Feel Better Today:
Relaxation
The Importance of Relaxation
We all want time to relax, but often we don’t know exactly how. Either worries about ourselves, our loved ones, work, and the world around us dominate our mind, or we just have a hard time sitting still and letting go. The good news is that by just taking a little time to learn some key techniques, we can become adepts at relaxation.
Learning to consciously relax and enter into our inner world is also a wonderful tool for finding security and peace regardless of what is happening around us. I hope that the simple instructions I’ve included here will be helpful to you.
As with belly breathing, I encourage you to be patient with yourself and the practice as you begin. With just a little bit of sustained practice, you will have great tools that you can use anytime, anywhere.
Tips for Relaxing
- When you sit or lie down to relax, stretch beforehand, even just a little bit, so that your body can come to rest more easily.
- Don’t worry about if you are doing anything right or wrong. There is no right or wrong in this practice! The goal is for you to work with the practices so that you can find the way that is most helpful for you.
- Relaxing is not escaping. True relaxation comes out of being present with the world, inner and outer.
- Be curious about your own experience in the practice. What do you notice that is different? What is difficult?
- Don’t give up!
Try doing your relaxation practice once or twice weekly, at first—the more the better! A good time to practice relaxation techniques is before going to sleep at night, or when you come home from work in the evening.
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ERIN@ERINMOLINE.COM
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Portland, OR 97204
Confluence is located on 6th Ave., just two blocks north of Pioneer Courthouse Square.
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© Erin Moline 2007