. You'll be surprised how much easier it is to deal with stress when you exercise regularly. Here are some ideas to try:

   • Navigate by at least 30 minutes of moderate activity per day.
   • Take a walk in the park, in the forest, or run on a treadmill.
   • Take the stairs instead of the elevator.
   • Park further away from the store so you can walk to it.
   • Take up swimming. Try going to the pool or the nearest lake. You don't have to be a top swimmer - just know how to float in the water.
   • Do some stretching. Drop your shoulders to relax. Tension usually accumulates in the shoulder and neck areas.

Relax your mind

1. Practice positive thinking. Positive thinking is not about dreaming and having your head in the clouds. It aims to take advantage of the situation the best way and stop escalating in anticipation of the worst.

   Think logically and control your emotions. If in stressful situation You will think more consistently and logically, and you may find that solutions become more obvious.

   • Look at your stressors objectively. Take a realistic look at what irritates you and imagine what you would advise your friend in such a situation. Then follow your advice.
   • Change your way of doing things. If the problem is something you do, change the way you do it or react. Stop and listen to those around you to figure out what you are understanding or doing wrong and adjust your actions.

2. When you feel overwhelmed, find a quiet place and pamper yourself.

   • Take a warm bath. If desired, light candles around the bath, dim the lights, add foam or lavender.
   • Lie down on your bed or couch. Play some light music or sounds of nature. Relax while listening to the ocean waves, waterfalls or birdsong.
   • Read good book. Curl up on the sofa with a blanket and a cup of chamomile tea.
   • Imagine your own personal paradise. Close your eyes and imagine a different environment. What do you see around you? Is there any wind? What do you hear - birds or water? Imagine the soothing sound of ocean waves. Enjoy the moment in a place that is special to you.
   • At work, even a bathroom stall can serve as a quiet place to take a break if you have nowhere else to go.

3. Stop feeling guilty. Guilt is a potential source of stress. Eliminate guilt: Stop doing things that make you feel guilty. If necessary, contact professional help, but don't let destructive behavior get worse and ruin your life and health.

   Learn to prioritize. Make a to-do list for the day. Organize your list by importance and be proactive, that is, deal with issues before they become problems. Time spent more productively means more free time to relax.

   • Work! You may feel like it's counterproductive to your goal of relaxing, but procrastination doesn't feel as good as getting things done. Complete your tasks now, and then you can truly relax.

4. Practice meditation. Let go of all thoughts and emotions by focusing only on your breathing. Meditation as a form of relaxation helps you focus on your being rather than on one part of the body like other relaxation techniques. Mastering this technique may take some time, but the results are worth the effort.

   Consider self-hypnosis. Focus on something, take a deep breath and try to enter a hypnotic state. If you are having trouble with self-hypnosis, consult a professional hypnotist. Don't let amateurs hypnotize you and beware of subliminal messages.

   Do activities or hobbies that help you relax. Take a break from things that usually cause you stress. Maybe you just need to take a break.

   • Go fishing, sew, sing, draw or take photographs.
   • Try singing a song using numbers instead of words. Singing can help you relieve stress quickly.
   • Use music as relaxation therapy. Turn it on as loud or as low as you need to calm yourself down.

5. Spend time with your pet. Play with or pet your pet. He will love it and so will you. Tell him about the stress and worries that are bothering you, and you will feel much better. Therapy with animals is one of the very effective ways relaxation. You can also learn a lot from watching your pet relax (note: animals don't suffer from guilt!).

   Smile and laugh. Laughter - best medicine. Watch a funny movie. This is guaranteed to help. Smiling and laughing release endorphins, which fight stress, help you relax, and remind you that life is more than just work. Learn to smile more often, even if you feel strange at first.

Stay calm around those who cause you stress

Sometimes negativity and unrealistic expectations from other people can undermine your resolve to make relaxation an important part of your life. Don't let this happen. Instead, consider the following suggestions to help you stay calm around those who are tense.

1. Create an invisible shield between you and stressed people. This is a real visualization technique: imagine that you are in a cocoon that protects you from negative vibrations from people, stressed. Look at their behavior and attitude towards themselves, notice what stress does to them, but don't let it seep through your shield.

   • Don't carry the weight of the world on your shoulders - these people chose this behavior themselves, and you shouldn't follow them.
   • Detaching yourself from other people's stress may seem difficult at first, especially if you're an empath, but keep at it until the ability to not give in to other people's negativity becomes second nature.

2. Learn to disconnect. Put your phone down, close your folder Email, go away. If you want to respond to a person out of anger that he has caused you, do not do it. When we are angry and stressed, we tend to interpret everything negatively, and if we act on anger, we can cause a response outburst of anger. Learn to wait it out.

   • Write a draft of your answer and let it sit for a day. If after 24 hours everything it says still seems correct to you, submit it. If not, you'll be grateful you didn't send it right away.
   • Go away and calm down. Instead of acting in anger, withdraw temporarily until you can reason and act calmly.

3. Avoid toxic personalities. Spend less time with people who try to make you feel guilty or feel like you're not good enough. Yes, even if it's your family.

   • Stay away from people who constantly complain and are unhappy. Stress can be contagious, so avoid carrying it around. Understand that there is always a solution to a problem, even if those people don't see it or don't want to see it.
4. , which emit heat. Being around positive and cheerful people gives you strength and helps you feel calm and happy.

• When you eliminate sugar from your diet, you may feel low. Be strong. After a couple of days, your sugar cravings will subside and you will feel calmer. Also try adding cinnamon to your food. It will help curb your desire to eat sweets.
• Read a book or article that makes you think. Read about a person whose example you find inspiring. Inspiring thoughts will help you perceive life more positively and give you more energy.
• Before going to bed, do not start anything that requires a lot of effort or energy. Too much stress before bed will prevent you from relaxing and falling asleep properly, which can lead to sleep disturbances and increase stress.
• Breathe deeply and slowly to release energy and relax.
• Download several e-books dedicated to relaxation. Use controlled breathing, muscle tension and release, affirmations and visualization to help you relax completely.
• Listen to relaxing music to calm down and not think about anything.
• You don't have to train like a bodybuilder or a celebrity. Choose exercises that you enjoy and want to do, rather than trying with all your might. If the only active recreation you like is walking, walking for 20 minutes a day will be enough.
• Get your home in order. It's very difficult to relax in a house where you constantly come across junk.
• Calm down with water. Place a small fountain in your bedroom or in the garden. Take a walk on the beach or along the lake. The sounds of water can be very soothing.
• Relax while taking a bath.
• Sometimes put yourself first. We often think about other people's problems and this makes us more and more nervous every day.

Warnings

• Talk to your doctor if stress is causing these problems. severe symptoms, such as headaches, decreased appetite or general fatigue.
• Thousands of people, without realizing it, become dependent on drugs and alcohol during periods of extreme stress. Resist so this doesn't happen to you. One of the hardest parts of dealing with stress is recognizing it and avoiding temptations that help you forget about it but don't make it go away.

Friends, hello everyone! Now is the cold season, for some, a time of despondency, restrictions in recreation opportunities, bustle before the expected holidays and, as usual, a mountain of work. To enter the New Year full of strength, hope and self-confidence, to get rid of fatigue in your head, I propose to talk about how to learn to relax psychologically. I will also definitely share with you my methods of fighting and just good ways that you may have forgotten about.

I am sure that there is simply no such person who has not at least once experienced the overwhelming weariness of life (the exception is the children who are waiting for Santa Claus and his gifts). At such moments, a person turns into an overflowing vessel, desire appears. Here it is very important to make sure that the level in this vessel drops and the splashes do not fall on those close and dear to us.

• stress hormones are released, which poison the coordinated functioning of all systems;
• breathing becomes irregular, so there is an unstable supply of oxygen to all tissues and organs;
• blood circulation is impaired, which leads to fluctuations in blood pressure;
• tension in the muscles of the body, and in particular the face and neck, leads to headaches and the appearance of a peculiar facial expression of a sick, exhausted person.

1. High quality and healthy sleep. This is the very first thing you can do for yourself on the way to a normal psychological state. Agree, if you don’t sleep for a day, then no cinema, shopping, or walking will bring relaxation. Just recently I was having trouble falling asleep due to an inconsistent routine. The first thing I did was change the incandescent light bulb from cold light to warm light. Scientists have proven that a weak yellow light in a night light gives the body a signal to “sunset” and prepares it for rest. Second, I purchased a special sleep mask. Now the light from the next room or the lantern outside the window does not bother me at all, and in the morning I feel ready for a new day.
2. Give yourself permission to spend a certain percentage of your salary on activities that you enjoy. This could be a massage, shopping for new clothes, ice skating, a swimming pool, a cafe. Yes, anything you want in this world today!
3. Don’t ignore calls from your friends, invite them to visit, come to them, spend time together talking and drinking tea, modern board games(buy some Here).
4. Get yourself a four-legged friend (if, of course, you have the desire and opportunity). Imagine how tiredness and dissatisfaction will change in the evening after work to a surge of joy and honest emotions. Also very a good option aquarium fish, beauty and nothing more. Especially in daily care There are fewer needs than for a mustachioed tail.
5. Sit down and color. Some people argue that modern coloring books for adults are very detailed and in the process are even more annoying. But if you haven't tried it, don't talk. The main thing is that the pencils are of various shades and are good in themselves. Have you noticed that in the summer we are more and more lively, cheerful and cheerful? It's all about the colors, which are completely absent in winter.
6. Learn meditation, yoga, breathing practices, and complete emptying of unnecessary thoughts from your head.
7. Aromatherapy. A couple of drops of lavender, saffron or your favorite oil in an aroma lamp have a very positive effect on your psychological state. Anyuta and I bought ourselves a special spray aromatic oils . Cool stuff!
8. Do some handicrafts, make some things with your own hands, master the origami technique, for example. Nowadays you can find absolutely any video tutorial on the Internet. Stay at home, watch, learn and enjoy the result.
9. Leave your work within the office walls; if necessary, turn off your phone when you get home.

How to cope with negative emotions?

Always in moments of terrible stress, calm yourself with the following:

• no one can expect incredible results from me;
• I don't need anyone's approval;
• next time I will do it even better, and then even better;
• Even though I cannot achieve high results here, there are other areas of life where I have no equal;
• I am a self-sufficient person and I can cope with an obstacle if it comes my way.

Analyze the illogicality of your reasoning and its absolute incoherence with any specific events. Don’t think about the bad, picture in your imagination and imagine that everything will work out for you in the best way. Besides, .

Everyone knows the proverb: “time for business, time for fun”? So I urge you to find this hour for yourself, not to spare reasonable expense on moral and physical rest. Remember that even in the most complex mechanism You can always replace a non-functioning part, but in the human body this is not the case.

Do you agree that no one will like an angry, unbalanced, psychologically exhausted person, and will be avoided in every possible way? Therefore, be a smiling person and a great holiday in any team.

Video: how to relax and calm down?

There are only a few days left until the New Year. And there, Christmas is just around the corner. If you don’t yet have gifts for your family and friends, hurry up and choose something for the people you love the most. New Year's gift shop

Friends, if you find my article useful, please share it with your friends. Perhaps you will help someone at the right time. If you have your own secrets about how to learn to relax psychologically, please tell us about them below in the comments.

Good afternoon. Having mastered the step how to learn to relax, you will find out the most effective techniques relaxation. This step, like each of the steps in the framework, will be divided into theory and practice.

After you become familiar with the theory, you will be able to undergo practice and for seven days, every day, master various ways relaxation. You complete the practice on your own, simply by reading my course and following the recommendations from it.

If you are finished executing practical recommendations given in the previous steps, I hope you have gained some insight into the development of willpower and awareness. These skills will help you greatly as you complete this step. And if you started studying my self-development plan from this step, then it’s okay, finish it, and then proceed to the previous ones, if you wish.

As a theoretical basis for this step, I will present the main conclusions from all the articles on relaxation that are presented on my blog. So you can think of this step as a stand-alone article that summarizes all the others, and it will summarize all the information that will help you learn to relax.

The ability to independently relax is an important skill.

In our busy lives, the ability to relax on your own is a strategically important skill. But, unfortunately, not everyone has this skill and therefore resort to alcohol and all sorts of sedatives and without this they cannot relieve tension. These people are convinced that the stressful environment around them is to blame for their tension, and that, under such circumstances, it is impossible to relax without aids. But that's not true. The amount of stress received per day depends not only on the external environment, but also on your sensitivity to stress and your ability to maintain a relaxed internal state amid the external hustle and bustle. Therefore, it is important not only to be able to relax during rest, but also to be calm during the day, letting in as little stress and negativity as possible. And the less tension we get, the easier it will be for us to relax later.

Many people forget about this and, having tried several relaxation techniques, they fail because the tension is too great. Therefore, here we will learn not only relaxation techniques, but also how to maintain a relaxed state throughout the day.

If you get used to relaxing with the help of alcohol, then your body gradually loses its ability to withstand stress. This happens, firstly, due to the fact that alcohol destroys the nervous system, and, secondly, because, having become accustomed to doping, to an easy and quick means of relief, you lose the ability to independently bring yourself to a calm state and, when you don't drink, your anxiety level goes up.

It is important to be able to suppress nervousness in yourself and extinguish accumulated tension. Tense and nervous man is like a car moving at high speed, which is very difficult to control: one careless effort directed at the steering wheel, and the car begins to move from side to side, losing its balance. When you are nervous, it is difficult for you to control yourself and everything does not go at all the way you want it to: you lose your thoughts, make unnecessary movements, speak very quickly, and stammer. In general, you “skid” in every possible way when turning.

A relaxed person drives at a reasonable speed, which allows him to deftly maneuver around obstacles without missing a single traffic light or warning. When you are relaxed, everything works out better for you, the way you want. In addition, a relaxed body, like a slow car, spends less energy than an organism living in constant voltage. And if you are relaxed all day, then the rest of your strength and good mood will remain in the evening.

“The slower you go, the further you will go,” it says folk wisdom. The less tense you are and the more relaxed you are, the less you get sick and, accordingly, live longer, since many diseases are associated with the condition nervous system.

How to achieve such relaxation? The following articles will help you with this. You can familiarize yourself with them or read the conclusions from them, which I will give below. The conclusions will concern only theory; we will deal with practice in the next part of this step. If you are eager to learn about the basic relaxation techniques, go straight to the practice, it is presented below in the article, especially since I outlined the main theoretical conclusions in this step.

Theory

Elective

If the reason you cannot relax is constant nervous haste, impulsiveness, constantly distracted attention, difficulty sitting in one place for a long time, then I recommend reading this article.

If you are nervous a lot, then I advise you to read this article, as nervousness creates tension.

Conclusions from the theory

• Stress is your internal reaction to what is happening. And how strong this reaction is depends on you.
• Nervousness and inability to relax only interfere with life.
• Stress and fatigue are easier to prevent than to prevent!
• The fact that you can’t relax without alcohol and other drugs is a lie.
• Alcohol is one of the most harmful and dangerous drugs. It has a destructive effect on the body. This is far from the most suitable means of relaxation.

Practice. We master relaxation techniques.

The practice, as usual, will be divided into days and should be done gradually. Every few days we will master one of the relaxation techniques. In addition, there will be daily tips to help you relax as you go through your day. The goal of the practice is to try various relaxation techniques yourself and make sure that our body can relax on its own, you just need to set yourself up correctly. The program is designed to help you gradually learn to relax, its schedule will help you control yourself, following the plan I have established. This is much more effective than doing things haphazardly.

But if you don't want to follow the plan, then you can get a lot from here useful information about ways of relaxation. But still, I recommend conducting an experiment on yourself and studying according to a schedule, this will also help you live an unusual week for you and add variety to your life.

During the practice of this step (7 days), completely eliminate alcohol consumption. If you smoke, then reduce the number of cigarettes you smoke daily by at least 1.5 times, or better yet, by 2 times.

Day 1-3. Mastering diaphragmatic breathing

Let's start with a very effective relaxation technique. This breathing occurs through the rise and fall of the diaphragm, an internal organ that separates the upper torso from the lower. Unlike chest breathing, when you breathe from the diaphragm, it is your belly that moves down and up, not your chest. This breathing allows you to effectively saturate your tissues with oxygen, it provokes a faster release of toxins and helps you relax.

When you are tense, you breathe through your chest at a fast pace, but to relax you need to take deep and slow rhythmic inhalations and exhalations (perhaps this is the reason why a smoker relaxes, inhaling and exhaling smoke - it’s all about breathing.).

How to learn diaphragmatic breathing? Very simple. Sit or lie down. Back straight, look ahead. Place one hand on your chest, the other on your stomach. Breathe. If you use diaphragmatic breathing, your chest should remain in place and your belly should move up and down. In this case, there is no need to forcefully protrude and compress the stomach through muscular effort: tension abdominal cavity must occur due to air expanding the lungs, lowering the diaphragm. The abdominal muscles should be relaxed.

Inhale and exhale as deeply as possible, the duration of which should be equal to each other. You can watch a stopwatch or measure these time intervals by heartbeats. It is not necessary to hold your breath between inhalation and exhalation. Do not be distracted by extraneous thoughts: relaxation also occurs due to the fact that you fix all your attention on your breathing.

Diaphragmatic breathing may not work at first, but it comes with practice. Do this exercise for 3 - 5 minutes. 2-3 times a day, but not immediately after meals. After completing the exercise, pay attention to how you feel, you feel calmer, don’t you? You can breathe like this before an important meeting, in a traffic jam, at work (or after it), when you need to get your head and nerves in order and relax.

A more complex version of the exercise is breathing with a compressed glottis. You need to tense your throat in a special way so that the air enters and leaves you through a narrow gap, then when you inhale and exhale, the sound “xxxxxxx” appears. Thus, the difference in pressure between the air outside and the air inside increases, and the oxygen that fills the stomach begins to put more pressure on its walls. This happens more effective massage internal organs and saturation of tissues with oxygen. This type of breathing is used in yoga. You can try it after you have mastered the basic skills of breathing with your diaphragm.

Additional exercises

From this day on, try to take breaks from work every day (3 - 4 times a day for 10 minutes). During your break, walk around and move around if you have a sedentary job (basically, do an activity completely different from your job). If possible, it is better to go outside and breathe. Think about something else. During a break, you cannot look at the monitor. Get used to taking breaks from work, try to do this always, in the future, and not just while doing the practice from this step.

Train yourself to never rush, even if you are late. Make this a rule for yourself. Haste has a very bad effect on your nervous well-being and is very tiring. When you rush, you actually don't achieve results much faster than if you take your time. You may even lose because you lose focus and composure as a result of rushing.

On one of these three days, take a long walk walking alone. During it, try to clear your mind of thoughts about the current day, think about something abstract. Look around more, pay attention to what is happening around you and do not become isolated in thoughts about yourself and your experiences. As soon as you catch yourself thinking about today's problems, calmly stop it. Discipline your thinking, it will help you a lot in life.

And I hope you haven't forgotten about meditation? If you haven't read the previous steps, study this step along with it and add meditation to your daily practice.

Day 4. Yoga relaxation techniques

On the fourth day, after reading these materials, try another relaxation technique, while continuing to practice diaphragmatic breathing 2-3 times a day.

In the evening, lie down on the bed (or on a rug, “foam”, on the floor), on your back. Turn your arms palms up, spread them slightly so that the angle between your arm and torso is thirty degrees. Close your eyes; no extraneous sounds should distract you. If you want to relax with music, then it should be very smooth music for relaxation (ambient, calm ethnic music). Begin to slowly stop your attention in turn on each part of the body from the crown to the toes and relax it: crown, eyebrows, mouth, throat, shoulder, left hand: brachial bone, elbow, forearm, wrist, palm, fingers (you can stop at each separately) again palm, forearm, elbow, humerus, shoulders, right arm: humerus... And so on we reach the toes. Then we try to relax the whole body.

Observe your thoughts as an outside observer; they should not carry you away. If your attention “floats,” gently bring it back. There is no need to try to stop thoughts and experiences at all costs; your goal is to relax. Just like with meditation. The more you force yourself to relax and not think about anything, the worse you will get at it. Your will should rest, you do not need to direct it to relaxation. In this state you have no will, no desires, no intentions... You just calmly observe.

Spend five to twenty minutes in this position, as long as you need. Come out of it smoothly: while continuing to lie and without opening your eyes, move your toes, then your fingers. Slowly roll onto your side and, helping yourself with your hands, sit down (this is so as not to make sudden muscle efforts). Open your eyes. Assess your condition, compare it with what it was before the practice. Now you feel much more relaxed.

This exercise is also used in yoga to achieve complete relaxation after physical activity. Its principle is that relaxation of the body entails peace of mind.

Now you know how to do this and from now on you use this practice every time you need to relax. You can sometimes replace meditation with it.

Day 5: Go for an easy run

On this day, go for a short run in the evening. What everyone can do. You should be a little tired. Assess your condition after physical activity. You should feel pleasantly tired in your body. At the same time, nervous fatigue should disappear, and your mood and general health should be better than it was before. It’s not just that I advise you to evaluate your condition every time. It is important to establish a connection in your brain between meditation, exercise, relaxation techniques and well-being.

When you want to drink alcohol or smoke, you are drawn not to the bottle and cigarette, as such, but to those states (relaxation, satisfaction, calm, good mood) that you achieve with these things. Having a formed connection in your head between the feeling of pleasure (or lack of displeasure) and certain drugs is one of the factors of addiction. The goal of this step is to make sure that you associate pleasure and relaxation with something useful, and not with drugs that are destructive to the body. And awareness of the effect of relaxation techniques and assessment of your condition help to better consolidate the necessary connections in your brain.

This way it will be easier for you to do all this, you will want to do it, as you will have a desire to feel better.

Day 6. Relax with music

In the evening or afternoon, listen to an album or collection of some relaxing music. At the same time, you should not do anything, but only listen. For many people, quietly listening to music is a rather difficult task, since they are used to listening to music “in the background” (while driving in the car, doing work). And in the absence of other external stimuli, this process will seem very boring to them, they will want to interrupt it or do something in parallel. You must ignore this urge. We listen for 40 minutes to an hour, before that we don’t get up. Let's relax. But we remember that we should not force ourselves to enter into relaxation and worry about the fact that we cannot do it. Everything happens by itself.

Day 7. Final exercises

On the last day of your internship, take an hour-long walk or run that is within your ability. Take a mental recap of your last week. Ask yourself, what new things have you learned? What have you learned? Are you able to somehow relax on your own? You should not expect significant progress in just a week, but, in any case, you should feel the acquisition of at least some relaxation skills and feel the effects of the techniques described in this step.

Results

The purpose of this step was not simply to list various relaxation techniques. You should have tried to do them yourself in order to make sure that independent relaxation is possible without auxiliary drugs. And the main thing is that this awareness is fixed within the patterns of your thinking. The purpose of this step is to teach through a live example, and not just to provide information about what relaxation techniques are.

I hope you understand from your own experience that there are many effective, healthy ways of relaxation. And I hope even more that you will continue to implement this new knowledge in your life and not stop when you complete your practice. Good luck to you! Wait for new steps to come out.

How to relax

How to learn to relax and what methods of relaxation exist? Jacobson relaxation + very effective technique.

How can you relax? Several ways. All of them are effective and proven by practice, you can try and choose the method that suits you physiologically or just more to your liking.

Let me note that if one method does not give you the desired result, you need to try another. We are all different, and often little things also play a significant role, everyone needs to find their own.

But there are also basic, primary methods of relaxation that are important to remember and apply periodically. I will describe some of them, such as relaxing breathing, mindfulness practice and “Jacobsonian relaxation” in the article.

So, all the relaxation methods that will be discussed: breath; active aggression- do not hold back your anger, throw out the accumulated negativity; well known method relaxation according to Jacobson deserves special attention; concentration on methodical occupation; exercise elbow swing promotes relaxation and also good way improve blood supply to the brain; trance- as a way to relax and mindfulness practice behind you.

So, how to learn to relax And ways to relax.

1 Breath- this is so important for us that we can write about it separately and a lot. Please note that we breathe differently in different states.
and if one breath allows us to calm down and even (by correctly using the breathing technique) get out of a very nervous and tense state, then another breath, on the contrary, can lead from a serene state to stress.

Breathing exercise.

We switch our attention from any thoughts to our breathing. Relax your facial muscles, straighten your shoulders and take a deep breath at your normal pace. At the same time, we draw air not into the chest, but more into the stomach. Imagine that you have eaten too many apples and are bloated. Next, hold your breath for 3-5 seconds and exhale slowly.

The exhalation should be about a third of the time longer than the inhalation. We do it with short delays between each inhalation and exhalation (2-3 seconds). We repeat inhale - hold - exhale - hold, so 5-6 times. You can do this both with your nose and mouth, without straining too much. When you inhale, you mobilize your resources and fill your blood and organs with oxygen, and when you exhale, relaxation itself occurs, you breathe out tension.

Relaxing breathing should not be intermittent; during the process of inhalation and exhalation, try to keep everything flowing smoothly.

And after you have taken the first 5-6 deep breaths and exhalations, you stop interfering with this process at all, breathing now occurs on its own, you're just watching him, without trying to influence it in any way, let the body itself select the rhythm it needs.

Try to track your breathing at least occasionally throughout the day. This is important, do this exercise more often, even if you are completely calm, let correct, deep and leisurely breathing become your useful, relaxing habit.

And learn to concentrate on your breathing All your attention, then the relaxation effect will be much stronger.

One of effective methods- active aggression.

The method is well known and has been used for a long time. In my experience it works well for this Gym, and not only for men, but also for women. Also martial arts classes. But if all this doesn’t apply to you, then just find a whipping toy. By the way, you can use the “husband” (wife), the main thing is that you don’t mind and understand the jokes.

So, find something you don’t mind breaking, beating and splitting, and do it with passion, preferably shouting. Screaming is a great way to quickly throw out all the negativity and relax. This is especially important for those who do not know how (are afraid) to express their emotions and constantly suppress them and accumulate them in themselves. After all, emotional energy does not go anywhere, but accumulates inside, which makes it even heavier. I won’t persuade you, but at least occasionally find a place and time to throw out the accumulated experiences.

Screaming in general has many of its own functions, for example, by screaming you can warm yourself up, give yourself more courage and even increase adrenaline. In other cases, by shouting and swearing well, you can throw out unnecessary rage.

This method of active aggression is not suitable everywhere and not always, but to get rid of accumulated negative emotions such as , this is one of the best ways how to quickly relax and get rid of tension.

Relaxation according to Jacobson

Edmund Jacobsan's technique is based on preliminary tension of the body muscles and their subsequent relaxation. For about 10 seconds, we alternately tense the muscles of the face, neck, hands, back, abdomen, shoulders, groin and feet. Next, we relax the muscles involved and try to feel the resulting relaxation.

Recommendations. First. We strain various parts (muscles) of the face, hold the face for 8-10 seconds and relax. This relieves tension well, relaxes and improves facial expressions, and also improves blood circulation in the cells. And don't be alarmed by the idea that exercise can cause wrinkles, it doesn't. Exercise has a positive effect on appearance skin.

Second. Take a cylindrical object so that it fits well in your palm and squeeze it forcefully for 8-10 seconds, then slowly relax your hands and try to feel this pleasant feeling of relaxation. Don’t be lazy and do this exercise at least 5 times a day for 1-2 weeks, this will greatly reduce your overall level of anxiety.

And what is important, after doing it, immediately try to feel this very pleasant relaxation for 1.5 - 2 minutes. The body subconsciously remembers this relaxed state, and then it will be easier to return to it.

I repeat, do this exercise 5 times a day for the first time, this is important to get rid of old, chronic blocks and reduce anxiety. Then it is enough to do it 2 times a day for prevention or when you feel that you need it. I don't forget and always do these exercises.

Note. Exercise is contraindicated for heart patients (if the disease is confirmed by doctors). In your case, another relaxation exercise on stretching. To do this, we lie down on the floor or bed and stretch with effort, stretching and bending our neck, arms, legs, and back as much as possible. To do it correctly, remember yourself when you woke up, yawning and stretching.

This exercise is weaker, so you need to do it 1.5 times more often than the previous one, also every day. The same 8-10 seconds are performed.

By the way, these exercises will also help well with osteochondrosis. My assistant Evgenia wrote about this in detail. If the topic is relevant to you, read.

How to relax while working or in any other place and situation? We use our hands as described above.This is a way to relieve tension without worrying about someone seeing something, and don’t forget about breathing.

Other techniques for relaxing

Concentration on a methodical lesson. I’ll just say a few words, since I already wrote about this in another article, and you can read more by going to.

The goal of this method is to smoothly (without struggle) switch from negative thoughts for something more pleasant and useful, some kind of activity.

Two ideas or objects cannot be fully present in the head at the same time. One thing will still attract greater psychological activity. Therefore it is important to learn soft to displace what is unnecessary to us, replacing it with something useful, and make sure that this useful thing gradually captivates us (becomes interesting), and after some time you may notice how the negative has lost its strength and sharpness.

A state of passive observation of everything that happens.

Getting into it lung condition trance (meditation) promotes mental calm and relaxation.

It is not difficult to enter this state, but it is much more difficult to remain in it. When we are tired physically or mentally, we do this ourselves when we collapse into a chair and stop thinking about anything, close our eyes and mentally fall into our sensations, involuntarily setting ourselves up for rest, but at the same time we do not fall asleep.

Or, from the outside, we simply observe for a long time at some point (object, etc.) or follow the thought process, but we don’t analyze what’s happening, but just watch everything. You can enter this state of conscious observation at will at any time.

We sit down in a chair, close our eyes, while our mental activity continues to work, thoughts flow in the direction of problems, some things to do, etc. And now we slow down and smoothly turn off all internal dialogue with ourselves and turn our attention to the sensations in the body, trying to cover the entire body from the top of the head to the feet.

The sensations can be different, unpleasant and pleasant. Now it is important to shift your attention and start observing pleasant sensations or some kind of visualizations (pleasant images). The flow of thoughts is smooth and superficial, and we only observe everything.

It may be difficult to shift your attention away from the negative, or some thoughts will not leave your head. Here it is important not to fight it in any way, not to drive them away, but simply to turn your attention back to pleasant sensations or breathing. Simply, without analyzing anything, we observe the breath and pleasant sensations in the body.

The exercise is based on observing any pleasant sensation, the heaviness of the arms and legs, the surrounding comfortable temperature, and subtle pulsations, twitching or any other slight sensations in any part of the body.

Feel this comfort and observe this comfort as if floating above your sensations. Thinking itself will gradually reach for something pleasant, and you just watch it.

The state of passive, naked observation is our natural, natural and most important, healing state. For maximum benefit I recommend an excellent practice for awareness and relaxation, in which you will learn not only to observe pleasant things, but also all your emotions, thoughts and states; this teaches awareness in life and acceptance of the present moment, acceptance of all your feelings.

Finally: how to learn to relax

Music and specials relaxation, sounds, recorded on discs, are also very effective and can serve as a relaxing element and complement some relaxation techniques.

Also to relieve fatigue and I recommend raising your tone cold and hot shower. How to do it correctly and what you need to know, read

Massage and bathing with special oils and gels are also a good way to tidy up the nervous system.

Best regards, Andrey Russkikh

Relaxing melody

Try not to think about anything, leave problems and matters for later, just listen carefully, but calmly, without tension, this will allow you to deeply relax and rest mentally.